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High Deleterious Genomic Mutation Rate in Stationary Phase of Escherichia coli
Laurence Loewe,*Volker Textor,Siegfried Scherer
In natural habitats, bacteria spend most of their time in someform of growth arrest. Little is known about deleterious mutationsin such stages, and consequently there is limited understandingof what evolutionary events occur. In a deleterious mutationaccumulation experiment in prolonged stationary phase of Escherichiacoli, about 0.03 slightly deleterious mutations were observedper genome per day. This is over an order of magnitude higherthan extrapolations from fast-growing cells, but in line withinferences from observations in adaptive stationary phase mutationexperiments. These findings may affect understanding of bacterialevolution and the emergence of bacterial pathogenicity.
Microbial Ecology Group, Department of Biosciences, Technische Universität München, Weihenstephaner Berg 3, 85354 Freising, Germany.
Present address: Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology,University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, Kings Buildings,West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, Scotland, UK.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Laurence.Loewe{at}evolutionary-research.net
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Present address: Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, Scotland, UK. 
