Project description:One of the central goals of evolutionary biology is to explain and predict the molecular basis of adaptive evolution. We studied the evolution of genetic networks in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (budding yeast) populations propagated for more than 200 generations in different nitrogen-limiting conditions. We find that rapid adaptive evolution in nitrogen-poor environments is dominated by the de novo generation and selection of copy number variants (CNVs), a large fraction of which contain genes encoding specific nitrogen transporters including PUT4, DUR3 and DAL4. The large fitness increases associated with these alleles limits the genetic heterogeneity of adapting populations even in environments with multiple nitrogen sources. Complete identification of acquired point mutations, in individual lineages and entire populations, identified heterogeneity at the level of genetic loci but common themes at the level of functional modules, including genes controlling phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate metabolism and vacuole biogenesis. Adaptive strategies shared with other nutrient-limited environments point to selection of genetic variation in the TORC1 and Ras/PKA signaling pathways as a general mechanism underlying improved growth in nutrient-limited environments. Within a single population we observed the repeated independent selection of a multi-locus genotype, comprised of the functionally related genes GAT1, MEP2 and LST4. By studying the fitness of individual alleles, and their combination, as well as the evolutionary history of the evolving population, we find that the order in which these mutations are acquired is constrained by epistasis. The identification of repeatedly selected variation at functionally related loci that interact epistatically suggests that gene network polymorphisms (GNPs) may be a frequent outcome of adaptive evolution. Our results provide insight into the mechanistic basis by which cells adapt to nutrient-limited environments and suggest that knowledge of the selective environment and the regulatory mechanisms important for growth and survival in that environment greatly increases the predictability of adaptive evolution. mRNA from each evolved clone or from the ancestral strain growing in the specificied nitrogen-limited condition was co-hybridized with mRNA from the ancestral strain grown in ammonium limited media

Project description:One of the central goals of evolutionary biology is to explain and predict the molecular basis of adaptive evolution. We studied the evolution of genetic networks in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (budding yeast) populations propagated for more than 200 generations in different nitrogen-limiting conditions. We find that rapid adaptive evolution in nitrogen-poor environments is dominated by the de novo generation and selection of copy number variants (CNVs), a large fraction of which contain genes encoding specific nitrogen transporters including PUT4, DUR3 and DAL4. The large fitness increases associated with these alleles limits the genetic heterogeneity of adapting populations even in environments with multiple nitrogen sources. Complete identification of acquired point mutations, in individual lineages and entire populations, identified heterogeneity at the level of genetic loci but common themes at the level of functional modules, including genes controlling phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate metabolism and vacuole biogenesis. Adaptive strategies shared with other nutrient-limited environments point to selection of genetic variation in the TORC1 and Ras/PKA signaling pathways as a general mechanism underlying improved growth in nutrient-limited environments. Within a single population we observed the repeated independent selection of a multi-locus genotype, comprised of the functionally related genes GAT1, MEP2 and LST4. By studying the fitness of individual alleles, and their combination, as well as the evolutionary history of the evolving population, we find that the order in which these mutations are acquired is constrained by epistasis. The identification of repeatedly selected variation at functionally related loci that interact epistatically suggests that gene network polymorphisms (GNPs) may be a frequent outcome of adaptive evolution. Our results provide insight into the mechanistic basis by which cells adapt to nutrient-limited environments and suggest that knowledge of the selective environment and the regulatory mechanisms important for growth and survival in that environment greatly increases the predictability of adaptive evolution.

Project description:In some of the earliest uses of genome-wide gene-expression microarrays and array-based Comparative Genomic Hybridization (aCGH), a set of diploid yeasts that had undergone experimental evolution under aerobic glucose limitation was used to explore how gene expression and genome structure had responded to this selection pressure. To more deeply understand how adaptation to one environment might constrain or enhance performance in another we have now identified the adaptive mutations in this set of clones using whole-genome sequencing, and have assessed whether the evolved clones had become generalists or specialists by assaying their fitness under three contrasting growth environments: aerobic and anaerobic glucose limitation and aerobic acetate limitation. Additionally, evolved clones and their common ancestor were assayed for gene expression, biomass estimates and residual substrate levels under the alternative growth conditions. Relative fitnesses were evaluated by competing each clone against a common reference strain in each environment. Unexpectedly, we found that the evolved clones also outperformed their ancestor under strictly fermentative and strictly oxidative growth conditions. We conclude that yeasts evolving under aerobic glucose limitation become generalists for carbon limitation, as the mutations selected for in one environment are advantageous in others. High-throughput sequencing of the evolved clones uncovered mutations in genes involved in glucose sensing, signaling, and transport that in part explain these physiological phenotypes, with different sets of mutations found in independently-evolved clones. Earlier gene expression data from aerobic glucose-limited cultures had revealed a shift from fermentation towards respiration in all evolved clones explaining increased fitness in that condition. However, because the evolved clones also show higher fitness under strictly anaerobic conditions and under conditions requiring strictly respirative growth, this switch cannot be the sole source of adaptive benefit. Furthermore, because independently evolved clones are genetically distinct we conclude that there are multiple mutational paths leading to the generalist phenotype. Strain Name: Parental strain (CP1AB) or evolved clones (E1 - E5) Media: aerobic / anaerobic 36 hybridizations

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Molecular Specificity, Convergence and Constraint Shape Adaptive Evolution in Nutrient-Poor Environments [aCGH]

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