MBE Advance Access published online on November 20, 2007
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msm256
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Research Article |
Starvation induces genomic rearrangements and starvation-resilient phenotype in yeast.
(UC Berkeley), Molecular Sciences Institute, University of Montana
Health Sciences 301, Department of Biologocal Sciences, University of Montana, 32 Campus Dr, Missoula MT 59812, phone number: 5108477813, FAX number: 212-659-0765
Evgueny Kroll, (corresponding author) current address: email: evgueny.kroll{at}mso.umt.edu
Received for publication August 5, 2007. Revision received November 12, 2007. Accepted for publication November 14, 2007.
Evolution has shaped a wide variety of genomes across eukaryotic taxa. However, the forces that shape the genomes are generally unknown. Since organisms in nature commonly experience prolonged periods of nutrient depletion, we posit that diverse demographic, physiological and genomic responses to starvation can occur. To test for these possibilities, we subjected replicate yeast populations to prolonged starvation. We observed that clones repeatedly gave rise to descendants that were karyotypically diverse. After a one-month starvation period, approximately 70% of randomly isolated members of starved populations harbored one or more genomic rearrangements. Further we found that 5 out of 16 karyotypically-differentiated groups of isolates from starved populations were more resilient to starvation than non-starved clones and their common ancestor. Phylogenetic analysis of these isolates suggests that genomic rearrangements which arose during starvation can be adaptive in the context of a nutrient-depleted environment. Altogether our data illustrate the profound influence of environmental conditions on adaptive genome evolution in eukaryotes.
Key Words: genome rearrangements starvation Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome evolution