Interplay between phenotypic variability and population genetics in bacteria

Genetically identical bacterial cells, even in identical environments, can display significant variability in their phenotypic behaviors such as their growth rates and division times. The statistics of these phenotypic behaviors are set by the environment as well as the genotype. The fate of a new mutation in a homogenous population is significantly affected by the short transient dynamics at low copy numbers which is heavy influenced by the phenotypic variability. In this talk, we discuss what aspects of variability in growth and divisions of single cells affect population genetics and are in turn under selection pressure.