identifier: traitmech:000716 label: kin discrimination definition: An ecological phenotype in which microbial cells preferentially associate with kin or exclude nonkin through differential interactions according to genetic similarity or relatedness. definition_source: DOI:10.1128/mBio.00723-17 trait_category: ECOLOGY term_kind: CLASS mapping_status: PROPOSED parent_traits: - METPO:1000059 evidence: - reference: DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060287 snippet: Our findings demonstrate that D. discoideum cells co-aggregate more with genetically similar than dissimilar individuals notes: 'Ostrowski et al. 2008, PMID:19067487; scientific abstract, publisher PDF page 1, contiguous span visually checked. Mixtures with AX4-GFP and natural-isolate dye controls support partial sorting during aggregation, not complete clonal exclusion. The measured endpoint is variation in fluorescent spore proportions among fruiting bodies; genetic distance uses 12 microsatellite loci, not genome-wide identity. Main text and all four figures were inspected; Figure 1 is hypothetical. Supplementary Tables S1 and S2 were read by text extraction. Main Methods names QS45, absent from the retrieved S1 strain table; no strain alias is inferred. Kin-selected benefit is an interpretation, not a measured fitness endpoint here. Natural provenance of every laboratory derivative and a molecular recognition mechanism remain unresolved. Native abstract verifier: VERIFIED.' - reference: DOI:10.1073/pnas.1512671112 snippet: Some swarms did merge, and most interestingly, this behavior was only seen in the most highly related strain pairs. notes: 'Stefanic et al. 2015, PMID:26438858, PMC4653157; directly retrieved scientific abstract from Europe PMC with the namespace-qualified query EXT_ID:26438858 AND SRC:MED. Title, PMID and DOI were checked together. The authors define a conspecific scope and report relatedness-associated swarm merging versus boundary formation among sympatric Bacillus subtilis isolates. The separately reported root-colonization outcome is not a direct killing measurement. Full text, figures and supplements were inaccessible and are not claimed as inspected; indexed search passages were not used as excerpts or quantitative evidence. Native abstract verifier: VERIFIED. Linked PMID:26512099 is commentary, not a correction or experimental replication.' - reference: DOI:10.1128/mBio.00723-17 snippet: The effects of kin discrimination extend to nearby species, as the other subtilis clade species were treated with the same antagonism as nonkin. notes: 'Lyons and Kolter 2017, PMID:28679746, PMC5573675; scientific abstract, NLM version 1 PDF page 1 and JATS article-meta abstract without abstract-type. This is not the separate IMPORTANCE summary. Introduction distinguishes preferential kin association from nonkin exclusion and supports the definition''s two modes; the paper''s own experiments support the nearby-species extension. The comparison concerns interactions with B. subtilis NCIB3610: nearby species can be antagonized, while more distant lineages show varied outcomes. This is not a universal monotonic relation between distance and antagonism. Relatedness uses type-strain 16S, not whole-genome identity of every isolate. Swarm, biofilm and halo assays differ in medium and endpoint. Figure 2A and 2C assign WNC032 to different species; Data Set S1 identifies it as B. megaterium. No silent panel correction or taxon anchor is inferred. Actual Figures 2 and 4 and selected spreadsheet rows/totals were inspected, not all figures or raw assays. Native abstract verifier: VERIFIED. Shares an investigator with 2015; not an independent-laboratory replication.' discussions: - discussion_id: kin-discrimination-scope-and-hierarchy prompt: Preserve relational phenotype scope without equating all recognition or cooperation. kind: CURATION_TODO status: OPEN rationale: Stefanic 2015 defines conspecific discrimination, whereas Lyons 2017 explicitly extends exclusion to nearby species. The record retains that attributed extension without a universal kin threshold, obligate killing, cognition or monotonic distance-response rule. Kin recognition, allorecognition and self/nonself discrimination are not asserted as exact synonyms. An interaction phenotype is required; a recognition locus, allele match, isolated pairing or spatial assortment alone is insufficient. Recognition-allele specificity, measured relatedness proxies and genome-wide relatedness must not be conflated. METPO:1000059 phenotype is the conservative parent. Mutualism (traitmech:000041) requires reciprocal benefit; biofilm formation (traitmech:000053) is neither necessary nor sufficient. Contact-dependent outer membrane exchange (traitmech:000650) is material transfer, and its existing negative kin-discrimination evidence remains a boundary, not a parent gap. Heterokaryon incompatibility (traitmech:000606) concerns postfusion restriction and is not automatically equivalent or reparented. Predation requires trophic benefit; DNA self/nonself defense has a different target and endpoint. No organism-level disjointness is implied. posed_by: codex posed_date: '2026-10-13' - discussion_id: kin-discrimination-evidence-and-mechanism-limits prompt: Resolve strain, assay and source gaps before assigning canonical taxa or molecular mechanisms. kind: KNOWLEDGE_GAP status: OPEN rationale: The QS45 strain-table gap and WNC032 figure-label conflict remain unresolved. The 2015 scientific abstract was read directly, but full text was not. The 2017 scientific abstract and IMPORTANCE summary were distinguished; the corrected excerpt is from the scientific abstract, not IMPORTANCE. Selected supplemental spreadsheet checks are not raw-image reanalysis or a statistical replication; supplementary EPS figures remain unread. Bounded MED, PLOS and NLM metadata checks are not exhaustive clearance of corrections or retractions; some publisher routes were inaccessible. No canonical taxa, exact external mappings, protein examples or causal graph are asserted. Allele-specific adhesion in engineered systems requires separate provenance and mechanism review, not inference of natural species-wide possession. Source URLs, hashes, access limits and native snippet outcomes are retained in the source-verification sidecar. posed_by: codex posed_date: '2026-10-13' curation_history: - timestamp: '2026-10-13T09:09:53Z' curator: codex action: MINTED_TRAITMECH_ID changes: Added kin discrimination with three DOI-backed contiguous snippets and bounded assay, source and hierarchy discussions. Reserved 000716, v592 and 1066900-1066999 after ignored/hidden current-file, retained-history, independent-copy and open/draft PR checks; numeric false positives were adjudicated. No exact active METPO counterpart identified in inspected sources. No taxa or causal graph inferred; prior records unchanged. Timestamp is observed post-audit acceptance, not an estimated write time. llm_assisted: true - timestamp: '2026-10-13T09:17:32Z' curator: codex action: EVIDENCE_CORRECTED changes: 'Addressed adversarial findings #1909 and #1910: replaced two source-matching but insufficiently self-contained excerpts with explicit swarm-merging and antagonism results. Changed sole definition authority to Lyons 2017 for the attributed nearby-species extension, preserving the explicit Stefanic 2015 evidence DOI. Updated section and native-verifier notes. Original event, phenotype definition, identifiers, parent, PROPOSED status and remaining source limits are preserved. Timestamp is observed correction decision time, not an estimated write time.' llm_assisted: true