Articles of Significant Interest Selected from This Issue by the Editors

摘要

The impacts of chemical dispersants on oil-degrading bacteria are poorly understood. Using bacterial strains isolated from sediments impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, Overholt et al. (p. 518527) showed that each species had a unique response to dispersed oil, as compared to crude oil with opposing impacts on toxicity, as determined by an EPA-approved marine rotifer assay. Both strains grew with dispersant as the sole carbon and energy source. While some species have the potential to enhance the toxicity of crude oil by producing biosurfactants, these same bacteria may reduce the toxicity associated with dispersed oil through degradation or sequestration.The ability to recover spores from the letters used to deliver anthrax through the mail in 2001 was critical in the investigation following those attacks. However, today mail to high-profile government offices is heavily irradiated prior to delivery to inactivate any potential biological agents, potentially affecting the forensic utility of those materials. In this issue, Broomall et al. (p. 596607) demonstrate that spores and vegetative bacterial cells that have been inactivated by high doses of gamma radiation may still yield DNA that can be sequenced and assembled into whole-genome sequences. The work shows how even highly damaged materials can yield information to help track materials used in biocrimes to their sources.