Reversed predation decomposes M. xanthus cells into diffusible nutrients.

Remains of M. xanthus killed by 22°C-reared P. fluorescens sufficient to fuel large P. fluorescens population growth pass through 0.2-μm filters within 6 hours of interspecies interaction. Estimated densities (log-transformed CFU/ml, n = 3) of P. fluorescens populations over time inoculated at 2 initial densities (approximately 10⁶ and approximately 10⁸ CFU/ml) into supernatant from 22°C-reared P. fluorescens lawns to which M. xanthus cells were either added (and which killed those M. xanthus cells, green dots) or not (black dots). Trend lines show local polynomial regression fitting and dark gray bands represent 95% confidence regions. The dataset for this figure and the R script used to analyze it and make the figure are available on Zenodo (10.5281/zenodo.10214013).

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