Dataset Information

Experimental evolution in biofilm populations.

ABSTRACT: Biofilms are a major form of microbial life in which cells form dense surface associated communities that can persist for many generations. The long-life of biofilm communities means that they can be strongly shaped by evolutionary processes. Here, we review the experimental study of evolution in biofilm communities. We first provide an overview of the different experimental models used to study biofilm evolution and their associated advantages and disadvantages. We then illustrate the vast amount of diversification observed during biofilm evolution, and we discuss (i) potential ecological and evolutionary processes behind the observed diversification, (ii) recent insights into the genetics of adaptive diversification, (iii) the striking degree of parallelism between evolution experiments and real-life biofilms and (iv) potential consequences of diversification. In the second part, we discuss the insights provided by evolution experiments in how biofilm growth and structure can promote cooperative phenotypes. Overall, our analysis points to an important role of biofilm diversification and cooperation in bacterial survival and productivity. Deeper understanding of both processes is of key importance to design improved antimicrobial strategies and diagnostic techniques.

SUBMITTER: Steenackers HP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4852284 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Experimental evolution in biofilm populations.

Steenackers Hans P HP Parijs Ilse I Dubey Akanksha A Foster Kevin R KR Vanderleyden Jozef J

FEMS microbiology reviews 20160218 3

Biofilms are a major form of microbial life in which cells form dense surface associated communities that can persist for many generations. The long-life of biofilm communities means that they can be strongly shaped by evolutionary processes. Here, we review the experimental study of evolution in biofilm communities. We first provide an overview of the different experimental models used to study biofilm evolution and their associated advantages and disadvantages. We then illustrate the vast amou ...[more]

PMID: 26895713

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Project description:In "evolve-and-resequence" (E&R) experiments, whole-genome sequence data from laboratory-evolved populations can potentially uncover mechanisms of adaptive change. E&R experiments with initially isogenic, asexually reproducing microbes have repeatedly shown that beneficial de novo mutations drive adaptation, and these mutations are not shared among independently evolving replicate populations. Recent E&R experiments with higher eukaryotes that maintain genetic variation via sexual reproduction implicate largely different mechanisms; adaptation may act primarily on pre-existing genetic variation and occur in parallel among independent populations. But this is currently a debated topic, and generalizing these conclusions is problematic because E&R experiments with sexual species are difficult to implement and important elements of experimental design suffer for practical reasons. We circumvent potentially confounding limitations with a yeast model capable of shuffling genotypes via sexual recombination. Our starting population consisted of a highly intercrossed diploid Saccharomyces cerevisiae initiated from four wild haplotypes. We imposed a laboratory domestication treatment on 12 independent replicate populations for 18 weeks, where each week included 2 days as diploids in liquid culture and a forced recombination/mating event. We then sequenced pooled population samples at weeks 0, 6, 12, and 18. We show that adaptation is highly parallel among replicate populations, and can be localized to a modest number of genomic regions. We also demonstrate that despite hundreds of generations of evolution and large effective population sizes, de novo beneficial mutations do not play a large role in this adaptation. Further, we have high power to detect the signal of change in these populations but show how this power is dramatically reduced when fewer timepoints are sampled, or fewer replicate populations are analyzed. As ours is the most highly replicated and sampled E&R study in a sexual species to date, this evokes important considerations for past and future experiments.

Dataset Information

Experimental evolution in biofilm populations.

Publications

Experimental evolution in biofilm populations.

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