This protocol describes how to maintain the Escherichia coli Long-Term Evolution Experiment (LTEE) by performing its daily transfers and periodic freeze-downs and how to conduct competition assays to measure fitness improvements in evolved bacteria. These procedures can serve as a template for researchers starting their own microbial evolution experiments.
Barrick, J. E., Blount, Z. D., Lake, D. M., Dwenger, J. H., Chavarria-Palma, J. E., Izutsu, M., Wiser, M. J. Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli. J. Vis. Exp. (198), e65342, doi:10.3791/65342 (2023).