*A new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, has shed light on how bacterial communities evolve. The team, led by Michael Travisano, used a combination of experimental evolution and theoretical modeling to show that the evolution of a bacterial community is not simply the sum of the evolution of its individual members. Instead, the interactions between bacteria can have a major impact on the trajectory of evolution.*
To study the evolution of bacterial communities, the team used a system of two strains of the bacterium *Pseudomonas fluorescens*. One strain was green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged, while the other was not. The team then evolved the two strains together in a series of laboratory experiments.
After 250 days of evolution, the team found that the GFP-tagged strain had evolved to grow faster than the non-tagged strain. However, the team also found that the evolution of the GFP-tagged strain was not simply due to its own evolution. Instead, the interactions between the two strains played a major role in the evolution of the GFP-tagged strain.
The team's results suggest that the evolution of bacterial communities is a complex process that is not simply the sum of the evolution of its individual members. Instead, the interactions between bacteria can have a major impact on the trajectory of evolution. This finding could have implications for understanding the evolution of bacterial pathogens, as well as the development of new therapies to combat bacterial infections.
This collaborative research also involved scientists at The Ohio State University and New Mexico State University and was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Funding was provided by the Department of Energy.
