mSphere of Influence: Start with an Interesting Biological Phenomenon

Abstract

Teresa O'Meara works in the field of functional genomics of Candida albicans , with a focus on host-pathogen interactions. In this mSphere of Influence article, she reflects on how papers entitled "Systematic Screens of a Candida albicans Homozygous Deletion Library Decouple Morphogenetic Switching and Pathogenicity" by S. M. Noble, S. French, L. A. Kohn, V. Chen, and A. Teresa O'Meara works in the field of functional genomics of Candida albicans , with a focus on host-pathogen interactions. In this mSphere of Influence article, she reflects on how papers entitled "Systematic Screens of a Candida albicans Homozygous Deletion Library Decouple Morphogenetic Switching and Pathogenicity" by S. M. Noble, S. French, L. A. Kohn, V. Chen, and A. D. Johnson (Nat Genet 42:590–598, 2010, https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.605 ) and "Exploring Quantitative Yeast Phenomics with Single-Cell Analysis of DNA Damage Foci" by E. B. Styles et al. (Cell Syst 3:264–277.e10, 2016, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cels.2016.08.008 ) impacted her research and thinking through pioneering functional genomic screens. These articles show the power of combining defined mutant libraries with screens for interesting phenotypes to understand new biology.