(05/02/18) Interaction RB-TnSeq manuscript out!

Quantitative high-throughput approach for studying genetic interactions in Cyanobacteria

The broadly conserved signaling nucleotide cyclic di-adenosine monophosphate (c-di-AMP) is essential for viability in most bacteria where it has been studied. However, characterization of the cellular functions and metabolism of c-di-AMP has largely been confined to the class Bacilli.

In this paper, work led by Ben Rubin identified the cyclase responsible for c-di-AMP synthesis and characterized the molecule’s role in survival of darkness in the model photosynthetic cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942.

One exciting aspect of this paper beyond the above mentions is that it is the first time the randomly barcoded Tn mutant library in S.elongatus has been used to perform a high-throughput genetic interaction screen (IRB-Seq) to determine pathways where the signaling nucleotide is involved.

Rubin BE, Huynh TN, Welkie DG, Diamond S, Simkovsky R, Pierce EC, et al. High-throughput interaction screens illuminate the role of c-di-AMP in cyanobacterial nighttime survival. PLoS Genetics. 2018 Apr 14;4:e1007301
Links to article: Pubmed

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