Substituting evolved <i>metA</i> alleles into R strains recapitulates cooperative phenotype.

<p>Consortia growth rates of R strains with evolved <i>metA</i> alleles correlates with growth rates of the original evolved strains (<i>p</i>-value < 0.001), including the control <i>metA</i>^WT in the R1 background demonstrating the sufficiency of <i>metA</i>^EVO alleles in the R backgrounds. Error bars indicate the standard error of three biological replicates.