Adaptation to High Ethanol Reveals Complex Evolutionary Pathways.

ABSTRACT: Tolerance to high levels of ethanol is an ecologically and industrially relevant phenotype of microbes, but the molecular mechanisms underlying this complex trait remain largely unknown. Here, we use long-term experimental evolution of isogenic yeast populations of different initial ploidy to study adaptation to increasing levels of ethanol. Whole-genome sequencing of more than 30 evolved populations and over 100 adapted clones isolated throughout this two-year evolution experiment revealed how a complex interplay of de novo single nucleotide mutations, copy number variation, ploidy changes, mutator phenotypes, and clonal interference led to a significant increase in ethanol tolerance. Although the specific mutations differ between different evolved lineages, application of a novel computa

SUBMITTER: Voordeckers K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4636377 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature