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Evolution of a minimal cell

View ORCID ProfileRZ Moger-Reischer, JI Glass, KS Wise, L Sun, D Bittencourt, M Lynch, View ORCID ProfileJT Lennon
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.30.450565
RZ Moger-Reischer
1Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
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JI Glass
2J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
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KS Wise
2J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
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L Sun
2J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
3Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc., San Diego, CA 92121 USA
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D Bittencourt
2J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
4Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Brasília, 70770-917, Brazil
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M Lynch
5Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
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JT Lennon
1Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
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  • For correspondence: lennonj@indiana.edu
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ABSTRACT

Possessing only essential genes, a minimal cell can reveal mechanisms and processes that are critical for the persistence and stability of life. Here, we report on how a synthetically constructed minimal cell contends with the forces of evolution compared to a non-minimized cell from which it was derived. Genome streamlining was costly, but 80% of fitness was regained in 2000 generations. Although selection acted upon divergent sets of mutations, the rates of adaption in the minimal and non-minimal cell were equivalent. The only apparent constraint of minimization involved epistatic interactions that inhibited the evolution of cell size. Together, our findings demonstrate the power of natural selection to rapidly optimize fitness in the simplest autonomous organism, with implications for the evolution of cellular complexity.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • https://github.com/LennonLab/MinimalCell

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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Posted June 30, 2021.
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Evolution of a minimal cell
RZ Moger-Reischer, JI Glass, KS Wise, L Sun, D Bittencourt, M Lynch, JT Lennon
bioRxiv 2021.06.30.450565; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.30.450565
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Evolution of a minimal cell
RZ Moger-Reischer, JI Glass, KS Wise, L Sun, D Bittencourt, M Lynch, JT Lennon
bioRxiv 2021.06.30.450565; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.30.450565

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