Evolvability and robustness in populations of RNA virus Φ6.

ABSTRACT: Microbes can respond quickly to environmental disturbances through adaptation. However, processes determining the constraints on this adaptation are not well understood. One process that could affect the rate of adaptation to environmental perturbations is genetic robustness, the ability to maintain phenotype despite mutation. Genetic robustness has been theoretically linked to evolvability but rarely tested empirically using evolving populations. We used populations of the RNA bacteriophage ϕ6 previously characterized as differing in robustness, and passaged them through a repeated environmental disturbance: periodic 45°C heat shock. The robust populations evolved faster to withstand the disturbance, relative to the less robust (brittle) populations. The robust populations also achieved r

SUBMITTER: Goldhill D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3913886 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature