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Science 28 November 2003:
Vol. 302. no. 5650, pp. 1558 - 1560
DOI: 10.1126/science.1087911
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Reports

High Deleterious Genomic Mutation Rate in Stationary Phase of Escherichia coli

Laurence Loewe,*{dagger} Volker Textor, Siegfried Scherer

In natural habitats, bacteria spend most of their time in some form of growth arrest. Little is known about deleterious mutations in such stages, and consequently there is limited understanding of what evolutionary events occur. In a deleterious mutation accumulation experiment in prolonged stationary phase of Escherichia coli, about 0.03 slightly deleterious mutations were observed per genome per day. This is over an order of magnitude higher than extrapolations from fast-growing cells, but in line with inferences from observations in adaptive stationary phase mutation experiments. These findings may affect understanding of bacterial evolution and the emergence of bacterial pathogenicity.

Microbial Ecology Group, Department of Biosciences, Technische Universität München, Weihenstephaner Berg 3, 85354 Freising, Germany.



{dagger} 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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