PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - RZ Moger-Reischer
AU  - JI Glass
AU  - KS Wise
AU  - L Sun
AU  - D Bittencourt
AU  - M Lynch
AU  - JT Lennon
TI  - Evolution of a minimal cell
AID  - 10.1101/2021.06.30.450565
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.06.30.450565
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/06/30/2021.06.30.450565.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/06/30/2021.06.30.450565.full
AB  - 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 StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.