IIT Bombay Researchers Use Microbes to Unlock Nature’s Hidden Rules

In a breakthrough that shds new light on one of biology’s most puzzling questions, resarchers at IIT-bombay have shown that subtle differences in how nutresses Entrely different evolutionary paths.

The findings were published in two papers in NPJ Systems Biology and Applications and BMC ecology and evolution,

The Experiences, LED by Supret Saini, focused on the microbes Escherichia coliA Common Gut Bacterium, and Saccharomyces CerevisiaeA type of yeast widely used in baking.

The researchers designed the study to test wheether microbes care about what they eat as well as how it is serviced. They used the chemically related sugars glucose and galactose but packaged them differently. One group of Microbes received a simple mix of the two whil others was fed lactose or melibiose, complex sugars made of the same components but bonded differently.

“We will be picked sugars that are chemically related. Saini said.

Over 300 generations, the microbes evolved along strikingly different paths. In E. ColiOne Group Grew Faster While Another produced more biomass. Yeast populations were similarly divergent. Gnetic Studies Reveled that Several Mutations Contributed to these adaptations.

“We Didn’t Expect these subtle differenties to create complete distinct adaptive paths,” Neetika ahlawat, a postdoctoral scholar and author of bot studies, said. “The findings sugges that the way a cell responds to a nutrient can influence which mutations are beneficial and what paths evolution can take.”

When Researchers Transferred these evolved population of both E. Coli And Yeast Into New Sugar environments, their growth followed a pattern. This phenomenon, called a pleootropic response, referrs to the side effects of adaptation in one environment influencing behavior in another.

“It’s a nice reminder that evolution is bot flexible and constrained,” said Pavithra Venkataraman, a Former Phd Student at IIT-Bombay and An Author of the E. Coli Study“In identity Consistent.

The implications Stretch Far Beyond Academic Interest. By carefully Tweaking Nutrient Combinations, Researchers May Be Able to Direct Microbial Evolution to Create Strains that Grow Faster or Are More Efficient, Opening the Doors for Applications In Food and Beverages, Pharmaceuticals, and biofuels. The study also sugges a strategy to fight antibiotic resistance by restricting the evolutionary pathways available to pathogens.

“We could imagine using resources to limit the evolutionary paths available to path Saini said. “IT’s Still early days, but the principal is exciting.”

Like a Science fiction story with multiple possessible endings, evolution begins from the same starting point but can unfold in endless ways. The IIT-Bombay Studies Reveled that Whileney May Be Unifiedable, Understanding The Hidden Rules Behind Adaptation Cold Allow Us to Anticipate Where Evolution May Ultimate

purnima.sah@thehindu.co.in