Clostridia are anaerobic Firmicutes producing a large array of metabolites by utilizing simple
and complex carbohydrates, such as cellulose, as well as CO2/H2 or CO. Their exceptional …

▪ Abstract Mobile group II introns, found in bacterial and organellar genomes, are both
catalytic RNAs and retrotransposable elements. They use an extraordinary mobility …

Hundreds of microbiota genes are associated with host biology/disease. Unraveling the
causal contribution of a microbiota gene to host biology remains difficult because many are …

James A. Shapiro proposes an important new paradigm for understanding biological
evolution, the core organizing principle of biology. Shapiro introduces crucial new molecular …

The CRISPR-Cas9 system is a powerful and revolutionary genome-editing tool for
eukaryotic genomes, but its use in bacterial genomes is very limited. Here, we investigated …

Progress in exploiting clostridial genome information has been severely impeded by a
general lack of effective methods for the directed inactivation of specific genes. Those few …

Ribozymes are catalytic RNAs with diverse functions including self-splicing and
polymerization. This work aims to discover natural ribozymes that behave as hydrolytic and …

Clostridium difficile spores must germinate in vivo to become actively growing bacteria in
order to produce the toxins that are necessary for disease. C. difficile spores germinate in …

The recent development of the ClosTron Group II intron directed mutagenesis tool for
Clostridium has advanced genetics in this genus, and here we present several significant …

The skin represents an important barrier for pathogens and is known to produce fatty acids
that are toxic toward Gram-positive bacteria. A screen of fatty acids as growth inhibitors of …