Cited by 482Evolution and Genetic DynamicsFungal and yeast genetics researchMicrobial Metabolic Engineering and Bioproduction

The repertoire and dynamics of evolutionary adaptations to controlled nutrient-limited environments in yeast

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Gresham, David, Desai, Michael M., Tucker, Cheryl M., Jenq, Harry T., Pai, Dave A., Ward, Alexandra, DeSevo, Christopher G., Botstein, David +1 more·2008·PLoS Genetics

Abstract

The experimental evolution of laboratory populations of microbes provides an opportunity to observe the evolutionary dynamics of adaptation in real time. Until very recently, however, such studies have been limited by our inability to systematically find mutations in evolved organisms. We overcome this limitation by using a variety of DNA microarray-based techniques to characterize genetic changes -- including point mutations, structural changes, and insertion variation -- that resulted from the experimental adaptation of 24 haploid and diploid cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to growth in either glucose, sulfate, or phosphate-limited chemostats for approximately 200 generations. We identified frequent genomic amplifications and rearrangements as well as novel retrotransposition events associated with adaptation. Global nucleotide variation detection in ten clonal isolates identified 32 point mutations. On the basis of mutation frequencies, we infer that these mutations and the subsequent dynamics of adaptation are determined by the batch phase of growth prior to initiation of the continuous phase in the chemostat. We relate these genotypic changes to phenotypic outcomes, namely global patterns of gene expression, and to increases in fitness by 5-50%. We found that the spectrum of available mutations in glucose- or phosphate-limited environments combined with the batch phase population dynamics early in our experiments allowed several distinct genotypic and phenotypic evolutionary pathways in response to these nutrient limitations. By contrast, sulfate-limited populations were much more constrained in both genotypic and phenotypic outcomes. Thus, the reproducibility of evolution varies with specific selective pressures, reflecting the constraints inherent in the system-level organization of metabolic processes in the cell. We were able to relate some of the observed adaptive mutations (e.g., transporter gene amplifications) to known features of the relevant metabolic pathways, but many of the mutations pointed to genes not previously associated with the relevant physiology. Thus, in addition to answering basic mechanistic questions about evolutionary mechanisms, our work suggests that experimental evolution can also shed light on the function and regulation of individual metabolic pathways.

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  • C. albicans, like S. cerevisiae, generates large scale genetic variation as a means of adaptation.

    “Thus, C. albicans like S. cerevisiae (Gresham et al., 2008; Pavelka et al., 2010; Yona et al., 2012; Chang et al., 2013) generates large scale genetic variation as a means of adaptation.”

    From The evolution of drug resistance in clinical isolates of Candida albicans. (2015) · cites this paper as Gresham et al., 2008

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Authors
Gresham, D., Desai, M. M., Tucker, C. M., Jenq, H. T., Pai, D. A., Ward, A., DeSevo, C. G., Botstein, D., & Dunham, M. J.
Affiliations
Princeton University (US)
Corresponding author
  • Botstein, David
  • Dunham, Maitreya J.
Venue
PLoS Genetics
Published
2008-12-12
Volume
4
Issue
12
Pages
e1000303
ISSN
  • 1553-7390 (ISSN-L)
  • 1553-7404
OpenAlex
W2170568588
Cited by
482
References
63
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 27 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 44 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 48 · 2012: 46
FWCI
12.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • PLoS Genetics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • National University of Singapore (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (GM071508, GM046406)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (GM071508, R37GM046406, R01GM046406, GM046406, R01GM107466, P50GM071508)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Fungal and yeast genetics research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Microbial Metabolic Engineering and Bioproduction
Keywords
experimental evolution, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, nutrient limitation, glucose limitation, sulfate limitation, phosphate limitation, chemostat, gene amplification, retrotransposition, point mutations, gene expression, fitness, metabolic pathways
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Physiological, Genotype, Glucose, Molecular Sequence Data, Mutation, Phenotype, Phosphates, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Selection, Genetic, Sulfates, Gene Deletion, Evolution, Molecular, Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis, Gene Duplication, Gene Expression Profiling, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins

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