Abstract
Experimental evolution of microbes often involves a serial transfer protocol with repeated dilutions and transfers to fresh media to start a new growth cycle. Here we study how in silico evolved Virtual Microbe “wild types” (WTs) adapt to such a protocol, study the generic evolutionary features, and investigate how these features depend on prior evolution. All WTs adopt a balance of growth and survival, therewith anticipating the regularity of the serial transfer. We find that this anticipation can happen by means of a single lineage, or by coexisting lineages that specialise on either the growth phase or the stationary phase. Parallel experiments of the same WT show similar trajectories with respect to growth and yield, and similar biases towards diversification. In summary, all our in silico WTs show the same anticipation effects — fitting the periodicity of serial transfer protocol — but prior adaptations determines what solution is found by subsequent evolution.
Footnotes
↵* B.vanDijk{at}uu.nl