James B. McKinlay

This study identifies the regulatory mechanisms of nitrogenase in Vibrio natriegens, showing that NtrBC is not essential but important for timely expression, while NifA autoactivation suffices for nitrogenase gene expression.

This study compares mutation accumulation in bacterial monocultures and cocultures, finding that cross-feeding can limit rather than promote metabolic dependencies.

This study compares the fermentative physiology of Vibrio natriegens and Escherichia coli, finding that V. natriegens is more sensitive to its acidic fermentation products due to lacking acid resistance genes.

The paper investigates whether metabolite externalization by bacteria is driven by toxicity to the producer or reciprocal benefit, finding that adenine externalization by Rhodopseudomonas palustris is likely a physiological response to its toxicity.

This study evolved Rhodopseudomonas palustris to use formate as a carbon source, identifying mutations that enhance formate assimilation through potential CO2 concentrating mechanisms.

The paper shows that gene-loss mutants can persist in microbial communities when spatially separated from their competitive ancestors, even without a growth rate advantage.

The paper shows that bacterial quorum sensing optimizes carbon metabolism by regulating methionine and tetrahydrofolate synthesis, enhancing growth in changing glucose conditions.

The paper identifies adenine as a cross-fed metabolite between Rhodopseudomonas palustris and E. coli, revealing a purine salvage bottleneck mechanism.

The paper introduces MuGENT, a method for high-efficiency multiplex genome editing in Vibrio natriegens using natural transformation.