Jessica E. Cooper

TL;DR: Examination of the sequence changes at MLST loci during clonal diversification shows that point mutations give rise to new alleles at least 15-fold more frequently than does recombination, which suggests that homologous recombination does contribute toward the evolution of this species over the long term.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that a simple time lag model provides a general, parsimonious explanation of the extensive variation in the dN/dS ratio seen when comparing closely related bacterial genomes, and a role for hitch-hiking in the accumulation of non-synonymous mutations is suggested.

TL;DR: A re-examination of the utility of multilocus sequencing, and in particular the choice of gene loci, is now appropriate.

TL;DR: Homology models of immunoglobulin-binding domains of SpA and Sbi in complex with Fc reveal the molecular basis of the Fab-independent formation of insoluble complexes by Sbi, and notes remarkable sequence conservation within the IgG- binding domains of these genes, consistent with a lack of host specificity.

TL;DR: A new evolutionary model is proposed that involves a genetically polymorphic ancestral population of S. aureus that horizontally transferred agr groups between two sub species groups near the time that these subspecies groups diverged.