This study identifies microbial community signatures associated with Listeria spp. detection in German meat processing facilities, highlighting drains as key niches and linking specific taxa to Listeria presence.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology · Aug 28, 2026Peer-reviewedMicrobiology

Antimicrobial Resistance Profiling and Phenotypic Characterization of Archived Clinical Bacillus paranthracis Strains

Pierre A Michel, Tucker Maxson, Vasanta Chivukula, Will A. Overholt, Luz Karime Medina Córdoba, Stephanie Ayodele-Abiola, John McQuiston, Cari A. Beesley, Melissa E. Bell, Victoria Caban Figueroa, Julia V. Bugrysheva, Tyler Chandross-Cohen, Zachary Weiner, Laura M. Carroll, Jasna Kovač, David Sue

This study characterizes 20 archived B. paranthracis clinical strains, highlighting phenotypic similarities and differences with B. anthracis and assessing MinION sequencing for antimicrobial resistance detection.

Microbiology Spectrum · Jul 10, 2026Peer-reviewedMicrobiology

Soilless system design impacts the diversity and composition of microbiota

Auja Bywater, Aline Novaski Seffrin, Jordan E. Bisanz, Francesco Di Gioia, Jasna Kovač

This study examines how different soilless farming systems and seasonal conditions affect microbial communities in nutrient solutions and plant leaves.

bioRxiv · Feb 19, 2026 · PreprintMicrobiology

Single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with cytotoxicity of Bacillus cereus group strains in Caco-2 cells

Cassidy R. Prince, Taejung Chung, Kayla Kimble, Tyler Chandross-Cohen, Martin Wiedmann, Sophia Johler, Jasna Kovač

This study identifies SNPs in enterotoxin genes that better predict cytotoxicity of B. cereus group strains in Caco-2 cells than enterotoxin gene presence alone.

bioRxiv · Feb 14, 2025 · PreprintMicrobiology

Ecology of prophage-like elements in Bacillus subtilis at global and local geographical scale

Polonca Štefanič, Eva Stare, Valentina A. Floccari, Jasna Kovač, Robert Hertel, Ulisses Nunes da Rocha, Ákos T. Kovács, Ines Mandić-Mulec, Mikael Lenz Strube, Anna Dragoš

This study investigates prophage-like elements in Bacillus subtilis across global and local scales, revealing their diversity, integration patterns, and potential impact on host evolution and physiology.

bioRxiv · Jul 3, 2024 · PreprintMicrobiology

kmerDB: A Database Encompassing the Set of Genomic and Proteomic Sequence Information for Each Species

Ioannis Mouratidis, Fotis A. Baltoumas, Nikol Chantzi, Michail Patsakis, Candace S. Y. Chan, Austin Montgomery, Maxwell A. Konnaris, Eleni Aplakidou, George C. Georgakopoulos, Anshuman Das, Dionysios V. Chartoumpekis, Jasna Kovač, Georgios A. Pavlopoulos, Ilias Georgakopoulos‐Soares

kmerDB provides a database of genomic and proteomic sequence information, including kmers, quasi-primes, and primes, for 45,785 genomes and 22,386 proteomes.

Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal · Apr 21, 2024Peer-reviewedGenomics

Comparison of the performance of multiple whole-genome sequence-based tools for the identification of Bacillus cereus sensu stricto biovar Thuringiensis

Taejung Chung, Abimel Salazar, Grant Harm, Sophia Johler, Laura M. Carroll, Jasna Kovač

This study evaluates four bioinformatics tools for detecting crystal protein-encoding genes in Bacillus cereus s.s. biovar Thuringiensis using whole-genome sequencing data, finding IDOPS performs best overall.

bioRxiv · Jan 23, 2024 · PreprintBioinformatics