Ecological and evolutionary dynamics of coexisting lineages during a long-term experiment with Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: Closely related organisms usually occupy similar ecological niches, leading to intense competition and even extinction. Such competition also can promote rapid phenotypic evolution and ecological divergence. This process may end with the stable occupation of distinct niches or, alternatively, may entail repeated bouts of evolution. Here we examine two Escherichia coli lineages, called L and S, that coexisted for more than 30,000 generations after diverging from a common ancestor. Both lineages underwent sustained phenotypic evolution based on global transcription and resource utilization profiles, with L seeming to encroach over time on the catabolic profile of S. Reciprocal invasion experiments with L and S clones from the same or different generations revealed evolutionary changes in the

SUBMITTER: Le Gac M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3386082 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature