Kevin Foster

Kevin Foster

Professor of Evolutionary Biology

Fellow of Magdalen College

 

Research Interests

Cooperation is all around us. Genes have come together in genomes, cells work together in multicellular organisms, and animals cooperate in societies. However, cooperation represents one of the major challenges in evolutionary biology because Darwin's theory of natural selection makes it clear that competition and selfishness are often the best strategies for success. Why then do many animals help each other? For example, why do honeybee workers work rather than lay their own eggs? And why don't cells in a multicellular organism compete?

One important answer is that cooperation often involves relatives: the cells in your body are genetically identical so there is no conflict over the jobs that they do, or whose genes are passed on in sperm or eggs. But despite the importance of genetics, we know almost nothing of the actual genes behind cooperation. Do single genes control social behaviours? What is the role of interactions among genes? Do genetic networks evolve to make it difficult for selfish 'cheaters' to arise and exploit social groups? My lab is interested in the evolution of cooperation in all its guises and, increasingly, in the genetics and genomics of cooperative traits using microbes as a model system.

 

Contacts

Email: kevin.foster@zoo.ox.ac.uk
Phone: 01865 281305
 

Websites

 

Selected Publications

  • Foster KR. 2011 The sociobiology of molecular systems. Nature Reviews Genetics, 12: 193-203.
  • Xavier J, Kim W, Foster KR 2011 A molecular mechanism that stabilizes cooperative secretions in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Molecular Microbiology 79, 166-179
  • Korb J, Foster KR 2010 Ecological competition favours cooperation in termite societies. Ecology Letters, 13: 754-760.
  • Nadell CD, Foster KR, Xavier J. 2010 Emergence of spatial structure in cell groups and the evolution of cooperation. PLoS Computational Biology, 6: e1000716.
  • Foster KR 2009 A defense of sociobiology. Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on Quantitative Biology, Cold Spring Harbor Press, Volume LXXIV, 403-418.
  • Korb J, Weil T, Hoffmann K, Foster KR, Rehli M 2009. A gene required for reproductive suppression in termites. Science, 324: 758.
  • Nadell CD, Xavier J, & Foster, KR 2009 The sociobiology of biofilms. FEMS microbiology reviews, 33: 206-224.
  • Smukalla S, Caldara M, Pochet N, Beauvais A, Guadagnini S, Yan C, Vinces MD, Jansen A, Christine Prevost M, Latge J, Fink GR, Foster KR, Verstrepen KJ 2008. FLO1 is a variable green beard gene that drives biofilm-like cooperation in budding yeast. Cell 135: 727-737.
  • Pizzari, T, Foster KR 2008 Sperm sociality: cooperation, altruism, and spite. Plos Biology, 6: e130.
  • Lehmann L, Feldman MW, Foster KR 2008 Cultural transmission can inhibit the evolution of altruistic helping. American Naturalist, 172: 12-24.
  • Nadell CD, Xavier J, Levin SA, & Foster, KR 2008 The evolution of quorum sensing in bacterial biofilms. PLoS Biology, 6: e14