title: Laboratory Evolution of Microbial Interactions in Bacterial Biofilms.
abstract: Microbial adaptation is conspicuous in essentially every environment, but the mechanisms of adaptive evolution are poorly understood. Studying evolution in the laboratory under controlled conditions can be a tractable approach, particularly when new, discernible phenotypes evolve rapidly. This is especially the case in the spatially structured environments of biofilms, which promote the occurrence and stability of new, heritable phenotypes. Further, diversity in biofilms can give rise to nascent social interactions among coexisting mutants and enable the study of the emerging field of sociomicrobiology. Here, we review findings from laboratory evolution experiments with either Pseudomonas fluorescens or Burkholderia cenocepacia in spatially structured environments that promote biofilm formation. In both systems, ecotypes with overlapping niches evolve and produce competitive or facilitative interactions that lead to novel community attributes, demonstrating the parallelism of adaptive processes captured in the lab.
authors.affiliation: Terrestrial Biofilms Group, Institute of Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Marivic
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Terrestrial Biofilms Group, Institute of Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Theresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hölscher
authors.affiliation: Terrestrial Biofilms Group, Institute of Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dragoš
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Vaughn S
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7726-0765
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.affiliation: Terrestrial Biofilms Group, Institute of Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany akos-tibor.kovacs@uni-jena.de.
authors.forename: Ákos T
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4465-1636
authors.initials: ÁT
authors.lastname: Kovács
mesh_terms: D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D057508:Burkholderia cenocepacia / Q000502:physiology*; D019020:Directed Molecular Evolution; D011551:Pseudomonas fluorescens / Q000502:physiology*