{"670774":{"#nid":"670774","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"Just a few mutations are enough to help colonizing bacteria spread","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBacteria form colonies on many natural surfaces, from tree bark to our own teeth. Now, a team of evolutionary biologists in Switzerland has identified genetic mutations that enable some bacterial colonies to expand rapidly. The findings, recently reported in PLoS Biology, suggest that mutations in just a few key genes can have widespread impacts on gene expression as bacteria replicate and move into new territory.\u0026nbsp;\u201cIt\u2019s really creative work,\u201d says evolutionary biologist \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/will-ratcliff\u0022\u003EWilliam Ratcliff\u003C\/a\u003E, Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E, who was not involved in the study. \u201cUnderstanding the way that [bacteria] might evolve in nature, the complex life cycles that they possess, and how they respond to different kinds of environments can be really hard.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBacteria form colonies on many natural surfaces, from tree bark to our own teeth. Now, a team of evolutionary biologists in Switzerland has identified genetic mutations that enable some bacterial colonies to expand rapidly. The findings, recently reported in PLoS Biology, suggest that mutations in just a few key genes can have widespread impacts on gene expression as bacteria replicate and move into new territory.\u0026nbsp;\u201cIt\u2019s really creative work,\u201d says evolutionary biologist \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/will-ratcliff\u0022\u003EWilliam Ratcliff\u003C\/a\u003E, Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E, who was not involved in the study. \u201cUnderstanding the way that [bacteria] might evolve in nature, the complex life cycles that they possess, and how they respond to different kinds of environments can be really hard.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2023-10-30 15:40:24","changed_gmt":"2023-10-30 15:40:24","author":"Renay San Miguel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/post\/journal-club\/just-few-mutations-enough-help-colonizing-bacteria-spread","dateline":{"date":"2023-10-27T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-10-27T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"177585","name":"William Ratcliff"},{"id":"7077","name":"bacteria"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}