Microorganisms as Model Systems for Studying Evolution

The microorganisms present on the earth today possess a vast range of metabolic activities and are often able to demonstrate their surprising versatility by gaining both new enzyme activities and new metabolic path­ ways through mutations. It is generally assumed that the earliest micro­ organisms were very limited in their metabolic abilities, but as time passed they gradually expanded their range of enzymatic activities and increased both their biosynthetic and catabolic capacity. It is a...