Coevolution with viruses drives the evolution of bacterial mutation rates Export

@article{citeulike:2051448, abstract = {Bacteria with greatly elevated mutation rates (mutators) are frequently found in natural1, 2, 3 and laboratory4, 5 populations, and are often associated with clinical infections6, 7. Although mutators may increase adaptability to novel environmental conditions, they are also prone to the accumulation of deleterious mutations. The long-term maintenance of high bacterial mutation rates is therefore likely to be driven by rapidly changing selection pressures8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, in addition to the possible slow transition rate by point mutation from mutators to non-mutators15. One of the most likely causes of rapidly changing selection pressures is antagonistic coevolution with parasites16, 17. Here we show whether coevolution with viral parasites could drive the evolution of bacterial mutation rates in laboratory populations of the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens18. After fewer than 200 bacterial generations, 25\% of the populations coevolving with phages had evolved 10- to 100-fold increases in mutation rates owing to mutations in mismatch-repair genes; no populations evolving in the absence of phages showed any significant change in mutation rate. Furthermore, mutator populations had a higher probability of driving their phage populations extinct, strongly suggesting that mutators have an advantage against phages in the coevolutionary arms race. Given their ubiquity, bacteriophages may play an important role in the evolution of bacterial mutation rates.}, author = {Pal, Csaba and Macia, Maria D. and Oliver, Antonio and Schachar, Ira and Buckling, Angus}, citeulike-article-id = {2051448}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature06350}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature06350}, day = {02}, doi = {10.1038/nature06350}, issn = {0028-0836}, journal = {Nature}, keywords = {bacterial, evolution, phage}, month = {December}, number = {7172}, pages = {1079--1081}, posted-at = {2007-12-12 20:50:55}, priority = {4}, publisher = {Nature Publishing Group}, title = {Coevolution with viruses drives the evolution of bacterial mutation rates}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature06350}, volume = {450}, year = {2007} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2051448 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2051448 N2 - Bacteria with greatly elevated mutation rates (mutators) are frequently found in natural1, 2, 3 and laboratory4, 5 populations, and are often associated with clinical infections6, 7. Although mutators may increase adaptability to novel environmental conditions, they are also prone to the accumulation of deleterious mutations. The long-term maintenance of high bacterial mutation rates is therefore likely to be driven by rapidly changing selection pressures8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, in addition to the possible slow transition rate by point mutation from mutators to non-mutators15. One of the most likely causes of rapidly changing selection pressures is antagonistic coevolution with parasites16, 17. Here we show whether coevolution with viral parasites could drive the evolution of bacterial mutation rates in laboratory populations of the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens18. After fewer than 200 bacterial generations, 25% of the populations coevolving with phages had evolved 10- to 100-fold increases in mutation rates owing to mutations in mismatch-repair genes; no populations evolving in the absence of phages showed any significant change in mutation rate. Furthermore, mutator populations had a higher probability of driving their phage populations extinct, strongly suggesting that mutators have an advantage against phages in the coevolutionary arms race. Given their ubiquity, bacteriophages may play an important role in the evolution of bacterial mutation rates. IS - 7172 JF - Nature SN - 0028-0836 EP - 1081 TI - Coevolution with viruses drives the evolution of bacterial mutation rates PB - Nature Publishing Group VL - 450 SP - 1079 KW - bacterial KW - evolution KW - phage AU - Pal, Csaba AU - Macia, Maria AU - Oliver, Antonio AU - Schachar, Ira AU - Buckling, Angus PY - 2007/12/02/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature06350 ER -