Generations of microbes evolve in hours, not millennia. By speeding up Darwin’s clock, scientists have watched evolution happen in real time, and it’s changed how we understand natural selection.
I’m curious how they determined that adaptation to the environment doesn’t plateau. Seems like that would be difficult to demonstrate. Is that based on growth rate?
Great question! In Wiser et al. (2013) they plotted the relative fitness (based on growth rate) of descendants vs their ancestors. They then fit the data to two models: 1) a hyperbolic model where improvement decelerates and plateaus, and 2) a power law model that also decelerates but has no upper limit. The data best fit the power law model.
I think saying "microbes evolve in hours" is a bit of a misnomer... most evolution experiments are run for 30 days at the bare minimum in my experience.
Fascinating to see these scientific advances. I wonder what the next frontier is in evolutionary science and how this knowledge can be applied?
Awesome science and awesome write up.
I’m curious how they determined that adaptation to the environment doesn’t plateau. Seems like that would be difficult to demonstrate. Is that based on growth rate?
Great question! In Wiser et al. (2013) they plotted the relative fitness (based on growth rate) of descendants vs their ancestors. They then fit the data to two models: 1) a hyperbolic model where improvement decelerates and plateaus, and 2) a power law model that also decelerates but has no upper limit. The data best fit the power law model.
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1243357
I think saying "microbes evolve in hours" is a bit of a misnomer... most evolution experiments are run for 30 days at the bare minimum in my experience.