Student-led experimental evolution reveals novel biofilm regulators of adaptation to multiple niches.

ABSTRACT: We established a research-education partnership, EvolvingSTEM, that currently provides thousands of secondary school students the opportunity to conduct authentic research experiments centered on microbial evolution each year. Providing high school students access to research experiences not only improves learning and can have positive and long-lasting impacts on their attitudes towards science, but also gives them the opportunity to make impactful scientific contributions. Through EvolvingSTEM, students evolve populations of Pseudomonas fluorescens in a bead model that includes daily cycles of bacterial dispersal, attachment, and biofilm growth and observe heritable changes in colony morphology. Genome sequencing of 70 mutants that they picked identified parallel mutations in genes

SUBMITTER: Matela AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12157681 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature