Costs and benefits of high mutation rates: adaptive evolution of bacteria in the mouse gut.
We have shown that bacterial mutation rates change during the experimental colonization of the mouse gut. A high mutation rate was initially beneficial because it allowed faster adaptation, but this benefit disappeared once adaptation was achieved. Mutator bacteria accumulated mutations that, although neutral in the mouse gut, are often deleterious in secondary environments. Consistently, the competitiveness of mutator bacteria is reduced during transmission to and re-colonization of similar hosts. The short-term advantages and long-term disadvantages of mutator bacteria could account for their frequency in nature.
E9916, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Faculté de Médicine "Necker Enfants Malades," Université René Descartes-Paris V, 156 Rue de Vaugirard, 75015 Paris, France.
A
A
Giraud
I
I
Matic
O
O
Tenaillon
A
A
Clara
M
M
Radman
M
M
Fons
F
F
Taddei
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D020137:Base Pair Mismatch; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000235:genetics*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005856:Germ-Free Life; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology*; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D051719:MutS DNA Mismatch-Binding Protein; D009154:Mutation
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases; D051719:MutS DNA Mismatch-Binding Protein; C497175:MutS protein, E coli