Evolution of organismal stoichiometry in a long-term experiment with Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: Organismal stoichiometry refers to the relative proportion of chemical elements in the biomass of organisms, and it can have important effects on ecological interactions from population to ecosystem scales. Although stoichiometry has been studied extensively from an ecological perspective, much less is known about the rates and directions of evolutionary changes in elemental composition. We measured carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus content of 12 Escherichia coli populations that evolved under controlled carbon-limited, serial-transfer conditions for 50 000 generations. The bacteria evolved higher relative nitrogen and phosphorus content, consistent with selection for increased use of the more abundant elements. Total carbon assimilated also increased, indicating more efficient use of

SUBMITTER: Turner CB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5541568 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature