Daniel Petras

Community composition drives metabolic competition and Staphylococcus aureus colonization resistance in synthetic nasal communities

Abstract The human nasal microbiome is a low-diversity ecosystem whose assembly principles and mechanisms of colonization resistance remain poorly understood. Staphylococcus aureus is a member of the nasal microbiome of some individuals with variable abundance. We hypothesized th...

Microbial Degradation of Lignin Generates Iron-Binding Organic Ligands

Abstract The association of organic carbon (OC) with iron (Fe) minerals is a primary mechanism governing soil OC persistence, yet the molecular agents mediating Fe–OC binding remain poorly defined. In this study, we demonstrated that microbial degradation of lignin, one of the ma...