D. T. Schmidtke

Analysis and culturing of the prototypic crAssphage reveals a phage-plasmid lifestyle

This study characterizes the crAssphage lifestyle as a phage-plasmid, demonstrating its persistence in the gut microbiome without causing host lysis or chromosomal integration.

Tomato brown rugose fruit virus Mo gene is a novel microbial source tracking marker

The paper designs and tests novel viral microbial source tracking markers based on ToBRFV genomes, finding they are sensitive, specific, and more prevalent in human stool and wastewater than existing markers.

Paths to adaptation under fluctuating nitrogen starvation: The spectrum of adaptive mutations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is shaped by transposons and microhomology-mediated recombination

This study examines adaptive mutations in yeast under fluctuating nitrogen conditions, finding that transposons and microhomology-mediated recombination contribute significantly to adaptation.

The novel anti-CRISPR AcrIIA22 relieves DNA torsion in target plasmids and impairs SpyCas9 activity

The paper identifies AcrIIA22 as an anti-CRISPR protein that inhibits SpyCas9 by relieving DNA torsion in plasmids.

Acquired interbacterial defense systems protect against interspecies antagonism in the human gut microbiome

Functional metagenomics-guided discovery of potent Cas9 inhibitors in the human microbiome

The paper identifies potent Cas9 inhibitors from human microbiomes using functional metagenomics, discovering AcrIIA11 as a strong inhibitor with a novel mechanism.