Making bacteria express green fluorescent protein - could it decrease fitness?

[Simfish]

Since it obviously takes energy and extra amino acids to express the green fluorescent protein, so it's possible that bacteria expressing GFP might have slightly lower fitness (on average) than bacteria that aren't expressing GFP.

I'm sure the effect is negligible in most cases. But maybe these is some research that shows this? And are there borderline cases where this effect might not be negligible?

 

[Nicodemus]

Since it obviously takes energy and extra amino acids to express the green fluorescent protein, so it's possible that bacteria expressing GFP might have slightly lower fitness (on average) than bacteria that aren't expressing GFP.

I'm sure the effect is negligible in most cases. But maybe these is some research that shows this? And are there borderline cases where this effect might not be negligible?

I think that being fluorescent might be more of a drawback than just taking more energy. Being highly visible even to primitive eyespots can't be a good thing if you're a bacterial colony. I don't believe that you'd notice a trend that you could be sure was due to metabolic stress, and not some other factor. I can't find studies for viability of GFP in engineered organisms, but that just says nobody bothered to check.

In the lab, they live, but I think it's safe to say that in the wild it's too complex to know how that would work. Maybe that gene confers some protection we don't know about?

 

[Andy Resnick]

Since it obviously takes energy and extra amino acids to express the green fluorescent protein, so it's possible that bacteria expressing GFP might have slightly lower fitness (on average) than bacteria that aren't expressing GFP.

I'm sure the effect is negligible in most cases. But maybe these is some research that shows this? And are there borderline cases where this effect might not be negligible?

I'm sure the transformed bacteria would be outcompeted by wildtypes; I have to keep my transformed epithelial cells separated from my 'wildtypes' as well. But that's not really the point- GFP (or GFP fusion proteins) are used to study protein dynamics.

I wonder how the GloFish do- the ones that can be bought as pets?

 

[Jim1138]

It depends on how strongly the protein is expressed. It can reduce the growth rate to zero in extreme cases. If one strain outgrows another by 1%, the first population will be about 2.7X the second in 100 generations (assuming none die).

 

[LudusRex]

I can provide some insight into this topic. The expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) in bacteria does require energy and resources, which could potentially decrease the fitness of the bacteria. However, the impact on fitness is likely to be minimal and dependent on various factors.

Research has shown that the expression of GFP does not significantly affect the growth rate or fitness of bacteria in most cases. In fact, some studies have found that GFP expression can even improve the fitness of bacteria by providing a selective advantage in certain environments.

There may be some borderline cases where the effect on fitness is not negligible. For example, in a highly competitive environment where resources are limited, the energy and resources required for GFP expression may put the bacteria at a disadvantage. Additionally, if the expression of GFP interferes with the function of other essential proteins in the bacteria, it could potentially impact fitness.

Overall, the impact of GFP expression on bacterial fitness is likely to be minimal and dependent on various factors such as the specific strain of bacteria, the environment, and the level of GFP expression. Further research is needed to fully understand the potential effects on fitness in different scenarios.