Evolution of Escherichia coli to 42 °C and subsequent genetic engineering reveals adaptive mechanisms and novel mutations.

ABSTRACT: Adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) has emerged as a valuable method by which to investigate microbial adaptation to a desired environment. Here, we performed ALE to 42 °C of ten parallel populations of Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 grown in glucose minimal media. Tightly controlled experimental conditions allowed selection based on exponential-phase growth rate, yielding strains that uniformly converged toward a similar phenotype along distinct genetic paths. Adapted strains possessed as few as 6 and as many as 55 mutations, and of the 144 genes that mutated in total, 14 arose independently across two or more strains. This mutational recurrence pointed to the key genetic targets underlying the evolved fitness increase. Genome engineering was used to introduce the novel ALE-acquired alleles

SUBMITTER: Sandberg TE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4166923 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature