Alejandro Rodríguez-Gijón

The paper analyzes hundreds of Caulobacterales species to reveal ecological and evolutionary patterns, including widespread phototrophy and convergent loss of dimorphism.

The paper cultivates microbial communities from the Baltic Sea and finds that species in multi-species cultures have smaller genomes and rely on metabolic partners.

This study links genome size to microbial prevalence and community structure in freshwater ecosystems, showing that streamlined genomes promote cosmopolitanism and interdependencies.