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The nature of laboratory domestication changes in freshly isolated E scherichia coli strains
Author(s) -
Eydallin Gustavo,
Ryall Ben,
Maharjan Ram,
Ferenci Thomas
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.954
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1462-2920
pISSN - 1462-2912
DOI - 10.1111/1462-2920.12208
Subject(s) - domestication , biology , phenotype , nutrient agar , adaptation (eye) , rpos , population , bacteria , experimental evolution , genetics , phenotypic trait , gene , agar , gene expression , demography , neuroscience , sociology , promoter
Summary Adaptation of environmental bacteria to laboratory conditions can lead to modification of important traits, what we term domestication. Little is known about the rapidity and reproducibility of domestication changes, the uniformity of these changes within a species or how diverse these are in a single culture. Here, we analysed phenotypic changes in nutrient‐rich liquid media or on agar of four E scherichia coli strains newly isolated through minimal steps from different sources. The laboratory‐cultured populations showed changes in metabolism, morphotype, fitness and in some phenotypes associated with the sigma factor RpoS . Domestication events and phenotypic diversity started to emerge within 2–3 days in replicate subcultures of the same ancestor. In some strains, increased amino acid usage and higher fitness under nutrient limitation resembled those in mutants with the GASP (growth advantage in stationary phase) phenotype. The domestication changes are not uniform across a species or even within a single domesticated population. However, some parallelism in adaptation within repeat cultures was observed. Differences in the laboratory environment also determine domestication effects, which differ between liquid and solid media or with extended stationary phase. Important lessons for the handling and storage of organisms can be based on these studies.