Evolution by flight and fight: diverse mechanisms of adaptation by actively motile microbes.

ABSTRACT: Evolutionary adaptation can be achieved by mechanisms accessible to all organisms, including faster growth and interference competition, but self-generated motility offers additional possibilities. We tested whether 55 populations of the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus that underwent selection for increased fitness at the leading edge of swarming colonies adapted by swarming faster toward unused resources or by other means. Populations adapted greatly but diversified markedly in both swarming phenotypes and apparent mechanisms of adaptation. Intriguingly, although many adapted populations swarm intrinsically faster than their ancestors, numerous others do not. Some populations evolved interference competition toward their ancestors, whereas others gained the ability to facultatively increase

SUBMITTER: Rendueles O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5270557 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature