Evolution of a cross-feeding interaction following a key innovation in a long-term evolution experiment with Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: The evolution of a novel trait can profoundly change an organism's effects on its environment, which can in turn affect the further evolution of that organism and any coexisting organisms. We examine these effects and feedbacks following the evolution of a novel function in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment (LTEE) with Escherichia coli. A characteristic feature of E. coli is its inability to grow aerobically on citrate (Cit^-). Nonetheless, a Cit⁺ variant with this capacity evolved in one LTEE population after 31 000 generations. The Cit⁺ clade then coexisted stably with another clade that retained the ancestral Cit^- phenotype. This coexistence was shaped by the evolution of a cross-feeding relationship based on C₄-dicarb

SUBMITTER: Turner CB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10482366 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature