Rediversification Following Ecotype Isolation Reveals Hidden Adaptive Potential.

ABSTRACT: Microbial communities play a critical role in ecological processes, and their diversity is key to their functioning. However, little is known about if communities can regenerate ecological diversity following species removal or extinction, and how the rediversified communities would compare to the original ones. Here we show that simple two-ecotype communities from the E. coli Long Term Evolution Experiment (LTEE) consistently rediversified into two ecotypes following the isolation of one of the ecotypes, coexisting via negative frequency-dependent selection. Communities separated by more than 30,000 generations of evolutionary time rediversify in similar ways. The rediversified ecotype appears to share a number of growth traits with the ecotype it replaces. However, the rediversifi

SUBMITTER: Ascensao JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10187175 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature