Optimal Life Histories for Structured Populations in Fluctuating Environments

1997 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. McNamara
Keyword(s):  
Life Histories ◽  
Structured Populations ◽  
Fluctuating Environments ◽  
Optimal Life Histories

scholarly journals Metabolic activity affects response of single cells to a nutrient switch in structured populations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alma Dal Co ◽  
Martin Ackermann ◽  
Simon van Vliet
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Activity ◽  
Phenotypic Variation ◽  
Single Cells ◽  
Structured Populations ◽  
Cell Level ◽  
Changing Environments ◽  
Spatially Structured Populations ◽  
Fluctuating Environments ◽  
Structured Groups ◽  
Microfluidic Chambers

AbstractMicrobes live in ever-changing environments where they need to adapt their metabolism to different nutrient conditions. Many studies have characterized the response of genetically identical cells to nutrient switches in homogenous cultures, however in nature microbes often live in spatially structured groups such as biofilms where cells can create metabolic gradients by consuming and releasing nutrients. Consequently, cells experience different local microenvironments and vary in their phenotype. How does this phenotypic variation affect the ability of cells to cope with nutrient switches? Here we address this question by growing dense populations of Escherichia coli in microfluidic chambers and studying a switch from glucose to acetate at the single cell level. Before the switch, cells vary in their metabolic activity: some grow on glucose while others cross-feed on acetate. After the switch, only few cells can resume growth after a period of lag. The probability to resume growth depends on a cells’ phenotype prior to the switch: it is highest for cells crossfeeding on acetate, while it depends in a non-monotonic way on growth rate for cells growing on glucose. Our results suggest that the strong phenotypic variation in spatially structured populations might enhance their ability to cope with fluctuating environments.

scholarly journals Dissecting the dynamics of epigenetic changes in phenotype-structured populations exposed to fluctuating environments

2015 ◽  
Vol 386 ◽  
pp. 166-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tommaso Lorenzi ◽  
Rebecca H. Chisholm ◽  
Laurent Desvillettes ◽  
Barry D. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Structured Populations ◽  
Epigenetic Changes ◽  
Fluctuating Environments

scholarly journals Metabolic activity affects the response of single cells to a nutrient switch in structured populations

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (156) ◽  
pp. 20190182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alma Dal Co ◽  
Martin Ackermann ◽  
Simon van Vliet
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Activity ◽  
Phenotypic Variation ◽  
Single Cells ◽  
Structured Populations ◽  
Cell Level ◽  
Changing Environments ◽  
Spatially Structured Populations ◽  
Fluctuating Environments ◽  
Structured Groups ◽  
Microfluidic Chambers

Microbes live in ever-changing environments where they need to adapt their metabolism to different nutrient conditions. Many studies have characterized the response of genetically identical cells to nutrient switches in homogeneous cultures; however, in nature, microbes often live in spatially structured groups such as biofilms where cells can create metabolic gradients by consuming and releasing nutrients. Consequently, cells experience different local microenvironments and vary in their phenotype. How does this phenotypic variation affect the ability of cells to cope with nutrient switches? Here, we address this question by growing dense populations of Escherichia coli in microfluidic chambers and studying a switch from glucose to acetate at the single-cell level. Before the switch, cells vary in their metabolic activity: some grow on glucose, while others cross-feed on acetate. After the switch, only few cells can resume growth after a period of lag. The probability to resume growth depends on a cells' phenotype prior to the switch: it is highest for cells cross-feeding on acetate, while it depends in a non-monotonic way on the growth rate for cells growing on glucose. Our results suggest that the strong phenotypic variation in spatially structured populations might enhance their ability to cope with fluctuating environments.

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