Open AccessNongenetic individuality, changeability, and inheritance in bacterial behavior
Author(s) -
Maroš Pleška,
David Jordan,
Zak Frentz,
BingKan Xue,
Stanislas Leibler
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2023322118
Subject(s) - biology , inheritance (genetic algorithm) , phenotype , diversity (politics) , evolutionary biology , homogeneous , genetics , model system , experimental evolution , biological system , gene , statistical physics , sociology , anthropology , physics
Significance Isogenic microbial populations in constant and homogeneous environments can display remarkable levels of phenotypic diversity. Quantitative understanding of how such diversity is generated and maintained in populations is, however, experimentally and theoretically challenging. We focus on the swimming behavior ofEscherichia coli as a model system of phenotypic diversity and show that, despite temporal changes in behavior that each individual undergoes, significant differences between individuals persist throughout most of their lifetimes. While the behavior of even closely related bacteria can be remarkably different, the behavioral variations produced by nongenetic mechanisms are inherited across generations. The general experimental and theoretical framework developed here can be applied to study quantitative aspects of phenotypic diversity in many biological systems.