期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:2017
卷号:114
期号:48
页码:12773-12778
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1712999114
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:Populations with large mutation supplies adapt via the “greedy” substitution of the fittest genotype available, leading to fast and repeatable short-term responses. At longer time scales, smaller mutation supplies may in theory lead to larger improvements when distant high-fitness genotypes more readily evolve from lower-fitness intermediates. Here we test for long-term adaptive benefits from small mutation supplies using in vitro evolution of an antibiotic-degrading enzyme in the presence of a novel antibiotic. Consistent with predictions, large mutant libraries cause rapid initial adaptation via the substitution of cohorts of mutations, but show later deceleration and convergence. Smaller libraries show on average smaller initial, but also more variable, improvements, with two lines yielding alleles with exceptionally high resistance levels. These two alleles share three mutations with the large-library alleles, which are known from previous work, but also have unique mutations. Replay evolution experiments and analyses of the adaptive landscape of the enzyme suggest that the benefit resulted from a combination of avoiding mutational cohorts leading to local peaks and chance. Our results demonstrate adaptive benefits from limited mutation supplies on a rugged fitness landscape, which has implications for artificial selection protocols in biotechnology and argues for a better understanding of mutation supplies in clinical settings.