Paul B. Rainey

The paper demonstrates how plasmid communities in yeast cells can become units of selection through packaging and segregation, leading to reliable heredity and an evolutionary transition in individuality.

The paper tracks microbial community dynamics on cellulose, cellulose broth, and glucose, finding stable specialist communities on cellulose and rapid succession on glucose, with comparable diversity levels.

The paper shows that adaptive mutations in Pseudomonas fluorescens require ecological facilitation from ancestral types to successfully colonize a niche.

The paper uses RNA-seq to analyze 14 WS mutants of Pseudomonas fluorescens SBW25, revealing genotype-specific transcriptional responses and highlighting the polygenic nature of the WS phenotype.

The paper describes the acquisition of mobile genetic elements by Pseudomonas fluorescens through jumbo phage-mediated transduction, revealing new insights into horizontal gene transfer mechanisms.

The paper investigates evolutionary dynamics of multicellular lineages through experiments and a computational pipeline, showing that switching between life cycle phases is crucial for maintaining fitness.

This study shows that bacterial populations can evolve enhanced evolvability through localized hyper-mutation in a cycling environment.

The paper identifies a mutational hotspot in nlpD linked to transcriptional induction of rpoS in Pseudomonas fluorescens SBW25, showing a 5,700-fold elevated mutation rate at this site.

This study shows that spherical mreB deletion mutants of Pseudomonas fluorescens SBW25 can regain fitness through mutations in Pbp1A, restoring cell size homeostasis and supporting a hypothesis about balanced transpeptidase and glycosyltransferase functions.

The paper describes strategies for barcoding populations of Pseudomonas fluorescens SBW25, including design, cloning, library preparation, and quantification of barcoded lineages.

The paper investigates the genetic structure of Pleurobranchaea maculata in New Zealand, finding significant microsatellite differentiation between northern and southern populations linked to tetrodotoxin levels, while mtDNA shows a star-shaped haplotype network suggesting a Pleistocene population expansion.