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Journal of Bacteriology, March 2007, p. 2350-2358, Vol. 189, No. 6
0021-9193/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01414-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Divergence and Redundancy of Transport and Metabolic Rate-Yield Strategies in a Single Escherichia coli Population{triangledown}

Ram Prasad Maharjan,{dagger} Shona Seeto, and Thomas Ferenci*

School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia

Received 6 September 2006/ Accepted 27 November 2006

The energetic efficiency of nutrient uptake and conversion into biomass is a key factor in the ecological behavior of microorganisms. The constraints shaping the metabolic rate-yield trade-off in bacteria are not well understood. To examine whether metabolic rate-yield settings and physiological strategies evolve toward a particular optimum in a constant environment, we studied multiple Escherichia coli isolates evolving in a glucose-limited chemostat population. A major divergence in transport and metabolic strategies was observed, and the isolates included inefficient rate strategists (polluters or cheaters) and yield strategists (conservationists), as well as various hybrid rate-yield strategists and alternative ecotypes (dropouts). Sugar transport assays, strain comparisons based on metabolomics, and Biolog profiling revealed variance to the point of individuality within an evolving population. Only 68 of 177 metabolites assayed were not affected in 10 clonally related strains. The parallel enrichment of rate and yield strategists and the divergence in metabolic phylogenies indicate that bacteria do not converge on a particular rate-yield balance or unique evolutionary solutions. Redundancies in transport and metabolic pathways are proposed to have laid the framework for the multiplicity of bacterial adaptations.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences G08, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. Phone: (61 2) 93514277. Fax: (61 2) 93514571. E-mail: tferenci{at}mail.usyd.edu.au.

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 8 December 2006.

{dagger} Present address: Department of Microbiology, 601 S. Goodwin Ave., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801.

Journal of Bacteriology, March 2007, p. 2350-2358, Vol. 189, No. 6
0021-9193/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01414-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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