Latest Articles
Editor's Pick Research Article | Applied and Environmental ScienceProteomic Profiling, Transcription Factor Modeling, and Genomics of Evolved Tolerant Strains Elucidate Mechanisms of Vanillin Toxicity in Escherichia coliA particular problem for the biotechnological production of many of the valuable chemicals that we are now able to manufacture in bacterial cells is that these products often poison the cells producing them. Solutions to improve product yields or alleviate such toxicity using the techniques of modern molecular biology first require a detailed understanding of the mechanisms of product toxicity. Here we have studied the economically...
Research Article | Synthetic BiologySynthetic Gene Circuits Enable Systems-Level Biosensor Trigger Discovery at the Host-Microbe InterfaceThe gut is a largely obscure and inaccessible environment. The use of live, engineered probiotics to detect and respond to disease signals in vivo represents a new frontier in the management of gut diseases. Engineered probiotics have also shown promise as a novel mechanism for drug delivery. However, the design and construction of effective strains that respond to the in vivo environment is hindered by our limited...
Research Article | Applied and Environmental ScienceMetaphenomic Responses of a Native Prairie Soil Microbiome to Moisture PerturbationsClimate change is predicted to result in increased drought extent and intensity in the highly productive, former tallgrass prairie region of the continental United States. These soils store large reserves of carbon. The decrease in soil moisture due to drought has largely unknown consequences on soil carbon cycling and other key biogeochemical cycles carried out by soil microbiomes. In this study, we found that soil drying had a...
Special Issue Perspective | Applied and Environmental ScienceDetermining Microbial Roles in Ecosystem Function: Redefining Microbial Food Webs and Transcending Kingdom BarriersMicroorganisms can have a profound and varying effect on the chemical character of environments and, thereby, ecological health. Their capacity to consume or transform contaminants leads to contrasting outcomes, such as the dissipation of nutrient pollution via denitrification, the breakdown of spilled oil, or eutrophication via primary producer overgrowth.
Special Issue Perspective | Host-Microbe BiologyDigitalizing the Microbiome for Human HealthThe microbiome has recently joined the club of endocrine entities of the human body that are involved in homeostasis and disease. Microbiome characterizations are now typically included in longitudinal and cross-sectional population studies, associations with microbiome features have been made for almost any human disease, and the molecules by which the microbiome functionally contributes to host physiology are being elucidated.
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Special Issue Perspective | Host-Microbe BiologyNew Approaches to Microbiome-Based TherapiesOver the last decade, our understanding of the composition and functions of the gut microbiota has greatly increased. To a large extent, this has been due to the development of high-throughput genomic analyses of microbial communities, which have identified the critical contributions of the microbiome to human health.
Special Issue Perspective | Ecological and Evolutionary ScienceUncovering Virus-Virus Interactions by Unifying Approaches and Harnessing High-Throughput ToolsVirus-host interactions have received much attention in virology. Virus-virus interactions can occur when >1 virus infects a host and can be deemed social when one virus affects the fitness of another virus, as in the well-known case of superinfection exclusion.
Special Issue Perspective | Ecological and Evolutionary ScienceMicrobial Metazoa Are Microbes TooMicrobial metazoa inhabit a certain “Goldilocks zone,” where conditions are just right for the continued ignorance of these taxa. These microscopic animal species have body sizes of <1 mm and include diverse groups such as nematodes, tardigrades, kinorhynchs, loriciferans, and platyhelminths.
Special Issue Perspective | Host-Microbe BiologyConsidering the Other Half of the Gut Microbiome: BacteriophagesBacteriophages, viruses specific to bacteria, regulate bacterial communities in all known microbial systems. My research aims to determine how they interact with the trillions of bacteria found in the human gut.
Research Article | Novel Systems Biology TechniquesControlling for Contaminants in Low-Biomass 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing ExperimentsThe relative scarcity of microbes in low-microbial-biomass environments makes accurate determination of community composition challenging. Identifying and controlling for contaminant bacterial DNA are critical steps in understanding microbial communities from these low-biomass environments. Our study introduces the use of a mock community dilution series as a positive control and evaluates four computational strategies that can identify...