Asexual microbes such as Escherichiacoli lack an efficient mechanism to exchange genetic information betweenindividuals, leading to competition between E. coli subpopulations withdiffering beneficial mutations during evolution experiments (i.e. clonalinterference). However, high frequency recombination strains containingchromosomally integrated fertility plasmids are able totransfer geneticmaterial to F- E. coliin a form of sexual recombination. Two F plasmid genderproteins, TraS and TraT, ordinarily prevent Hfr-Hfr conjugation, ensuring thatDNA transfer is typically unidirectional. In order to exploit this phenomenonto create a truly sexual strain of E.coli, we have engineered two Hfr strains to allow for efficientbidirectional (Hfr-Hfr) mating through disruption of traST. The properties and evolutionary dynamics of these�genderless� strains are evaluated to determine the experimental benefit ofsexual recombination.

Construction and characterization of a sexual <i>Escherichia coli</i> strain

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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Construction and characterization of a sexual Escherichia coli strain