M. G. Behringer

Evolution of pH-sensitive transcription termination during adaptation to repeated long-term starvation.

The paper identifies an Arg to His mutation in Rho that enables E. coli to adapt to fluctuating pH during starvation by altering transcription termination and pH homeostasis.

Trade-offs, trade-ups, and high mutational parallelism underlie microbial adaptation to extreme feast/famine

This study experimentally evolved E. coli populations under feast/famine cycles, finding high mutational parallelism and trade-offs between growth and survival traits.

Differential adenine methylation analysis reveals increased variability in 6mA in the absence of methyl-directed mismatch repair

The paper analyzes 6mA methylation in E. coli, showing increased variability and reduced methylation in MMR-deficient populations after experimental evolution.

Evolutionary dynamics of asexual hypermutators adapting to a novel environment

This study evolves E. coli populations with different mutation rates in a complex medium for 900 days and finds that higher mutation rates do not significantly increase fitness improvement despite faster genome evolution.

Microbial population dynamics and evolutionary outcomes under extreme energy-limitation

This study examines microbial survival and evolution under extreme energy limitation, finding that bacteria can persist for decades and adapt through mutation and scavenging.

Evolutionary Response to Resource Deprivation: Parallelism and Nonmonotonicity

This study shows that intermediate starvation periods in E. coli lead to distinct phenotypes not predicted by extremes, suggesting non-monotonic evolutionary forces.

Enhanced nutrient uptake is sufficient to drive emergent cross-feeding between bacteria

The paper shows that enhanced nutrient uptake by recipient bacteria, not increased excretion by producers, drives emergent cross-feeding in microbial communities.

An Escherichia coli nitrogen starvation response is important for mutualistic coexistence with Rhodopseudomonas palustris

The paper identifies an E. coli nitrogen starvation response as critical for stable mutualism with R. palustris through cross-feeding.