Evolution is what microbes do best - they adapt to local conditions and they thrive. Today we’re talking about some foundry tech for enhancing microbial fitness with evolution.
Short answer - yes. Adapting microbes to grow on different nutrients is a great use of this tech.
Longer answer - maybe. Not every microbe is going to adapt quickly to every carbon source. There needs to be a certain amount of core metabolic machinery present in the cell for evolution to be able to act quickly.
In the specific example you mention, E. coli growing on methanol, I'm not sure that E. coli has enough existing one-carbon metabolism to make that work. That might be a case where you would want to add an engineered pathway for processing methanol, then use ALE to optimize it. Or you'd consider starting with a different microbe that has more native one-carbon metabolism.
Can you use it to adapt E. coli to grow on alternate carbon sources? Like maybe methanol?
Short answer - yes. Adapting microbes to grow on different nutrients is a great use of this tech.
Longer answer - maybe. Not every microbe is going to adapt quickly to every carbon source. There needs to be a certain amount of core metabolic machinery present in the cell for evolution to be able to act quickly.
In the specific example you mention, E. coli growing on methanol, I'm not sure that E. coli has enough existing one-carbon metabolism to make that work. That might be a case where you would want to add an engineered pathway for processing methanol, then use ALE to optimize it. Or you'd consider starting with a different microbe that has more native one-carbon metabolism.