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Data from: Sign epistasis limits evolutionary trade-offs at the confluence of single- and multi-carbon metabolism in Methylobacterium extorquens AM1

Cite this dataset

Carroll, Sean Michael; Lee, Ming-Chun; Marx, Christopher James (2013). Data from: Sign epistasis limits evolutionary trade-offs at the confluence of single- and multi-carbon metabolism in Methylobacterium extorquens AM1 [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n2645

Abstract

Adaptation of one set of traits is often accompanied by attenuation of traits important in other selective environments, leading to fitness trade-offs. The mechanisms that either promote or prevent the emergence of trade-offs remain largely unknown, and are difficult to discern in most systems. Here, we investigate the basis of trade-offs that emerged during experimental evolution of Methylobacterium extorquens AM1 to distinct growth substrates. After 1500 generations of adaptation to a multi-carbon substrate, succinate (S), many lineages had lost the ability to use one-carbon compounds such as methanol (M), generating a mixture of M+ and M− evolved phenotypes. We show that trade-offs in M− strains consistently arise via antagonistic pleiotropy through recurrent selection for loss-of-function mutations to ftfL (formate-tetrahydrofolate ligase), which improved growth on S while simultaneously eliminating growth on M. But if loss of FtfL was beneficial, why were M trade-offs not found in all populations? We discovered that eliminating FtfL was not universally beneficial on S, as it was neutral or even deleterious in certain evolved lineages that remained M+. This suggests that sign epistasis with earlier arising mutations prevented the emergence of mutations that drove trade-offs through antagonistic pleiotropy, limiting the evolution of metabolic specialists in some populations.

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