This manuscript represents the original Boucher Lab Gang’s (Paul, Fabini and Tania) first paper together! Their publication in Environmental Microbiology, “Culture‐independent tracking of Vibrio cholerae lineages reveals complex spatiotemporal dynamics in a natural population”, combines culture-independent amplicon sequencing and qPCR to study the diversity and abundance of dozens of sympatric V. cholerae strains in a single location. Kirchberger et. al finds that among many co-occurring strains, few manage to grow to large numbers on resource-rich particles, while the rest fight for the scraps (perhaps using their diverse Type VI secretion system toxins?).
Size-fractionated Vibrio cholerae population composition using culture independent techniques from a single, cholera-free environment. From Kirchberger et al., 2020.