Selection and Plasmid Transfer Underlie Adaptive Mutation in Escherichia coli.

Abstract excerpt

In the Cairns-Foster adaptive mutation system, a +1 lac frameshift mutant of Escherichia coli is plated on lactose medium, where the nondividing population gives rise to Lac+ revertant colonies during a week under selection. Reversion requires the mutant lac allele to be located on a conjugative F'lac plasmid that also encodes the error-prone DNA polymerase, DinB. Rare plated cells with multiple copies of the...

Topics

• Adaptation, Physiological
• Energy Metabolism
• Escherichia coli
• Escherichia coli Proteins
• Evolution, Molecular
• Homologous Recombination