ReviewMicrobiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR2018
Experimental Design, Population Dynamics, and Diversity in Microbial Experimental Evolution.
Review in Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 92 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
92 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 196 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Additive effects of environmental and demographic variation shape the repeatability of evolution across replicated experiments.Evolution letters · 2026Article
- Bacterial Persister Cells as Evolutionary Catalysts of Antibiotic Resistance: Mechanisms, Clinical Implications, and Therapeutic Strategies.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Exploring molecular mechanisms of aminoglycoside resistance in Escherichia coli MG1655 using the antibiotic resistance growth plate.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Novel continuous experimental evolution methodology uncovers rapid resistance development and cross-resistance.npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2026Article
- Exploring cooperation among social pathogens: a computational perspective.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2026Review
- Article
- The Interplay of Biotic and Abiotic Factors in Shaping Genetic Variation atEcology and evolution · 2025Article
- Compensatory evolution to DNA replication stress is robust to nutrient availability.Molecular systems biology · 2025Article
- How thoughtful experimental design can empower biologists in the omics era.Nature communications · 2025Review
- Strengthen or Weaken: Evolutionary Directions of Cross-Feeding After Formation.Environmental microbiology reports · 2025Review
- The evolution of thermal performance curves in response to rising temperatures across the model genus yeast.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Evolving a plant-beneficial bacterium in soil vs. nutrient-rich liquid culture has contrasting effects on in-soil fitness.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Directing microbial co-culture composition using cybernetic control.Cell reports methods · 2025Article
- Stress adaptation underMicrobiology spectrum · 2025Article
- Directed Evolution of Microbial Communities in Fermented Foods: Strategies, Mechanisms, and Challenges.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Bioengineering hybrid artificial life.Frontiers in bioinformatics · 2025Review
- Loss of SeqA confers low-level fluoroquinolone resistance through transcriptional reprogramming and RpoS dependence inAIMS microbiology · 2025Article
- A reassessment of the infra-species diversity patterns in the wine-associatedFrontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Unlocking the potential of experimental evolution to study drug resistance in pathogenic fungi.npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2024Review
32 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In experimental evolution, laboratory-controlled conditions select for the adaptation of species, which can be monitored in real time. Despite the current popularity of such experiments, nature's most pervasive biological force was long believed to be observable only on time scales that transcend a researcher's life-span, and studying evolution by natural selection was therefore carried out solely by comparative means. Eventually, microorganisms' propensity for fast evolutionary changes proved us wrong, displaying strong evolutionary adaptations over a limited time, nowadays massively exploited in laboratory evolution experiments. Here, we formulate a guide to experimental evolution with microorganisms, explaining experimental design and discussing evolutionary dynamics and outcomes and how it is used to assess ecoevolutionary theories, improve industrially important traits, and untangle complex phenotypes. Specifically, we give a comprehensive overview of the setups used in experimental evolution. Additionally, we address population dynamics and genetic or phenotypic diversity during evolution experiments and expand upon contributing factors, such as epistasis and the consequences of (a)sexual reproduction. Dynamics and outcomes of evolution are most profoundly affected by the spatiotemporal nature of the selective environment, where changing environments might lead to generalists and structured environments could foster diversity, aided by, for example, clonal interference and negative frequency-dependent selection. We conclude with future perspectives, with an emphasis on possibilities offered by fast-paced technological progress. This work is meant to serve as an introduction to those new to the field of experimental evolution, as a guide to the budding experimentalist, and as a reference work to the seasoned expert.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.