Experimental evolution of diverse Escherichia coli metabolic mutants identifies genetic loci for convergent adaptation of growth rate.

ABSTRACT: Cell growth is determined by substrate availability and the cell's metabolic capacity to assimilate substrates into building blocks. Metabolic genes that determine growth rate may interact synergistically or antagonistically, and can accelerate or slow growth, depending on genetic background and environmental conditions. We evolved a diverse set of Escherichia coli single-gene deletion mutants with a spectrum of growth rates and identified mutations that generally increase growth rate. Despite the metabolic differences between parent strains, mutations that enhanced growth largely mapped to core transcription machinery, including the β and β' subunits of RNA polymerase (RNAP) and the transcription elongation factor, NusA. The structural segments of RNAP that determine enhanced growth have

SUBMITTER: Wytock TP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5892946 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature