Jessica M. Blanton

TL;DR: Assessment of gut microbiomes from ∼900 vertebrate species, including 315 mammals and 491 birds, concludes that host-gut microbiome phylosymbiosis depends on factors convergently absent in birds and bats, potentially associated with physiological adaptations to flight.

TL;DR: The results establish the genetic and molecular foundation for the production of PBDEs in one of the most abundant natural sources of these molecules, further setting the stage for a metagenomic-based inventory of other PBDE sources in the marine environment.

TL;DR: The hypothesis that hadal trenches contain unique microbial biodiversity through analyses of the communities present in the bottom waters of the Kermadec and Mariana trenches is evaluated, concluding that the distinct pelagic communities residing in these two trenches reflect both cosmopolitan hadal bathytypes and ubiquitous genera found throughout the water column.

TL;DR: The hypothesis that there is connectivity between sediment microbial populations inhabiting the Mariana and Kermadec trenches is supported while showing that both whole communities and specific microbial lineages vary between trench of collection and sediment horizon depth.

TL;DR: This work reconstructed multiple genome sequences from four different sponge genera and compared them to recently reported, uncharacterized Poribacteria genomes from the open ocean, discovering shared and unique functional characteristics.