{"id":1195,"date":"2010-07-10T08:59:13","date_gmt":"2010-07-10T08:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joswassink.nl\/insight\/?p=1195"},"modified":"2010-07-10T08:59:13","modified_gmt":"2010-07-10T08:59:13","slug":"experimenting-with-evolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joswassink.nl\/insight\/?p=1195","title":{"rendered":"Experimenting with evolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Delft Outlook, July 2010<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSuppose you come face to face with a distant ancestor and must fight to find out who is stronger.\u201d This proposition is raised by evolutionary biologist Dr Bertus Beaumont, who conducts experiments with bacteria.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Click image for .pdf download<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBacteria enable you to compare two very distant generations. I keep a suspension of bacteria in the freezer and let the rest of the colony evolve. It\u2019s sometimes possible to move on eight generations in a single day. After a few hundred generations, I can compare the bacteria with their distant ancestors.\u201d Bertus Beaumont (36) received his doctorate in molecular biology from VU University Amsterdam in 2004. He went on to work as a postdoc researcher at the University of Auckland and, with a NWO Veni research grant, under Professor Paul Brakefield at Leiden University.
\n\u201cEverything we know about evolution we know through comparative research,\u201d Beaumont states. Comparisons between fossils, comparisons between fossils and current life forms, and between existing species: the entire theory of evolution was developed on the basis of comparative observations. But scientists also like to conduct experiments to test their hypotheses. Current technology makes that possible, although patience and dedication remain essential given the number of successive generations required. Beaumont\u2019s longest experiment involved studying 500 generations. In human terms, that would take 15,000 years, taking us back to the middle of the last Ice Age.
\n\u201cI\u2019m not concerned with showing that bacteria adapt to changing conditions,\u201d Beaumont says. \u201cWe know that already. Rather, I am interested in how a complex mechanism such as a bacterium can adapt through random changes to its DNA. That is the real question.\u201d The DNA of the bacteria used in his research has 6 million genetic letters. On each division, the DNA is copied, whereupon there is a 1 in 10,000 chance of a random mutation. Most mutations have no effect whatsoever. Some make the bacteria grow less quickly, whereupon the mutation itself eventually becomes extinct. Very occasionally, a bacterium will start to grow more quickly, whereupon the entire population eventually has the same characteristic. \u201cIn that case, they have evolved one step,\u201d Beaumont summarises. In Delft, Dr Beaumont is to research the evolution of flagella. A flagellum is a sort of tail-like projection which certain bacteria have, and which they use to move around. It is rather like a tiny outboard motor. By studying only the mutations which affect the flagellum, Beaumont hopes to gain a greater understanding of the evolution of such biological nanomachines. He will also use that knowledge to make certain planned modifications. Evolution designs blind: a scientist likes to know what he is doing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSuppose you come face to face with a distant ancestor and must fight to find out who is stronger.\u201d This proposition is raised by evolutionary biologist Dr Bertus Beaumont, who conducts experiments with bacteria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[66],"class_list":["post-1195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-delft-outlook","tag-bionano-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joswassink.nl\/insight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joswassink.nl\/insight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joswassink.nl\/insight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joswassink.nl\/insight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joswassink.nl\/insight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.joswassink.nl\/insight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joswassink.nl\/insight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joswassink.nl\/insight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joswassink.nl\/insight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}