High-resolution lineage tracking reveals coupling between intra-species and community-level population dynamics during bacterial colonization of the mouse gut
Adrian Serohijos,Université de Montréal
Tuesday December 1, 12-1pm
Zoom Link:https:/mcgill.zoom.us/j/91589192037
Abstract:Evolution is a unifying theme in the urgent medical and public health problems we face today including cancer, the rise of antibiotic resistance, and the spread of pathogens. But the ability to predict evolution remains a major challenge because it requires bridging several scales of biological organization. Potential evolutionary pathways are determined by the cellular “fitness landscape” (the genotype-phenotype relationship), but how this landscape is explored depends on the principles of population genetics and ecology.
In this seminar, I will describe a chromosomal barcoding technique that allows simultaneous tracking of ~106distinct bacterial cell lineages in an evolving bacterial population. We used this approach to study microbial populations evolving under sub-inhibitory antibiotic concentrations and consequently to quantify the balance between drift, mutation, and selection. Additionally, I will show how the barcoding technology reveals the coupling between intra-species and community-level dynamics during bacterial colonization and antibiotic treatment in mammalian gut.