Dataset Information

When sensing is gambling: An experimental system reveals how plasticity can generate tunable bet-hedging strategies.

ABSTRACT: Genotypes can persist in unpredictable environments by "hedging their bets" and producing diverse phenotypes. Theoretical studies have shown that the phenotypic variability needed for a bet-hedging strategy can be generated by factors either inside or outside an organism. However, sensing the environment and bet hedging are frequently treated as distinct evolutionary strategies. Furthermore, nearly all empirical studies of the molecular underpinnings of bet-hedging strategies to date have focused on internal sources of variability. We took a synthetic approach and constructed an experimental system where a phenotypic trade-off is mediated by actively sensing a cue present in the environment. We show that active sensing can generate a diversified bet-hedging strategy. Mutations affecting the norm of reaction to the cue alter the diversification strategy, indicating that bet hedging by active sensing is evolvable. Our results indicate that a broader class of biological systems should be considered as potential examples of bet-hedging strategies, and that research into the structure of environmental variability is needed to distinguish bet-hedging strategies from adaptive plasticity.

SUBMITTER: Maxwell CS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5520672 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

When sensing is gambling: An experimental system reveals how plasticity can generate tunable bet-hedging strategies.

Maxwell Colin S CS Magwene Paul M PM

Evolution; international journal of organic evolution 20170307 4

Genotypes can persist in unpredictable environments by "hedging their bets" and producing diverse phenotypes. Theoretical studies have shown that the phenotypic variability needed for a bet-hedging strategy can be generated by factors either inside or outside an organism. However, sensing the environment and bet hedging are frequently treated as distinct evolutionary strategies. Furthermore, nearly all empirical studies of the molecular underpinnings of bet-hedging strategies to date have focuse ...[more]

PMID: 28213964

Similar Datasets

Project description:Bacterial cells, like many other organisms, face a tradeoff between longevity and fecundity. Planktonic cells are fast growing and fragile, while biofilm cells are often slower growing but stress resistant. Here we ask why bacterial lineages invest simultaneously in both fast- and slow-growing types. We develop a population dynamic model of lineage expansion across a patchy environment and find that mixed investment is favored across a broad range of environmental conditions, even when transmission is entirely via biofilm cells. This mixed strategy is favored because of a division of labor where exponentially dividing planktonic cells can act as an engine for the production of future biofilm cells, which grow more slowly. We use experimental evolution to test our predictions and show that phenotypic heterogeneity is persistent even under selection for purely planktonic or purely biofilm transmission. Furthermore, simulations suggest that maintenance of a biofilm subpopulation serves as a cost-effective hedge against environmental uncertainty, which is also consistent with our experimental findings.IMPORTANCE Cell types specialized for survival have been observed and described within clonal bacterial populations for decades, but why are these specialists continually produced under benign conditions when such investment comes at a high reproductive cost? Conversely, when survival becomes an imperative, does it ever benefit the population to maintain a pool of rapidly growing but vulnerable planktonic cells? Using a combination of mathematical modeling, simulations, and experiments, we find that mixed investment strategies are favored over a broad range of environmental conditions and rely on a division of labor between cell types, where reproductive specialists amplify survival specialists, which can be transmitted through the environment with a limited mortality rate. We also show that survival specialists benefit rapidly growing populations by serving as a hedge against unpredictable changes in the environment. These results help to clarify the general evolutionary and ecological forces that can generate and maintain diverse subtypes within clonal bacterial populations.

Dataset Information

When sensing is gambling: An experimental system reveals how plasticity can generate tunable bet-hedging strategies.

Publications

When sensing is gambling: An experimental system reveals how plasticity can generate tunable bet-hedging strategies.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets