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Procedure for Adaptive Laboratory Evolution of Microorganisms Using a Chemostat

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How to live at very low substrate concentration.

¹Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Environmental Microbiology, P.O. Box 611, Überlandstrasse 133, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland. egli@eawag.ch

|August 7, 2010

Summary

Microbes in nutrient-poor waters are alive and metabolizing, not dormant. They survive by simultaneously using multiple carbon sources and minimizing energy needs, thriving in oligotrophic environments.

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Area of Science:

Environmental microbiology
Aquatic microbiology
Microbial ecology

Background:

Heterotrophic microbial growth is limited by carbon/energy sources and temperature in most ecosystems.
Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in waters is largely inaccessible to microbes, with low concentrations of available compounds (assimilable organic carbon, AOC).
Previously, oligotrophic environments were considered microbial deserts, with most cells assumed dead or dormant despite high cell numbers.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate microbial survival and growth strategies in nutrient-poor aquatic environments.
To understand how bacteria thrive despite low concentrations of available carbon.
To explore the application of flow cytometry in studying microbial communities in dilute environments.

Main Methods:

Laboratory studies with pure cultures to identify bacterial survival strategies.
Application of flow cytometry for quantifying microbial growth in natural bacterial communities.
Use of strain-specific fluorescent immunoprobes to study pathogen and indigenous flora interactions.

Main Results:

Most bacteria in oligotrophic environments are alive and metabolically active.
Bacteria employ "multivorous" strategies, simultaneously utilizing diverse carbon substrates for rapid growth.
Minimizing maintenance energy requirements is another key survival strategy.
Flow cytometry enables efficient study of microbial growth, including uncultivable members, in dilute systems.

Conclusions:

Microbes in nutrient-poor waters possess sophisticated adaptations for survival and growth.
Mixed substrate utilization and energy conservation are crucial for thriving in oligotrophic conditions.
Flow cytometry is a powerful tool for ecological studies of aquatic microbial communities and pathogen dynamics.