Exploiting rRNA operon copy number to investigate bacterial reproductive strategies.

ABSTRACT: The potential for rapid reproduction is a hallmark of microbial life, but microbes in nature must also survive and compete when growth is constrained by resource availability. Successful reproduction requires different strategies when resources are scarce and when they are abundant^1,2, but a systematic framework for predicting these reproductive strategies in bacteria has not been available. Here, we show that the number of ribosomal RNA operons (rrn) in bacterial genomes predicts two important components of reproduction-growth rate and growth efficiency-which are favoured under contrasting regimes of resource availability^3,4. We find that the maximum reproductive rate of bacteria doubles with a doubling of rrn copy number, and the efficiency of carbon use is inversel

SUBMITTER: Roller BR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5061577 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature