Cooperation mitigates diversity loss in a spatially expanding microbial population.

ABSTRACT: The evolution and potentially even the survival of a spatially expanding population depends on its genetic diversity, which can decrease rapidly due to a serial founder effect. The strength of the founder effect is predicted to depend strongly on the details of the growth dynamics. Here, we probe this dependence experimentally using a single microbial species, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, expanding in multiple environments that induce varying levels of cooperativity during growth. We observe a drastic reduction in diversity during expansions when yeast grows noncooperatively on simple sugars, but almost no loss of diversity when cooperation is required to digest complex metabolites. These results are consistent with theoretical expectations: When cells grow independently from each othe

SUBMITTER: Gandhi SR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6876198 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature