Rapid Genetic Adaptation during the First Four Months of Survival under Resource Exhaustion.

ABSTRACT: Many bacteria, including the model bacterium Escherichia coli can survive for years within spent media, following resource exhaustion. We carried out evolutionary experiments, followed by whole genome sequencing of hundreds of evolved clones to study the dynamics by which E. coli adapts during the first 4 months of survival under resource exhaustion. Our results reveal that bacteria evolving under resource exhaustion are subject to intense selection, manifesting in rapid mutation accumulation, enrichment in functional mutation categories and extremely convergent adaptation. In the most striking example of convergent adaptation, we found that across five independent populations adaptation to conditions of resource exhaustion occurs through mutations to the three same specific positions of t

SUBMITTER: Avrani S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5455981 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature