Figures
Four competing Escherichia coli strains in a spatially expanding population.
To quantitatively study the dynamics of competing genotypes in a population growing into new territory (a range expansion), four strains of E. coli, differing only by a heritable fluorescent marker, were mixed and inoculated onto a nutrient-rich agar plate. Over the course of eight days, cells at the front divided and formed a dense colony. The resulting image, which can be analyzed and understood quantitatively, depicts the formation of monoclonal sectors and provides insight into the evolutionary consequences of population expansions. Weinstein et al.
Image Credit: Bryan T. Weinstein
Citation: (2017) PLoS Computational Biology Issue Image | Vol. 13(12) December 2017. PLoS Comput Biol 13(12): ev13.i12. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pcbi.v13.i12
Published: December 29, 2017
Copyright: © 2017 Weinstein. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
To quantitatively study the dynamics of competing genotypes in a population growing into new territory (a range expansion), four strains of E. coli, differing only by a heritable fluorescent marker, were mixed and inoculated onto a nutrient-rich agar plate. Over the course of eight days, cells at the front divided and formed a dense colony. The resulting image, which can be analyzed and understood quantitatively, depicts the formation of monoclonal sectors and provides insight into the evolutionary consequences of population expansions. Weinstein et al.
Image Credit: Bryan T. Weinstein