Evolutionary potential, cross‐stress behavior and the genetic basis of acquired stress resistance in Escherichia coli

Abstract Bacterial populations have a remarkable capacity to cope with extreme environmental fluctuations in their natural environments. In certain cases, adaptation to one stressful environment provides a fitness advantage when cells are exposed to a second stressor, a phenomenon that has been coin...

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Main Authors: Martin Dragosits, Vadim Mozhayskiy, Semarhy Quinones‐Soto, Jiyeon Park, Ilias Tagkopoulos
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer Nature 2013-02-01
Series:Molecular Systems Biology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/msb.2012.76
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author Martin Dragosits
Vadim Mozhayskiy
Semarhy Quinones‐Soto
Jiyeon Park
Ilias Tagkopoulos
author_facet Martin Dragosits
Vadim Mozhayskiy
Semarhy Quinones‐Soto
Jiyeon Park
Ilias Tagkopoulos
author_sort Martin Dragosits
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Bacterial populations have a remarkable capacity to cope with extreme environmental fluctuations in their natural environments. In certain cases, adaptation to one stressful environment provides a fitness advantage when cells are exposed to a second stressor, a phenomenon that has been coined as cross‐stress protection. A tantalizing question in bacterial physiology is how the cross‐stress behavior emerges during evolutionary adaptation and what the genetic basis of acquired stress resistance is. To address these questions, we evolved Escherichia coli cells over 500 generations in five environments that include four abiotic stressors. Through growth profiling and competition assays, we identified several cases of positive and negative cross‐stress behavior that span all strain–stress combinations. Resequencing the genomes of the evolved strains resulted in the identification of several mutations and gene amplifications, whose fitness effect was further assessed by mutation reversal and competition assays. Transcriptional profiling of all strains under a specific stress, NaCl‐induced osmotic stress, and integration with resequencing data further elucidated the regulatory responses and genes that are involved in this phenomenon. Our results suggest that cross‐stress dependencies are ubiquitous, highly interconnected, and can emerge within short timeframes. The high adaptive potential that we observed argues that bacterial populations occupy a genotypic space that enables a high phenotypic plasticity during adaptation in fluctuating environments.
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spelling doaj-art-2ec2af80e7d34c53a22ec53cbfdc9bc02025-08-20T03:06:13ZengSpringer NatureMolecular Systems Biology1744-42922013-02-019111310.1038/msb.2012.76Evolutionary potential, cross‐stress behavior and the genetic basis of acquired stress resistance in Escherichia coliMartin Dragosits0Vadim Mozhayskiy1Semarhy Quinones‐Soto2Jiyeon Park3Ilias Tagkopoulos4UC Davis Genome Center, University of California‐DavisUC Davis Genome Center, University of California‐DavisUC Davis Genome Center, University of California‐DavisUC Davis Genome Center, University of California‐DavisUC Davis Genome Center, University of California‐DavisAbstract Bacterial populations have a remarkable capacity to cope with extreme environmental fluctuations in their natural environments. In certain cases, adaptation to one stressful environment provides a fitness advantage when cells are exposed to a second stressor, a phenomenon that has been coined as cross‐stress protection. A tantalizing question in bacterial physiology is how the cross‐stress behavior emerges during evolutionary adaptation and what the genetic basis of acquired stress resistance is. To address these questions, we evolved Escherichia coli cells over 500 generations in five environments that include four abiotic stressors. Through growth profiling and competition assays, we identified several cases of positive and negative cross‐stress behavior that span all strain–stress combinations. Resequencing the genomes of the evolved strains resulted in the identification of several mutations and gene amplifications, whose fitness effect was further assessed by mutation reversal and competition assays. Transcriptional profiling of all strains under a specific stress, NaCl‐induced osmotic stress, and integration with resequencing data further elucidated the regulatory responses and genes that are involved in this phenomenon. Our results suggest that cross‐stress dependencies are ubiquitous, highly interconnected, and can emerge within short timeframes. The high adaptive potential that we observed argues that bacterial populations occupy a genotypic space that enables a high phenotypic plasticity during adaptation in fluctuating environments.https://doi.org/10.1038/msb.2012.76cross‐stress protectionevolutionary trade‐offsmicrobial evolutionstress adaptation
spellingShingle Martin Dragosits
Vadim Mozhayskiy
Semarhy Quinones‐Soto
Jiyeon Park
Ilias Tagkopoulos
Evolutionary potential, cross‐stress behavior and the genetic basis of acquired stress resistance in Escherichia coli
Molecular Systems Biology
cross‐stress protection
evolutionary trade‐offs
microbial evolution
stress adaptation
title Evolutionary potential, cross‐stress behavior and the genetic basis of acquired stress resistance in Escherichia coli
title_full Evolutionary potential, cross‐stress behavior and the genetic basis of acquired stress resistance in Escherichia coli
title_fullStr Evolutionary potential, cross‐stress behavior and the genetic basis of acquired stress resistance in Escherichia coli
title_full_unstemmed Evolutionary potential, cross‐stress behavior and the genetic basis of acquired stress resistance in Escherichia coli
title_short Evolutionary potential, cross‐stress behavior and the genetic basis of acquired stress resistance in Escherichia coli
title_sort evolutionary potential cross stress behavior and the genetic basis of acquired stress resistance in escherichia coli
topic cross‐stress protection
evolutionary trade‐offs
microbial evolution
stress adaptation
url https://doi.org/10.1038/msb.2012.76
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