Global transcriptomic profiling of Desulfovibro vulgaris Hildenborough following transitions between sulfate respiration and syntrophy. Nitratidesulfovibrio vulgaris str. Hildenborough

Managing tradeoffs through gene regulation is believed to be critical for the success of a generalist in a fluctuating resource environment. To investigate this hypothesis in depth, we imposed a fluctuating environment that required a representative community of the sulfate-reducing generalist Desulfovibrio vulgaris to manage tradeoffs associated with repeated ecologically-relevant shifts between retaining metabolic independence (active capacity for sulfate respiration) and becoming metabolically specialized to a mutualistic association with the hydrogen consuming Methanococcus maripaludis. Counterintuitively, the community rapidly collapsed and went extinct because extensive gene regulation during shifts drove precipitous decline in intracellular abundance of essential transcripts and proteins. We demonstrate that extensive gene regulation can be catastrophic for a generalist when resources fluctuate rapidly, and that the extinction phenomenon can be prevented by a single regulatory mutation that could then potentially serve as a stepping stone for further adaptive evolution in a variable resource environment. Overall design: Two strains were profiled at early and mid-log phase of growth during Sulfate Respiration and Syntrophy, and after transition between them. 2 biological replicates, 24 samples