New paper: 16S rRNA: rRNA gene ratios and active cell staining in root-associated soils

Congrats to ShadeLab and Plant Resilience Institute post-doc Dr. Alan Bowsher for his latest publication!

Title: 16S rRNA:rRNA gene ratios and cell activity staining reveal consistent patterns of microbial activity in plant-associated soil.

Why we're excited about it: This is a methods piece that compares two common methods to assess relative changes in microbial community activity, and find that, when there are relatively large changes in activity, both methods generally agree. While there remains a lot of healthy discussion about biases with 16S rRNA: rRNA gene ratios to assess relative changes in activity, this work suggests that it is acceptable when used in the context of a time series or controlled experimental design.