SEAStAR Software for Metagenome Analysis Released
SEAStAR is an open-source package of software tools for the analysis of environmental next-generation (Illumina®, SOLiD™) sequence data. Prototype versions of these tools were used to analyze the metagenomic data in our publication: Untangling Genomes from Metagenomes: Revealing an Uncultured Class of Marine Euryarchaeota. You can learn more by visiting the SEAStAR Home Page.
Positive Gene Selection in Diatoms
Julie Koester and co-authors published new findings on positive selection in diatoms. The authors were able to connect positively selected genes to the selective pressures of nutrient limitation and temperature, successfully integrating genotype with phenotype in diatoms. Click here to read more in Molecular Biology and Evolution: Positive Selection within a Diatom Species Acts on Putative Protein Interactions and Transcriptional Regulation
Investigating Silica Precipitation in Diatoms
Colleen Durkin and co-authors published on the role of diatom community composition and the transcription of key, frustule-related genes on silica precipitation in the environment. Click here to read more in Limnology and Oceanography: Frustule-related gene transcription and the influence of diatom community composition on silica precipitation in an iron-limited environmentt
Interactions between diatoms and bacteria
Shady Amin, Micaela Parker and Ginger Armbrust published the first review we are aware of about diatom-bacteria interactions . One of the figures in the review (courtesy of our own Dr. Colleen Durkin) has been chosen as the cover of MMBR .
Genome of an uncultured class of Euryarchaeota assembled from a metagenomic sample of Puget Sound seawater
Vaughn Iverson and colleagues published "Untangling Genomes from Metagenomes" in Science recently. Synopses of the study may be found at Nature News, Biotechniques, Genome Web, and the New York Times.
The Bloom and Bust Biochemistry of Diatoms
Adrian Marchetti, David Schruth & co-authors published a comparative metatranscriptome paper in PNAS exploring potential diatom metabolic adaptations to intermittent iron availability.
SeaFlow: A Novel Underway Flow Cytometer
Jarred Swalwell et al. recently published a paper in L&O Methods detailing a new class of oceanographic instrumentation he developed here in the Armbrust lab.
