Krašovec, R, Richards, H, Gifford, DR, Belavkin, RV, Channon, A, Aston, E, McBain, AJ and Knight, CG (2018) Opposing effects of final population density and stress on Escherichia coli mutation rate. ISME Journal, 12 (12). pp. 2981-2987. ISSN 1751-7370

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Abstract

Evolution depends on mutations. For an individual genotype, the rate at which mutations arise is known to increase with various stressors (stress-induced mutagenesis-SIM) and decrease at high final population density (density-associated mutation-rate plasticity-DAMP). We hypothesised that these two forms of mutation-rate plasticity would have opposing effects across a nutrient gradient. Here we test this hypothesis, culturing Escherichia coli in increasingly rich media. We distinguish an increase in mutation rate with added nutrients through SIM (dependent on error-prone polymerases Pol IV and Pol V) and an opposing effect of DAMP (dependent on MutT, which removes oxidised G nucleotides). The combination of DAMP and SIM results in a mutation rate minimum at intermediate nutrient levels (which can support 7 × 108 cells ml-1). These findings demonstrate a strikingly close and nuanced relationship of ecological factors-stress and population density-with mutation, the fuel of all evolution.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: This is the final published version of the article (version of record). It first appeared online via Springer at http://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-018-0237-3 - please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences
Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
Q Science > QR Microbiology
T Technology > T Technology (General)
Divisions: Faculty of Natural Sciences > School of Computing and Mathematics
Related URLs:
Depositing User: Symplectic
Date Deposited: 30 Aug 2018 15:22
Last Modified: 06 Dec 2018 12:19
URI: https://eprints.keele.ac.uk/id/eprint/5257

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