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Rapid selective sweep of pre-existing polymorphisms and slow fixation of new mutations in experimental evolution of Desulfovibrio vulgaris.

ABSTRACT: To investigate the genetic basis of microbial evolutionary adaptation to salt (NaCl) stress, populations of Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough (DvH), a sulfate-reducing bacterium important for the biogeochemical cycling of sulfur, carbon and nitrogen, and potentially the bioremediation of toxic heavy metals and radionuclides, were propagated under salt stress or non-stress conditions for 1200 generations. Whole-genome sequencing revealed 11 mutations in salt stress-evolved clone ES9-11 and 14 mutations in non-stress-evolved clone EC3-10. Whole-population sequencing data suggested the rapid selective sweep of the pre-existing polymorphisms under salt stress within the first 100 generations and the slow fixation of new mutations. Population genotyping data demonstrated that the rapid selective sweep of pre-existing polymorphisms was common in salt stress-evolved populations. In contrast, the selection of pre-existing polymorphisms was largely random in EC populations. Consistently, at 100 generations, stress-evolved population ES9 showed improved salt tolerance, namely increased growth rate (2.0-fold), higher biomass yield (1.8-fold) and shorter lag phase (0.7-fold) under higher salinity conditions. The beneficial nature of several mutations was confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis. All four tested mutations contributed to the shortened lag phases under higher salinity condition. In particular, compared with the salt tolerance improvement in ES9-11, a mutation in a histidine kinase protein gene lytS contributed 27% of the growth rate increase and 23% of the biomass yield increase while a mutation in hypothetical gene DVU2472 contributed 24% of the biomass yield increase. Our results suggested that a few beneficial mutations could lead to dramatic improvements in salt tolerance.

SUBMITTER: Zhou A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4611501 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Rapid selective sweep of pre-existing polymorphisms and slow fixation of new mutations in experimental evolution of Desulfovibrio vulgaris.

Zhou Aifen A Hillesland Kristina L KL He Zhili Z Schackwitz Wendy W Tu Qichao Q Zane Grant M GM Ma Qiao Q Qu Yuanyuan Y Stahl David A DA Wall Judy D JD Hazen Terry C TC Fields Matthew W MW Arkin Adam P AP Zhou Jizhong J

The ISME journal 20150407 11

To investigate the genetic basis of microbial evolutionary adaptation to salt (NaCl) stress, populations of Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough (DvH), a sulfate-reducing bacterium important for the biogeochemical cycling of sulfur, carbon and nitrogen, and potentially the bioremediation of toxic heavy metals and radionuclides, were propagated under salt stress or non-stress conditions for 1200 generations. Whole-genome sequencing revealed 11 mutations in salt stress-evolved clone ES9-11 and 14 ...[more]

PMID: 25848870

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Project description:Hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] is a common environmental pollutant. However, little is known about the genetic basis of microbial evolution under Cr(VI) stress and the influence of the prior evolution histories on the subsequent evolution under Cr(VI) stress. In this study, Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough (DvH), a model sulfate-reducing bacterium, was experimentally evolved for 600 generations. By evolving the replicate populations of three genetically diverse DvH clones, including ancestor (AN, without prior experimental evolution history), non-stress-evolved EC3-10, and salt stress-evolved ES9-11, the contributions of adaptation, chance, and pre-existing genetic divergence to the evolution under Cr(VI) stress were able to be dissected. Significantly decreased lag phases under Cr(VI) stress were observed in most evolved populations, while increased Cr(VI) reduction rates were primarily observed in populations evolved from EC3-10 and ES9-11. The pre-existing genetic divergence in the starting clones showed strong influences on the changes in lag phases, growth rates, and Cr(VI) reduction rates. Additionally, the genomic mutation spectra in populations evolved from different starting clones were significantly different. A total of 14 newly mutated genes obtained mutations in at least two evolved populations, suggesting their importance in Cr(VI) adaptation. An in-frame deletion mutation of one of these genes, the chromate transporter gene DVU0426, demonstrated that it played an important role in Cr(VI) tolerance. Overall, our study identified potential key functional genes for Cr(VI) tolerance and demonstrated the important role of pre-existing genetic divergence in evolution under Cr(VI) stress conditions. IMPORTANCE Chromium is one of the most common heavy metal pollutants of soil and groundwater. The potential of Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough in heavy metal bioremediation such as Cr(VI) reduction was reported previously; however, experimental evidence of key functional genes involved in Cr(VI) resistance are largely unknown. Given the genetic divergence of microbial populations in nature, knowledge on how this divergence affects the microbial adaptation to a new environment such as Cr(VI) stress is very limited. Taking advantage of our previous study, three groups of genetically diverse D. vulgaris Hildenborough populations with or without prior experimental evolution histories were propagated under Cr(VI) stress for 600 generations. Whole-population genome resequencing of the evolved populations revealed the genomic changes underlying the improved Cr(VI) tolerance. The strong influence of the pre-existing genetic divergence in the starting clones on evolution under Cr(VI) stress conditions was demonstrated at both phenotypic and genetic levels.

Project description:Desulfovibrio vulgaris has been studied extensively for its potential in the bioremediation of heavy metals and radionuclides. Hydrocarbons and solvents, as frequent environmental co-contaminants, have been reported to inhibit microbial activities and thereby pose a limitation on bioremediation efficiency. As a part of the Genomes: GTL project to deduce the stress response pathways in metal/radionuclide reducing bacteria, we studied the responses of D. vulgaris to ethanol, which is a solvent and co-contaminant frequently encountered at contaminated DOE sites. Growth experiments in closed vessels at 37 °C indicated that D. vulgaris could maintain normal growth with 1%(v/v) ethanol. The growth rates were reduced with increasing ethanol concentrations at 2% and 5%. Growth ceased when ethanol concentration was raised to 5%(v/v). Cell lysis was apparent with decreasing optical density following 10% ethanol addition. To assess the mechanism of ethanol inhibition, genome-wide transcriptional profiles were analyzed from D. vulgaris cultures following ethanol (5% v/v) treatment using whole-genome microarrays. The ethanol treatment altered the expression of a large number of genes in the D. vulgaris genome, of which 354 were up-regulated greater than 2 fold and 217 were down-regulated by over 2 fold. As expected, changes in the transcriptional profile were similar to those of the stress response to acetone, which is also a solvent. Transcripts highly up-regulated included genes encoding the flagella structural subunits, suggesting motility as a mechanism of solvent stress response. Another group of genes highly induced were chaperones, such as dnaJ, groES, and hsp20, indicating the importance of maintaining proper protein folding under ethanol stress. Down-regulated genes included two groups of genes, ribosomal proteins and amino acid transporters, consistent with the growth inhibition by ethanol observed in growth studies. These results were interpreted that D. vulgaris responds to elevated solvent levels by increased motility and maintenance of proper protein functions. Current work is focused on the analysis of regulatory pathways based on temporal transcriptional dynamics. Keywords: Stress response

Dataset Information

Rapid selective sweep of pre-existing polymorphisms and slow fixation of new mutations in experimental evolution of Desulfovibrio vulgaris.

Publications

Rapid selective sweep of pre-existing polymorphisms and slow fixation of new mutations in experimental evolution of Desulfovibrio vulgaris.

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