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Genetic modification of mycobacteria is a difficult process. In this innovation, van Kessel and colleagues describe a new system of recombineering that facilitates the production of mutants in mycobacteria and mycobacteriophages.
The Ibis T5000 couples nucleic acid amplification to high-performance electrospray mass spectrometry and base-composition analysis and enables the identification and quantification of all known bacteria, all major groups of pathogenic fungi and the major families of viruses that cause disease in humans and animals. Here, Ecker and colleagues describe this new technology.
For the full potential of microbial genomics to be realized, a complete understanding of the metabolic capacities of microbial life is required. In this Innovation, the authors discuss new system-biology technologies that enable the identification of novel metabolites and their biochemical connections within metabolic networks.
