Rafael Peña‐Miller

Conditional filamentation enhances bacterial survival in toxic environments

This study shows filamentation in E. coli improves survival under toxic stress by reducing toxin accumulation through decreased surface area-to-volume ratio.

Fitness effects of antimicrobial resistance genes in changing environments

This study measures the fitness effects of 136 antimicrobial resistance genes in changing environments and finds that oxygen availability modulates their cost.

Stress-Induced Cooperation Promotes Tolerance in Resource-Limited Auxotrophic Microbial Consortia

The paper shows that chloramphenicol promotes cooperation in auxotrophic E. coli consortia by increasing ppGpp and shifting proteome allocation toward amino acid biosynthesis and export, enhancing cross-feeding and tolerance.

Plasmids promote bacterial evolution through a copy number-driven increase in mutation rate

The paper shows plasmid mutation rates increase logarithmically with copy number, outpacing segregational drift, enhancing bacterial evolvability.

Dynamic phenotypic heterogeneity generated by delayed genetic oscillations

The paper studies phenotypic switching in Salmonella by analyzing fliC promoter dynamics, finding that oscillatory transitions occur due to regulatory delays rather than noise-driven transitions.