Zach LaTurner
@micronaut.bsky.social
Postdoc in Cress Lab @ Innovative Genomics Institute. I am interested in horizontal gene transfer and microbial community engineering to help the environment.
Have you you tried Ansa? Their platform seems to tolerate more sequences than other platforms.
October 14, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Have you you tried Ansa? Their platform seems to tolerate more sequences than other platforms.
Joff Silberg for 4. Carrie Massiello for 2/3.
June 20, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Joff Silberg for 4. Carrie Massiello for 2/3.
On the whole, RAM is an exciting tool for phage host-range studies. It could generate massive amounts of data for machine learning pipelines. Control of the barcode also means we can test many experimental conditions in parallel. Additionally, our preliminary data shows it works in lytic phages. 😉
May 6, 2025 at 10:37 PM
On the whole, RAM is an exciting tool for phage host-range studies. It could generate massive amounts of data for machine learning pipelines. Control of the barcode also means we can test many experimental conditions in parallel. Additionally, our preliminary data shows it works in lytic phages. 😉
Finally, we dug into one of the elements that determines P1 host range by characterizing hosts associated with P1s two unique tail fibers. RAM detected statistically significant enrichment of hosts infected by phages containing one tail fiber relative to the other tail fiber. 5/6
May 6, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Finally, we dug into one of the elements that determines P1 host range by characterizing hosts associated with P1s two unique tail fibers. RAM detected statistically significant enrichment of hosts infected by phages containing one tail fiber relative to the other tail fiber. 5/6
The ease with which RAM can be used in real microbial communities is one of its biggest advantages as a host identification tool. When we added our modified P1 to wastewater influent, RAM identified known hosts in the Enterobacterales family and completely novel hosts in the Aeromonadales order. 4/6
May 6, 2025 at 10:37 PM
The ease with which RAM can be used in real microbial communities is one of its biggest advantages as a host identification tool. When we added our modified P1 to wastewater influent, RAM identified known hosts in the Enterobacterales family and completely novel hosts in the Aeromonadales order. 4/6
When added to the genome of P1 and P1 phagemids, RAM was able to barcode known P1 hosts in monoculture. We also added the constructs to a synthetic community of ESKAPE pathogens to assay host potential of many organisms at once and identified a novel host of P1 phagemids in Salmonella enterica. 3/6
May 6, 2025 at 10:37 PM
When added to the genome of P1 and P1 phagemids, RAM was able to barcode known P1 hosts in monoculture. We also added the constructs to a synthetic community of ESKAPE pathogens to assay host potential of many organisms at once and identified a novel host of P1 phagemids in Salmonella enterica. 3/6
RAM is a ribozyme that can be coded into genetic constructs and which splices an RNA barcode onto host 16S rRNA. RT-qPCR can quantify the amount of barcoded 16S rRNA and amplicon sequencing the specific host species. See the recent paper in @natbiotech.nature.com for more info. 2/6
t.ly/AOiGt
t.ly/AOiGt
Information storage across a microbial community using universal RNA barcoding - Nature Biotechnology
Barcoding microbial ribosomal RNA creates a recording of gene transfer events without requiring translation.
t.ly
May 6, 2025 at 10:37 PM
RAM is a ribozyme that can be coded into genetic constructs and which splices an RNA barcode onto host 16S rRNA. RT-qPCR can quantify the amount of barcoded 16S rRNA and amplicon sequencing the specific host species. See the recent paper in @natbiotech.nature.com for more info. 2/6
t.ly/AOiGt
t.ly/AOiGt