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Relaxed natural selection alone does not permit transposable element expansion within 4,000 generations in Escherichia coli

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Abstract

Insertion sequences (ISs) are transposable genetic elements in bacterial genomes. IS elements are common among bacteria but are generally rare within free-living species, probably because of the negative fitness effects they have on their hosts. Conversely, ISs frequently proliferate in intracellular symbionts and pathogens that recently transitioned from a free-living lifestyle. IS elements can profoundly influence the genomic evolution of their bacterial hosts, although it is unknown why they often expand in intracellular bacteria. We designed a laboratory evolution experiment with Escherichia coli K-12 to test the hypotheses that IS elements often expand in intracellular bacteria because of relaxed natural selection due to (1) their generally small effective population sizes (N e) and thus enhanced genetic drift, and (2) their nutrient rich environment, which makes many biosynthetic genes unnecessary and thus selectively neutral territory for IS insertion. We propagated 12 populations under four experimental conditions: large N e versus small N e, and nutrient rich medium versus minimal medium. We found that relaxed selection over 4,000 generations was not sufficient to permit IS element expansion in any experimental population, thus leading us to hypothesize that IS expansion in intracellular symbionts may often be spurred by enhanced transposition rates, possibly due to environmental stress, coupled with relaxed natural selection.

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Acknowledgments

We thank J. Boyer, B. Jackson, K. McConnell, and G. Voltaire for assistance in the lab, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grant 1R15GM081862-01A1. This is contribution number 255 of the Louis Calder Center—Biological Field Station, Fordham University.

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  1. Gordon R. Plague

    Present address: Department of Biology, State University of New York at Potsdam, Potsdam, NY, 13676, USA

  2. Kevin M. Dougherty

    Present address: School of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Louis Calder Center—Biological Field Station, Department of Biological Sciences, Fordham University, Armonk, NY, 10504, USA

    Gordon R. Plague, Kevin M. Dougherty, Krystal S. Boodram, Samantha E. Boustani, Huansheng Cao, Sarah R. Manning & Camille C. McNally

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Plague, G.R., Dougherty, K.M., Boodram, K.S. et al. Relaxed natural selection alone does not permit transposable element expansion within 4,000 generations in Escherichia coli . Genetica 139, 895–902 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10709-011-9593-x

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