Environmental history can counteract nutrient quality in shaping the evolution of bacterial growth rates
Despite sharing nearly identical enzymes, strains of the same microbial species display wide variability of growth rates when growing on the same nutrients. Here, we show that such growth rate variability can emerge as a consequence of evolutionary adaptation to different patterns of environmental fluctuations. We develop a mathematical model combining cellular proteome allocation with…
New research reveals that bacterial growth rates can rapidly evolve based on a microbe's recent environmental history, rather than just nutrient quality. In a study published <date>, scientists developed a mathematical model that integrates cellular proteome allocation with eco-evolutionary dynamics in fluctuating environments. The findings show that strains of the same microbial species can display vastly different growth rates despite sharing nearly identical enzymes.
Slow-growing strains tend to outcompete fast-growers in rapidly changing environments, while in environments with asymmetric nutrient availability, evolution leads to the robust coexistence of two distinct strains. The study's theoretical framework, based on adaptive dynamics, quantifiably predicts these evolutionary outcomes by considering the growth-lag tradeoff that all cells face.
Ultimately, the model demonstrates the ability of bacterial growth rates to adapt to a microbe's recent environmental history through proteome allocation, sometimes defying expectations based solely on nutrient quality.
Written by urgent.news from bioRxiv's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
