We have finally published a manuscript which started as the Honors Thesis of Emily Savoie, a former undergrad in the lab and LSU College of Science Amborski Award winner. Emily did a lot of great work on the genomics and physiology of a poorly understood, but cosmopolitan and important group of bacterioplankton called the OM252 group. With a lot of teamwork from other students in the lab and even a few analyses by yours truly, we got a very nice paper published in mSystems entitled Ecophysiology of the Cosmopolitan OM252 Bacterioplankton (Gammaproteobacteria). In it, we combine analysis of pure culture genomes with metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) and single amplified genomes (SAGs) to explore the phylogenetics, ecological distribution, and metabolic potential of the group. We provide physiological evidence for the capability of some members to switch between chemoorganoheterotrophic and chemolithoautotrophic growth using thiosulfate as the sole electron donor. Finally, there are some very nice SEMs to show the world what at least one member (LSUCC0096) looks like (Figure 3 above).
