[MOS] April 19, 2011

[Zina M Queen]

Seminar on

Modern Optics and Spectroscopy

Cooperation and reversibility in microbial evolution

Jeff Gore,Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

12:00 – 1:00 p.m.




Quantitative experiments with microbes are providing new opportunities to test fundamental theories in evolution. In this talk I will describe recent experiments in which we have used antibiotic resistance in bacteria as a model system to probe 1) the degree to which evolution is reversible and 2) the conditions required for the evolution of cooperative behaviors. In the first project, we are investigating whether bacterial adaptations to an antibiotic can be reversed by adapting to a second antibiotic environment.  In the second project, we are studying how bacteria cooperatively inactivate antibiotics.  The cooperative nature of this growth means that bacterial "cheating" limits the evolution of antibiotic resistance.  We find that in many cases a cheater strain lacking the plasmid conferring resistance is able to take advantage of and outgrow a population of resistant bacteria.



Grier Room, MIT Bldg 34-401
Refreshments served after the lecture
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