Changes in Cell Size and Shape during 50,000 Generations of Experimental Evolution with Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: Bacteria adopt a wide variety of sizes and shapes, with many species exhibiting stereotypical morphologies. How morphology changes, and over what timescales, is less clear. Previous work examining cell morphology in an experiment with Escherichia coli showed that populations evolved larger cells and, in some cases, cells that were less rod-like. That experiment has now run for over two more decades. Meanwhile, genome sequence data are available for these populations, and new computational methods enable high-throughput microscopic analyses. In this study, we measured stationary-phase cell volumes for the ancestor and 12 populations at 2,000, 10,000, and 50,000 generations, including measurements during exponential growth at the last time point. We measured the distribution of cell v

SUBMITTER: Grant NA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8088598 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature