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Updated: Mar 28, 2026

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations
Published on: February 3, 2023
Metastable coexistence of multiple genotypes in a constant environment with a single resource through fixed settings
Ram Maharjan1, Thomas Ferenci1
1School of Molecular Bioscience, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
Abstract:
The biological complexity of trade-offs has been a major obstacle in understanding bacterial diversity and coexistence. Here we reduce the biological complexity by using isogenic Escherichia coli strains differing only in a multiplication-survival trade-off regulated by RpoS. The contribution of trade-off characteristics to fitness in different environments was determined. We then designed an environment with intermediate-stress levels that elicits an equivalent fitness. We found metastable coexistence of three strains in steady-state chemostats until mutations changed the relative fitness of competing strains. Our results help explain the rich intra- and inter-species diversity of bacteria through alternative settings of relatively few trade-offs.
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