MetQy-an R package to query metabolic functions of genes and genomes.

Summary: With the rapid accumulation of sequencing data from genomic and metagenomic studies, there is an acute need for better tools that facilitate their analyses against biological functions. To this end, we developed MetQy, an open-source R package designed for query-based analysis of functional units in [meta]genomes and/or sets of genes using the The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). Furthermore, MetQy contains visualization and analysis tools and facilitates KEGG's flat file manipulation.

Open source approaches to establishing Roseobacter clade bacteria as synthetic biology chassis for biogeoengineering.

Aim. The nascent field of bio-geoengineering stands to benefit from synthetic biologists' efforts to standardise, and in so doing democratise, biomolecular research methods. Roseobacter clade bacteria comprise 15-20% of oceanic bacterio-plankton communities, making them a prime candidate for establishment of synthetic biology chassis for bio-geoengineering activities such as bioremediation of oceanic waste plastic.