Nutrient packaging alters adaptation and genetic divergence in E. coli.

Genome sequences of E. coli lines evolved in glucose, galactose, mixture of glucose-galactose, lactose and melibiose, along with the ancestor strain.The project aimed at studying how subtle changes in the environment alter adaptive trajectories.This evolutionary study is focused on three similar but non-identical environments where glucose and galactose were presented to different populations of E. coli either in the form of lactose or melibiose or in a combination of glucose and galactose. There were a total of 31 samples (30 evolved lines and 1 ancestor) evolved in glucose, galactose, mixture of glucose-galactose, lactose and melibiose environments. In each of the five environments, six lines of E. coli were evolved for 300 generations. Results from this project report a novel phenomenon, that the nature of resource packaging might alter the evolutionary trajectories of evolving populations.