Developing neurons acquire a complex, polarized morphology, which underlies their specialized physiology and is essential to the formation and functional connectivity of the nervous system. This entails concerted insertion of membrane material to fuel plasma membrane expansion and localized cytoskeletal reorganization to directionally extend the plasma membrane. Our goal is to define mechanisms by which distinct neuronal guidance cues influence the membrane trafficking and cytoskeletal machineries that steer morphogenesis and consequently, connectivity and behavior.
Microbial communities carry out metabolic “functions” critical to the persistence of life on this planet, through the cycling of nutrients in natural environments and host-microbiome interactions. Community metabolism emerges from a hierarchy of processes, including gene expression, ecological interactions, and environmental factors. Making quantitative predictions about community functions thus requires distilling from this complexity appropriate informative variables. In this talk I will present the results of two efforts to make predictions of microbial community functions using the features of (1) community gene content and (2) community taxonomic composition. Both investigations provide lessons about where one may find simplicity amidst the complexity of microbial community metabolism.
Last update: 9/5/2024, Ralf Bundschuh