Biology subjects

Sandberg, T. E.

Publications and source records attributed to Sandberg, T. E..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Laboratory evolution reveals transcriptional mechanisms underlying thermal adaptation of Escherichia coli

Adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) is able to generate microbial strains which exhibit extreme phenotypes, revealing fundamental biological adaptation mechanisms. Here, we use ALE to evolve Escherichia coli strains that grow at temperatures as high as 45.3{degrees}C, a temperature lethal to wild type cells. The strains adopted a hypermutator phenotype and employed multiple systems-level adaptations that made global analysis of the DNA mutations difficult. Given the challenge at the genomic level, we were motivated to uncover high temperature tolerance adaptation mechanisms at the transcriptomic level. We employed independently modulated gene set (iModulon) analysis to reveal five transcriptional mechanisms underlying growth at high temperatures. These mechanisms were connected to acquired mutations, changes in transcriptome composition, sensory inputs, phenotypes, and protein structures. They are: (i) downregulation of general stress responses while upregulating the specific heat stress responses; (ii) upregulation of flagellar basal bodies without upregulating motility, and upregulation fimbriae; (iii) shift toward anaerobic metabolism, (iv) shift in regulation of iron uptake away from siderophore production, and (v) upregulation of yjfIJKL, a novel heat tolerance operon which we characterized using AlphaFold. iModulons associated with these five mechanisms explain nearly half of all variance in the gene expression in the adapted strains. These thermotolerance strategies reveal that optimal coordination of known stress responses and metabolism can be achieved with a small number of regulatory mutations, and may suggest a new role for large protein export systems. ALE with transcriptomic characterization is a productive approach for elucidating and interpreting adaptation to otherwise lethal stresses.

systems biology↗

bioRxiv2018

Laboratory evolution reveals a two-dimensional rate-yield tradeoff in microbial metabolism

Growth rate and yield are fundamental features of micro-bial growth. However, we lack a mechanistic and quantita-tive understanding of the rate-yield relationship. Studies pairing computational predictions with experiments have shown the importance of maintenance energy and proteome allocation in explaining rate-yield tradeoffs and overflow metabolism. Recently, adaptive evolution experiments of Es-cherichia coli reveal a phenotypic diversity beyond what has been explained using simple models of growth rate versus yield. Here, we identify a two-dimensional rate-yield trade-off in adapted E. coli strains where the dimensions are (A) a tradeoff between growth rate and yield and (B) a tradeoff between substrate (glucose) uptake rate and growth yield. We employ a multi-scale modeling approach, combining a previously reported coarse-grained small-scale proteome allocation model with a fine-grained genome-scale model of metabolism and gene expression (ME-model), to develop a quantitative description of the full rate-yield relationship for E. coli K-12 MG1655. The multi-scale analysis resolves the complexity of ME-model which hindered its practical use in proteome complexity analysis, and provides a mecha-nistic explanation of the two-dimensional tradeoff. Further, the analysis identifies modifications to the P/O ratio and the flux allocation between glycolysis and pentose phosphate pathway as potential mechanisms that enable the tradeoff between glucose uptake rate and growth yield. Thus, the rate-yield tradeoffs that govern microbial adaptation to new environments are more complex than previously reported, and they can be understood in mechanistic detail using a multi-scale modeling approach.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2018

Growth adaptation of gnd and sdhCB Escherichia coli deletion strains diverges from a similar initial perturbation of the transcriptome

Adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) has emerged as a new approach with which to pursue fundamental biological inquiries and, in particular, new insights into the systemic function of a gene product. Two E. coli knockout strains were constructed: one that blocked the Pentose Phosphate Pathway (gnd KO) and one that decoupled the TCA cycle from electron transport (sdhCDAB KO). Despite major perturbations in central metabolism, minimal growth rate changes were found in the two knockout strains. More surprisingly, many similarities were found in their initial transcriptomic states that could be traced to similarly perturbed metabolites despite the differences in the network location of the gene perturbations and concomitant rerouting of pathway fluxes around these perturbations. However, following ALE, distinct metabolomic and transcriptomic states were realized. These included divergent flux and gene expression profiles in the gnd and sdhCDAB KOs to overcome imbalances in NADPH production and nitrogen/sulfur assimilation, respectively, that were not obvious limitations of growth in the unevolved knockouts. Therefore, this work demonstrates that ALE provides a productive approach to reveal novel insights of gene function at a systems level that cannot be found by observing the fresh knockout alone.

systems biology↗

bioRxiv2018

Multiple optimal phenotypes overcome redox and glycolytic intermediate metabolite imbalances in Escherichia coli pgi knockout evolutions

A mechanistic understanding of how new phenotypes develop to overcome the loss of a gene product provides valuable insight on both the metabolic and regulatory function of the lost gene. The pgi gene, whose product catalyzes the second step in glycolysis, was deleted in a growth optimized Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 strain. The knock-out (KO) strain exhibited an 80% drop in growth rate, that was largely recovered in eight replicate, but phenotypically distinct, cultures after undergoing adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE). Multi omic data sets showed that the loss of pgi substantially shifted pathway usage leading to a redox and sugar phosphate stress response. These stress responses were overcome by unique combinations of innovative mutations selected for by ALE. Thus, we show the coordinated mechanisms from genome to metabolome that lead to multiple optimal phenotypes after loss of a major gene product.\n\nImportanceA mechanistic understanding of how new phenotypes develop to overcome the loss of a gene product provides valuable insight on both the metabolic and regulatory function of the lost gene. The pgi gene, whose product catalyzes the second step in glycolysis, was deleted in a growth optimized Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 strain. Eight replicate adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) resulted in eight phenotypically distinct endpoints that were able to overcome the gene loss. Utilizing multi-omics analysis, we show the coordinated mechanisms from genome to metabolome that lead to multiple optimal phenotypes after loss of a major gene product.

systems biology↗

bioRxiv2018

Enzyme promiscuity shapes evolutionary innovation and optimization

Evidence suggests that novel enzyme functions evolved from low-level promiscuous activities in ancestral enzymes. Yet, the evolutionary dynamics and physiological mechanisms of how such side activities contribute to systems-level adaptations are poorly understood. Furthermore, it remains untested whether knowledge of an organisms promiscuous reaction set ( underground metabolism) can aid in forecasting the genetic basis of metabolic adaptations. Here, we employ a computational model of underground metabolism and laboratory evolution experiments to examine the role of enzyme promiscuity in the acquisition and optimization of growth on predicted non-native substrates in E. coli K-12 MG1655. After as few as 20 generations, the evolving populations repeatedly acquired the capacity to grow on five predicted novel substrates-D-lyxose, D-2-deoxyribose, D-arabinose, m-tartrate, and monomethyl succinate-none of which could support growth in wild-type cells. Promiscuous enzyme activities played key roles in multiple phases of adaptation. Altered promiscuous activities not only established novel high-efficiency pathways, but also suppressed undesirable metabolic routes. Further, structural mutations shifted enzyme substrate turnover rates towards the new substrate while retaining a preference for the primary substrate. Finally, genes underlying the phenotypic innovations were accurately predicted by genome-scale model simulations of metabolism with enzyme promiscuity. Computational approaches will be essential to synthesize the complex role of promiscuous activities in applied biotechnology and in models of evolutionary adaptation.

systems biology↗