ArticlePLoS genetics2014
Memory and fitness optimization of bacteria under fluctuating environments.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 132 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
132 citing papers in PubMed, 263 citations in OpenAlex.
- Time-resolved phenotyping at subcellular resolution reveals shared principles and key trade-offs across antimicrobial peptide activities.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The effect of the fitness gradient on fixation probability.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Robust antibiotic sensitization of pathogenic Pseudomonas aeruginosa via negative hysteresis in the cell envelope.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Protein overabundance is driven by growth robustness.Science advances · 2026Article
- Slow spatial migration can help eradicate cooperative antimicrobial resistance in time-varying environments.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Effects of prey quality through the life cycle of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum.BMC molecular and cell biology · 2026Article
- Growth-rate dependent response of mycobacteria to relief of inhibition by a bacteriostatic antibiotic.FEMS microbiology letters · 2026Article
- Comparative proteomics reveals hydrogenase-centered steel-dependent growth and corrosion inFrontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Diverse drought responses and evidence for stress priming in glacier-fed stream bacteria.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Trainable computation in molecular networks.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Exploring the concept of bacterial memory.Nature microbiology · 2025Review
- The E. coli escape wave in response to external ZnBiometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine · 2025Article
- Phenotypic heterogeneity in lag reflects an evolutionarily stable bet-hedging strategy.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Remembrance of phytoplankton's past.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Protein overabundance is driven by growth robustness.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Microbes as Teachers: Rethinking Knowledge in the Anthropocene.Microbial biotechnology · 2025Review
- Nutrient storage links past thermal exposure to current performance in phytoplankton.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- How memory and adaptation cost shape cell phenotypic dynamics in response to fluctuating environments.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Actionable Forecasting as a Determinant of Biological Adaptation.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Resolving spatiotemporal dynamics in bacterial multicellular populations: approaches and challenges.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025Review
72 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issuedKussel, Edo [corrected to Kussell, Edo]
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Bacteria prudently regulate their metabolic phenotypes by sensing the availability of specific nutrients, expressing the required genes for their metabolism, and repressing them after specific metabolites are depleted. It is unclear, however, how genetic networks maintain and transmit phenotypic states between generations under rapidly fluctuating environments. By subjecting bacteria to fluctuating carbon sources (glucose and lactose) using microfluidics, we discover two types of non-genetic memory in Escherichia coli and analyze their benefits. First, phenotypic memory conferred by transmission of stable intracellular lac proteins dramatically reduces lag phases under cyclical fluctuations with intermediate timescales (1-10 generations). Second, response memory, a hysteretic behavior in which gene expression persists after removal of its external inducer, enhances adaptation when environments fluctuate over short timescales (< 1 generation). Using a mathematical model we analyze the benefits of memory across environmental fluctuation timescales. We show that memory mechanisms provide an important class of survival strategies in biology that improve long-term fitness under fluctuating environments. These results can be used to understand how organisms adapt to fluctuating levels of nutrients, antibiotics, and other environmental stresses.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.