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PMID: 10973474 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Mutators and sex in bacteria: conflict between adaptive strategies.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ·Vol. 97 ·No. 19 ·2000-09-12 ·Pages 10465-70

Tenaillon O, Le Nagard H, Godelle B, Taddei F

Abstract

Bacterial mutation rates can increase and produce genetic novelty, as shown by in vitro and in silico experiments. Despite the cost due to a heavy deleterious mutation load, mutator alleles, which increase the mutation rate, can spread in asexual populations during adaptation because they remain associated with the rare favorable mutations they generate. This indirect selection for a genetic system generating diversity (second-order selection) is expected to be highly sensitive to changes in the dynamics of adaptation. Here we show by a simulation approach that even rare genetic exchanges, such as bacterial conjugation or transformation, can dramatically reduce the selection of mutators. Moreover, drift or competition between the processes of mutation and recombination in the course of adaptation reveal how second-order selection is unable to optimize the rate of generation of novelty.

MeSH Terms
Adaptation, Physiological Bacteria/genetics Bacterial Physiological Phenomena Genome, Bacterial Mutation
Authors & Affiliations
4 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Tenaillon O
Laboratoire de Mutagenèse, Institut J. Monod, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paris 7, Paris, France. tenaillon@necker.fr
Le Nagard H
Godelle B
Taddei F
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Article Info
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Abbr.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN
0027-8424
DOI
10.1073/pnas.180063397
Email
tenaillon@necker.fr
Published
2000-09-12
Pages
10465-70
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
7505876
PMCID
PMC27047
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1073/pnas.180063397 PMC Full Text View journal details
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