Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33579917›Full record

ArticleNature communications2021

Insertion-sequence-mediated mutations both promote and constrain evolvability during a long-term experiment with bacteria.

Jessika Consuegra, Joël Gaffé, Richard E Lenski, Thomas Hindré, Jeffrey E Barrick, Olivier Tenaillon, Dominique Schneider

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 66 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
66citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
20.4field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

66 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 129 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Global prevalence of mutation in theFrontiers in microbiology · 2024
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  7. Cell wall remodeling-dependent morphotype switch inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
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  13. ISAntibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
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  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. mBio · 2025
    Article
  20. Article

6 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.

Jessika Consuegra *Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, TIMC-IMAG, Grenoble, France.ORCID 0000-0002-3185-803X
Joël Gaffé *Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, TIMC-IMAG, Grenoble, France.
Richard E LenskiDepartment of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
Thomas HindréUniv. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, TIMC-IMAG, Grenoble, France.
Jeffrey E BarrickBEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-0888-7358
Olivier TenaillonIAME, UMR 1137, INSERM, Paris, France.
Dominique SchneiderUniv. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, TIMC-IMAG, Grenoble, France. dominique.schneider@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr.ORCID 0000-0003-4987-4545
Institut polytechnique de Grenoble · FRInserm · FRMichigan State University · USThe University of Texas at Austin · USUniversité Claude Bernard Lyon 1 · FR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Insertion sequences (IS) are ubiquitous bacterial mobile genetic elements, and the mutations they cause can be deleterious, neutral, or beneficial. The long-term dynamics of IS elements and their effects on bacteria are poorly understood, including whether they are primarily genomic parasites or important drivers of adaptation by natural selection. Here, we investigate the dynamics of IS elements and their contribution to genomic evolution and fitness during a long-term experiment with Escherichia coli. IS elements account for ~35% of the mutations that reached high frequency through 50,000 generations in those populations that retained the ancestral point-mutation rate. In mutator populations, IS-mediated mutations are only half as frequent in absolute numbers. In one population, an exceptionally high ~8-fold increase in IS150 copy number is associated with the beneficial effects of early insertion mutations; however, this expansion later slowed down owing to reduced IS150 activity. This population also achieves the lowest fitness, suggesting that some avenues for further adaptation are precluded by the IS150-mediated mutations. More generally, across all populations, we find that higher IS activity becomes detrimental to adaptation over evolutionary time. Therefore, IS-mediated mutations can both promote and constrain evolvability.

Indexed as

Evolution, MolecularMutagenesis, InsertionalAdaptation, PhysiologicalBacteriaDNA Transposable ElementsEscherichia coliEscherichia coli ProteinsGenetic FitnessGenome, BacterialMutation RatePhenotypeSelection, GeneticDNA Transposable ElementsEscherichia coli Proteins

Identifiers

PMID33579917
PMCPMC7881107
OpenAlexW3129163362

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.