Experimental evolution and resequencing analysis of yeast

Abstract

Experimental evolution of microbes is a powerful tool to study adaptation to strong selection, the mechanism of evolution and the development of new traits. The development of high-throughput sequencing methods has given researchers a new ability to cheaply and easily identify mutations genome wide that are selected during the course of experimental evolution. Here we provide a protocol for conducting experimental evolution of yeast using chemostats, including fitness measurement and whole genome sequencing of evolved clones or populations collected during the experiment. Depending on the number of generations appropriate for the experiment, the number of samples tested and the sequencing platform, this protocol takes from 1 month to several months to be completed, with the possibility of processing several strains or mutants at once.