Multiple duplications of yeast hexose transport genes in response to selection in a glucose-limited environment |
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Authors: | Brown CJ; Todd KM; Rosenzweig RF |
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Institution: | Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow 83844- 3051, USA. |
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Abstract: | When microbes evolve in a continuous, nutrient-limited environment, natural
selection can be predicted to favor genetic changes that give cells greater
access to limiting substrate. We analyzed a population of baker's yeast
that underwent 450 generations of glucose-limited growth. Relative to the
strain used as the inoculum, the predominant cell type at the end of this
experiment sustains growth at significantly lower steady-state glucose
concentrations and demonstrates markedly enhanced cell yield per mole
glucose, significantly enhanced high-affinity glucose transport, and
greater relative fitness in pairwise competition. These changes are
correlated with increased levels of mRNA hybridizing to probe generated
from the hexose transport locus HXT6. Further analysis of the evolved
strain reveals the existence of multiple tandem duplications involving two
highly similar, high- affinity hexose transport loci, HXT6 and HXT7.
Selection appears to have favored changes that result in the formation of
more than three chimeric genes derived from the upstream promoter of the
HXT7 gene and the coding sequence of HXT6. We propose a genetic mechanism
to account for these changes and speculate as to their adaptive
significance in the context of gene duplication as a common response of
microorganisms to nutrient limitation.
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