Dispersal of microbes from grassland fire smoke to soils.

Wildland fire is increasingly recognized as a driver of bioaerosol emissions, but the effects that smoke-emitted microbes have on the diversity and community assembly patterns of the habitats where they are deposited remain unknown. In this study, we examined whether microbes aerosolized by biomass burning smoke detectably impact the composition and function of soil sinks using lab-based mesocosm experiments. Soils either containing the native microbial community or presterilized by γ-irradiation were inundated with various doses of smoke from native tallgrass prairie grasses.

CRISPR-Associated Transposase for Targeted Mutagenesis in Diverse Proteobacteria.

Genome editing tools, through the disruption of an organism's native genetic material or the introduction of non-native DNA, facilitate functional investigations to link genotypes to phenotypes. Transposons have been instrumental genetic tools in microbiology, enabling genome-wide, randomized disruption of genes and insertions of new genetic elements. Due to this randomness, identifying and isolating particular transposon mutants (i.

Efficient and iterative retron-mediated recombineering in .

Recombineering is an important tool in gene editing, enabling fast, precise and highly specific modification of microbial genomes. Oligonucleotide-mediated recombineering via the production of single-stranded DNA can overcome the limitations of traditional recombineering methods that rely on the exogenous delivery of editing templates. By modifying a previously reported plasmid-based system for fully single-stranded DNA recombineering, we demonstrate iterative editing of independent loci by utilizing a temperature-sensitive origin of replication for easy curing of the editing plasmid from recombinant cells.

Generating Single Nucleotide Point Mutations in E. coli with the No-SCAR System.

Genetic manipulation of microbial genomes is highly relevant for studying biological systems and the development of biotechnologies. In E. coli, λ-Red recombineering is one of the most widely used gene-editing methods, enabling site-specific insertions, deletions, and point mutations of any genomic locus.

Draft Genome Sequences of Actinobacterial and Betaproteobacterial Strains Isolated from the Stratosphere.

Here, we report the genome sequences of three bacterial isolates that were cultured from aerosol samples collected at altitudes of 18 to 29 km above sea level. The isolates tolerate desiccation and shortwave UV radiation and are members of the actinobacterial genera and and the betaproteobacterial genus .