Natural selection shapes the evolution of the metabolome in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Natural selection significantly influences metabolite abundance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with approximately 28.58% of metabolites under potential directional selection.

• Why it matters: Understanding how natural selection shapes metabolite levels fills a critical gap in linking genotype to phenotype, complementing studies on mRNA and protein evolution.
• What they did: The study quantified 1,037 metabolites across mutation accumulation lines, ancestors, and wild isolates using LC-MS/MS, revealing conserved metabolite levels among wild strains despite genomic divergence.
• The result: Most metabolites are subject to natural selection, with directional selection increasing high-abundance metabolites and decreasing low-abundance ones, especially reducing amino acids and derivatives, highlighting evolutionary patterns in the metabolome.