Genome-wide mutational diversity in an evolving population of Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: The level of genetic variation in a population is the result of a dynamic tension between evolutionary forces. Mutations create variation, certain frequency-dependent interactions may preserve diversity, and natural selection purges variation. New sequencing technologies offer unprecedented opportunities to discover and characterize the diversity present in evolving microbial populations on a whole-genome scale. By sequencing mixed-population samples, we have identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) present at various points in the history of an Escherichia coli population that has evolved for almost 20 years from a founding clone. With 50-fold genome coverage, we were able to catch beneficial mutations as they swept to fixation, discover contending beneficial alleles that were el

SUBMITTER: Barrick JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2890043 | biostudies-literature | 2009

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature