Experimental macroevolution
Open accessAbstract
The convergence of several disparate research programmes raises the possibility that the long-term evolutionary processes of innovation and radiation may become amenable to laboratory experimentation. Ancestors might be resurrected directly from naturally stored propagules or tissues, or indirectly from the expression of ancestral genes in contemporary genomes. New kinds of organisms might be evolved through artificial selection of major developmental genes. Adaptive radiation can be studied by mimicking major ecological transitions in the laboratory. All of these possibilities are subject to severe quantitative and qualitative limitations. In some cases, however, laboratory experiments may be capable of illuminating the processes responsible for the evolution of new kinds of organisms.
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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 [3]
In §3(b), “Natural selection,” the paper identifies beneficial mutations as contributors to adaptation in microbial populations. Section 3(c) describes evolution in long-term E. coli lines, but neither passage says that fitness improvement continues indefinitely, slowly, in a constant environment. (LLM, conf=0.83)
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“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 [3–5].”
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Experimental evolution of Escherichia coli harboring an ancient translation proteinPreprint
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Watanabe, D., & Takagi, H. (2017) · Genes to Cells · doi:10.1111/gtc.12471
- Authors
- Bell, G.
- Affiliations
- McGill University (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Bell, Graham
- ORCID
- Bell, Graham
- Venue
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2016-01-13
- Volume
- 283
- Issue
- 1822
- Pages
- 20152547
- ISSN
- 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
- 0962-8452
- 1471-2954
- PMC
- PMC4721102
- OpenAlex
- W4229835673
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 0.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy and History of Science
- Keywords
- experimental evolution, adaptive radiation, innovation, selective breeding, developmental genes, green transition
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Biological, Biological Evolution, Fossils, Genetic Variation, Genome, Genetic Speciation
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