ArticleNature2017
The dynamics of molecular evolution over 60,000 generations.
Article in Nature, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 363 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
363 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Machine learning enables prediction of metabolic system evolution in bacteria.Science advances · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- ISEmerging microbes & infections · 2026Article
- Predictive evolutionary genomics: principles, validation, and practice.The New phytologist · 2026Review
- How the social lives of bacteria affect their pangenome.Essays in biochemistry · 2026Review
- Parallel evolution of chimeric genes in microbial evolution experiments.Microbial genomics · 2026Article
- Genomic and phenotypic diversification ofMicrobiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Non-canonical gene amplifications facilitate adaptive evolution in bacteria.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- Direct estimation of genotype fitness from time series.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Why there are so many definitions of fitness in models.Genetics · 2026Review
- Resistance potentiators: Evolutionary catalysts of antibiotic resistance.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Long-term competition experiments reveal limited adaptive evolution in human cell lines.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Mutation-biased adaptation is consequential even in large bacterial populations.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Epistasis among clustered lineage-specific amino acid substitutions in the Drosophila Trio protein.PLoS genetics · 2026Article
- Article
- Environment heterogeneity creates fast amplifiers of natural selection in graph-structured populations.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Pseudogene revival drives repeated adaptation in fission yeast.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Antibiotic susceptibility ofmSphere · 2026Article
- Emergent frequency-dependent selection predicts mutation outcomes in complex ecological communities.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Module-Selection Balance in the Evolution of Modular Organisms.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
303 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The outcomes of evolution are determined by a stochastic dynamical process that governs how mutations arise and spread through a population. However, it is difficult to observe these dynamics directly over long periods and across entire genomes. Here we analyse the dynamics of molecular evolution in twelve experimental populations of Escherichia coli, using whole-genome metagenomic sequencing at five hundred-generation intervals through sixty thousand generations. Although the rate of fitness gain declines over time, molecular evolution is characterized by signatures of rapid adaptation throughout the duration of the experiment, with multiple beneficial variants simultaneously competing for dominance in each population. Interactions between ecological and evolutionary processes play an important role, as long-term quasi-stable coexistence arises spontaneously in most populations, and evolution continues within each clade. We also present evidence that the targets of natural selection change over time, as epistasis and historical contingency alter the strength of selection on different genes. Together, these results show that long-term adaptation to a constant environment can be a more complex and dynamic process than is often assumed.
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