Characterization of an l-Ascorbate Catabolic Pathway with Unprecedented Enzymatic Transformations.

l-Ascorbate (vitamin C) is ubiquitous in both our diet and the environment. Here we report that H16 ( ATCC 17699) uses l-ascorbate as sole carbon source via a novel catabolic pathway. RNaseq identified eight candidate catabolic genes, sequence similarity networks, and genome neighborhood networks guided predictions for function of the encoded proteins, and the predictions were confirmed by assays and growth phenotypes of gene deletion mutants.

Complete Genome Sequences of Mycobacterium smegmatis Phages NihilNomen and Carlyle, Isolated in Las Vegas, Nevada.

We present the complete genomes of the phages Carlyle and NihilNomen, isolated from soil in Las Vegas, Nevada. The phages were isolated and annotated by undergraduate students enrolled in the Phage Discovery course offered by the School of Life Sciences at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.