Project description:Understand the mechanisms of evolution in large-scale bio-production by tracking population dynamics leading to production decline in mevalonic acid-producing Escherichia coli. Industrial bioproduction entails growth of the production host to large bioreactors (e.g. 1-300 m3). This may put the organism at risk for generating non-producing subpopulations of genetic heterogeneity, which is not phenotypically detected at lab-scale (e.g. 2 L). To study these dynamics, we experimentally simulated these growth durations by passing mevalonic acid-producing E. coli to maintain the populations in exponential growth for 45 generations.
Project description:Investigating the evolution of Escherichia coli in microgravity offers valuable insights into microbial adaptation to extreme environments. Here the effects of simulated microgravity (SµG) on gene expression of E. coli REL606, a strain evolved terrestrially for 35 years is explored. We evaluated the transcriptomic changes for glucose-limited and glucose-replete conditions over 24 hours which illustrate that SµG increased the expression of stress response and cell membrane-related genes, particularly under glucose-limited conditions. A machine learning model predicted that glucose-limited SµG impacts the cellular membrane, while glucose-replete SµG also inhibits protein synthesis at stationary phase. These findings highlight the transcriptomic and physiological adaptations of E. coli to short term microgravity, offering a foundation for future research into the long-term effects of space conditions on bacterial evolution.
Project description:Long-term experiment (150 days) of Escherichia coli MC1000 with daily transfers into fresh LB medium and under three different oxygen regimes. An overnight culture of E coli (ancestor culture) was propagated in LB media with three different oxygen regimes during 150 days. One regime involved transfers under constant shaking (200rpm): Treatment A-Replica populations 1 and 2 , second regime consisted in a daily shift between shaking and static (no shaking) conditions: Treatment B-replica populations 3,4 and 5. The third regime involved transfers in constant static conditions: Treatment C-Populations 6 and 7. After 150 days and plating, 3 different colony types were selected by population (populations 6 and 7 only had 2 different morphologies). Morpholigies were marked as a, b, c in each population. cDNA was obtainned from each morphology after growing separately in LB medium, under they correspondant evolving condition until late logaritmic phase (0,6-0,7 in OD600). A total of 19 evolved forms were analyzed plus one ancestor. Each morphology was labeled in a dye-swap design and hybridized to the ancestor into genome-wide multi-strain E. coli (8x15K) microarrays.