Abstract
The biological complexity of trade-offs has been a major obstacle in understanding bacterial diversity and coexistence. Here we reduce the biological complexity by using isogenic Escherichia coli strains differing only in a multiplication-survival trade-off regulated by RpoS. The contribution of trade-off characteristics to fitness in different environments was determined. We then designed an environment with intermediate-stress levels that elicits an equivalent fitness. We found metastable coexistence of three strains in steady-state chemostats until mutations changed the relative fitness of competing strains. Our results help explain the rich intra- and inter-species diversity of bacteria through alternative settings of relatively few trade-offs.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 240-246 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Research in Microbiology |
Volume | 167 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Apr 2016 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Trade-offs
- Stress resistance
- Resource allocation
- Reaction norm
- Escherichia coli
- RpoS sigma factor