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Principles of Microbial Adaptation |
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Description and Aim Living
cells, microorganisms in particular, display an amazing capacity to adapt to
new conditions. Some exploit chance events to diversify their phenotypes in
order to prepare for sudden extinction- threatening conditions. Many
microorganisms appear to tune their physiological state to achieve a maximal
growth rate. They can allocate limited biosynthetic resources of diverse
cellular tasks in order to maximise fitness in complex
environments. Researchers
from different disciplines are currently actively pursuing to unravel the
principles of microbial phenotypic plasticity. Complementary approaches are
being exploited, most of them combining quantitative experiments and theory. What is
clear is that simply knowing the molecular biology of the associated regulatory
circuitry is insufficient. We also need to elucidate the network, its control objectives,
its physicochemical constraints and its relation to the context of cell
physiology. What was considered a dream about 15 years ago, when systems biology
started, is now becoming reality: on the horizon a single theory of microbial
phenotypic plasticity is emerging, relating concepts from several disciplines,
including evolutionary biology, control and systems theory, physics,
mathematics and cell physiology. The aim
of this workshop is to bring scientists from different disciplines together,
and use the workshop to try and formulate a unifying theory of microbial
adaptation. In this workshop we will therefore critically evaluate how the
different parts of current existing theory relate to one another, how they
overlap or differ, and which parts are experimentally best supported. [Back] |
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