Biomedical subjects

W Swenson

Publications and source records attributed to W Swenson.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

Artificial ecosystem selection.

Artificial selection has been practiced for centuries to shape the properties of individual organisms, providing Darwin with a powerful argument for his theory of natural selection. We show that the properties of whole ecosystems can also be shaped by artificial selection procedures. Ecosystems initiated in the laboratory vary phenotypically and a proportion of the variation is heritable, despite the fact that the ecosystems initially are composed of thousands of species and millions of individuals. Artificial ecosystem selection can be used for practical purposes, illustrates an important role for complex interactions in evolution, and challenges a widespread belief that selection is most effective at lower levels of the biological hierarchy.

Biological Evolution↗

PubMed2000

Artificial selection of microbial ecosystems for 3-chloroaniline biodegradation.

We present a method for selecting entire microbial ecosystems for bioremediation and other practical purposes. A population of ecosystems is established in the laboratory, each ecosystem is measured for a desired property (in our case, degradation of the environmental pollutant 3-chloroaniline), and the best ecosystems are used as 'parents' to inoculate a new generation of 'offspring' ecosystems. Over many generations of variation and selection, the ecosystems become increasingly well adapted to produce the desired property. The procedure is similar to standard artificial selection experiments except that whole ecosystems, rather than single individuals, are the units of selection. The procedure can also be understood in terms of complex system theory as a way of searching a vast combinatorial space (many thousands of microbial species and many thousands of genes within species) for combinations that are especially good at producing the desired property. Ecosystem-level selection can be performed without any specific knowledge of the species that comprise the ecosystems and can select ensembles of species that would be difficult to discover with more reductionistic methods. Once a 'designer ecosystem' has been created by ecosystem-level selection, reductionistic methods can be used to identify the component species and to discover how they interact to produce the desired effect.

Aniline Compounds↗

PubMed1983

Epimerization and stereochemistry of avoparcin.

The epimerization of avoparcin entities is discussed in some detail. The absolute stereochemistry of avoparcin is now known since the N-methyl terminal amino acid of the aglycone has been isolated and shown to exhibit negative optical rotation and hence has the R-configuration. The same amino acid has been isolated from an epimerized solution of avoparcin and found to have positive rotation and hence the S-configuration. A comparison is made of the CD curves of beta-avoparcin and epi-beta-avoparcin. Some discussion on the effect of protonation of the terminal N-methyl group on the antibacterial activity of avoparcin is included.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗