TY - JOUR
T1 - Clonal adaptive radiation in a constant environment
AU - Maharjan, Ram
AU - Seeto, Shona
AU - Notley-McRobb, Lucinda
AU - Ferenci, Thomas
PY - 2006/7/28
Y1 - 2006/7/28
N2 - The evolution of new combinations of bacterial properties contributes to biodiversity and the emergence of new diseases. We investigated the capacity for bacterial divergence with a chemostat culture of Escherichia coli. A clonal population radiated into more than five phenotypic clusters within 26 days, with multiple variations in global regulation, metabolic strategies, surface properties, and nutrient permeability pathways. Most isolates belonged to a single ecotype, and neither periodic selection events nor ecological competition for a single niche prevented an adaptive radiation with a single resource. The multidirectional exploration of fitness space is an underestimated ingredient to bacterial success even in unstructured environments.
AB - The evolution of new combinations of bacterial properties contributes to biodiversity and the emergence of new diseases. We investigated the capacity for bacterial divergence with a chemostat culture of Escherichia coli. A clonal population radiated into more than five phenotypic clusters within 26 days, with multiple variations in global regulation, metabolic strategies, surface properties, and nutrient permeability pathways. Most isolates belonged to a single ecotype, and neither periodic selection events nor ecological competition for a single niche prevented an adaptive radiation with a single resource. The multidirectional exploration of fitness space is an underestimated ingredient to bacterial success even in unstructured environments.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33746615552&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/science.1129865
DO - 10.1126/science.1129865
M3 - Article
C2 - 16825532
AN - SCOPUS:33746615552
VL - 313
SP - 514
EP - 517
JO - Science (New York, N.Y.)
JF - Science (New York, N.Y.)
SN - 0036-8075
IS - 5786
ER -