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Rapid evolution of diminished transformability in Acinetobacter baylyi.

Jamie M Bacher¹, David Metzgar, Valérie de Crécy-Lagard

¹Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology and Department of Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 N. Torrey Pines Rd., BCC-379, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. jbacher@scripps.edu

Journal of Bacteriology

|October 10, 2006

Summary

Genetic exchange is key to evolution. In Acinetobacter baylyi, competent bacteria did not adapt faster and surprisingly lost transformability, suggesting a trade-off or selection against high competency.

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Microbiology
Genetics

Background:

Genetic exchange mechanisms like transformation are vital for bacterial evolution.
Acinetobacter baylyi strain ADP1 is a model organism for studying natural competence and genetic exchange.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the evolutionary advantage of bacterial competence and transformability.
To compare the adaptive evolution of competent versus noncompetent bacterial lineages under laboratory conditions.

Main Methods:

Parallel evolution experiments were conducted using wild-type (competent) and engineered (noncompetent) Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1 lineages.
Lineages were subjected to several laboratory adaptation conditions.
Changes in transformability levels were monitored over time.

Main Results:

Both competent and noncompetent lineages adapted to laboratory conditions to a similar extent.
Competent lineages consistently evolved significantly reduced levels of transformability.
The loss of competency was observed repeatedly across independent experiments.

Conclusions:

High transformability may not confer a consistent adaptive advantage in all environments.
A potential selective pressure exists against high competency in Acinetobacter baylyi.
The loss of competency could be driven by selection for beneficial mutations or the spread of loss-of-function alleles affecting transformation genes.