Evolution Experiments with Microorganisms: The Dynamics and Genetic Bases of Adaptation
Abstract
Microorganisms have been mutating and evolving on Earth for billions of years. Now, a field of research has developed around the idea of using microorganisms to study evolution in action. Controlled and replicated experiments are using viruses, bacteria and yeast to investigate how their genomes and phenotypic properties evolve over hundreds and even thousands of generations. Here, we examine the dynamics of evolutionary adaptation, the genetic bases of adaptation, tradeoffs and the environmental specificity of adaptation, the origin and evolutionary consequences of mutators, and the process of drift decay in very small populations.
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Microbial populations can continue to evolve indefinitely, albeit slowly, even in a constant environment, due to individual mutations improving fitness.
“However, microbial populations might continue to evolve indefinitely, albeit slowly, even in a constant environment, thanks to the contributions of individual mutations to fitness improvement [3,4,5].”
From Microbiota of Cheese Ecosystems: A Perspective on Cheesemaking (2025) · cites this paper as [4]
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Self-citationEvolution of sex in RNA viruses
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EVOLUTIONARY ADAPTATION TO TEMPERATURE. IV. ADAPTATION OF ESCHERICHIA COLI AT A NICHE BOUNDARY
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Self-citationDiminishing Returns of Population Size in the Rate of RNA Virus Adaptation
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Selection of laboratory wild-type phenotype from natural isolates of Escherichia coli in chemostats.
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Self-citationParallel molecular evolution of deletions and nonsense mutations in bacteriophage T7
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Enrichment and Elimination of mutY Mutators in Escherichia coli Populations
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EVOLUTION OF COMPETITIVE ABILITY IN ESCHERICHIA COLI
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EFFECT OF DELETERIOUS MUTATION-ACCUMULATION ON THE FITNESS OF RNA BACTERIOPHAGE MS2
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Self-citationThe population biology and evolutionary significance of Ty elements in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
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EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS OF FITNESS RECOVERY FROM THE DEBILITATING EFFECTS OF MULLER'S RATCHET
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OmpF changes and the complexity ofEscherichia coliadaptation to prolonged lactose limitation
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Cell Size, Shape, and Fitness in Evolving Populations of Bacteria
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Programming cells by multiplex genome engineering and accelerated evolution
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Genome evolution and adaptation in a long-term experiment with Escherichia coli
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Optimality and evolutionary tuning of the expression level of a protein
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Genomic analysis of a key innovation in an experimental Escherichia coli population
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Self-citationPredictive Behavior Within Microbial Genetic Networks
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Long-term survival during stationary phase: evolution and the GASP phenotype
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Molecular Evolution of Antifungal Drug Resistance
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Chromosomal duplication is a transient evolutionary solution to stress
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Accelerated evolution of resistance in multidrug environments
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The evolution of fungal drug resistance: modulating the trajectory from genotype to phenotype.
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Mutation rate dynamics in a bacterial population reflect tension between adaptation and genetic load
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Sustainable life support on Mars – the potential roles of cyanobacteria
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A Comparison of Methods to Measure Fitness in Escherichia coli
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Self-citationEvolutionary insight from whole‐genome sequencing of experimentally evolved microbes
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Hunger Artists: Yeast Adapted to Carbon Limitation Show Trade-Offs under Carbon Sufficiency
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Evolution of global regulatory networks during a long‐term experiment with<i>Escherichia coli</i>
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Self-citationThe functional basis of adaptive evolution in chemostats
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Compensatory Evolution of Gene Regulation in Response to Stress by Escherichia coli Lacking RpoS
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Ploidy controls the success of mutators and nature of mutations during budding yeast evolution
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Optimization of DNA polymerase mutation rates during bacterial evolution
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EVOLUTIONARY ADAPTATION TO ENVIRONMENTAL pH IN EXPERIMENTAL LINEAGES OF ESCHERICHIA COLI
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Metabolic Characterization of <i>Escherichia coli</i> Strains Adapted to Growth on Lactate
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Microbiota of Cheese Ecosystems: A Perspective on Cheesemaking
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Evolutionary Adaptation to Freeze‐Thaw‐Growth Cycles in<i>Escherichia coli</i>
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Experimental macroevolution<sup/>
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- Authors
- Elena, S. F., & Lenski, R. E.
- Affiliations
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES)
- Michigan State University (US)
- Venue
- Nature Reviews Genetics
- Published
- 2003-06-01
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 457-469
- ISSN
- 1471-0056 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-0064
- OpenAlex
- W2112945902
- Cited by
- 1,386
- References
- 143
- Citations by year
- 2026: 40 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 59 · 2023: 38 · 2022: 54 · 2021: 53 · 2020: 65 · 2019: 55 · 2018: 63 · 2017: 76 · 2016: 73 · 2015: 85 · 2014: 65 · 2013: 64 · 2012: 101
- FWCI
- 4.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nature Reviews Genetics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy and History of Science
- Keywords
- experimental evolution, microorganisms, adaptation, genetic basis of adaptation, trade-offs, mutators, small populations, bacterial evolution, yeast evolution, viral evolution
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Biological, Biological Evolution, Genetics, Microbial, Mutation, Genetic Variation, Genetic Drift
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