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Published Online July 6, 2006
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1129865

Reports

Submitted on May 11, 2006
Accepted on June 7, 2006

Clonal Adaptive Radiation in a Constant Environment

Ram Maharjan 1, Shona Seeto 1, Lucinda Notley-McRobb 1, Thomas Ferenci 1*

1 School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006 Australia.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Thomas Ferenci , E-mail: tferenci{at}mail.usyd.edu.au

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 >5 phenotypic clusters within 26 days, with multiple variations to 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.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Impact of Individual Mutations on Increased Fitness in Adaptively Evolved Strains of Escherichia coli.
M. K. Applebee, M. J. Herrgard, and B. O. Palsson (2008)
J. Bacteriol. 190, 5087-5094
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Cyclic AMP-Dependent Catabolite Repression Is the Dominant Control Mechanism of Metabolic Fluxes under Glucose Limitation in Escherichia coli.
A. Nanchen, A. Schicker, O. Revelles, and U. Sauer (2008)
J. Bacteriol. 190, 2323-2330
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Divergence and Redundancy of Transport and Metabolic Rate-Yield Strategies in a Single Escherichia coli Population.
R. P. Maharjan, S. Seeto, and T. Ferenci (2007)
J. Bacteriol. 189, 2350-2358
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)