Charles H. D. Williamson

This paper reconstructs the genomic evolution of a Clostridium botulinum strain used for industrial botulinum neurotoxin production, identifying key mutations that drove its domestication and adaptation.

This study uses whole genome sequencing to analyze C. difficile isolates and identifies multiple introductions and transmission events in a healthcare network, highlighting genetic variability and antimicrobial resistance.

The paper identifies a botulinum-neurotoxin-like gene cluster in an Enterococcus sp. genome, similar to known BoNT gene clusters but with unknown pathogenic potential.

The paper simulates short read assemblies of bacterial genomes to assess genome reduction effects and finds up to 25% reduction in some assemblies, correlated with repeat structure.