The Luria-Delbrück Fluctuation Test as a Classroom Investigation in Darwinian Evolution-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

The Luria-Delbrück Fluctuation Test as a Classroom Investigation in Darwinian Evolution

Published:2015-10-01 Issue:8 Volume:77 Page:614-619
ISSN:0002-7685
Container-title:The American Biology Teacher
language:en
Short-container-title:

Author:

Smith George P.¹,Golomb Miriam²,Billstein Sidney K.³,Smith Stephen Montgomery⁴

Affiliation:

1. GEORGE P. SMITH is Emeritus Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri, Tucker Hall, Columbia, MO 65211; e-mail smithgp@missouri.edu.

2. MIRIAM GOLOMB is Emerita Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri, Tucker Hall, Columbia, MO 65211; e-mail GolombM@missouri.edu.

3. SIDNEY K. BILLSTEIN works for the American National Insurance Company, 1949 E Sunshine St., Springfield, MO 65899; e-mail sidneybillstein@outlook.com.

4. STEPHEN MONTGOMERY SMITH is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Missouri, Mathematical Sciences Building, Columbia, MO 65211; e-mail stephen@missouri.edu. Smith, Golomb and Montgomery

Abstract

Microbial cultures swiftly adapt to lethal agents such as antibiotics or viruses by acquiring resistance mutations. Does this remarkable adaptability require a Lamarckian explanation, whereby the agent specifically directs resistance mutations? Soon after the question arose, Luria and Delbrück devised a clever experiment, the fluctuation test, that answered this question in the negative: microbial adaptation, they showed, is entirely consistent with a Darwinian explanation. Their 1943 article is a classic of biology literature, with practical and theoretical implications that continue to expand today. Implementing an updated fluctuation test in a college teaching lab provides a simple experimental setting in which beginning students learn to apply basic principles of evolutionary biology and scientific reasoning, while gaining hands-on experience in core technical advances of contemporary life science.

Publisher

University of California Press

Subject

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous),Education

Link

http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/77/8/614/58875/abt_2015_77_8_8.pdf

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2. Luria, S.E. & Delbrück, M. (1943). Mutations of bacteria from virus sensitivity to virus resistance. Genetics, 28, 491–511.

3. Mead, L.S. & Scott, E.C. (2010). Problem concepts in evolution part I: purpose and design. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 3, 78–81.

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