David Baltrus
· ProfessorUniversity of Arizona · Botany and Plant Sciences
Active 2003–2025
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About
Professor David Baltrus leads a research lab that emphasizes an open and inclusive environment where ideas can be freely discussed and vigorous scientific discourse is encouraged. He prioritizes respect among lab members and the broader community, fostering a culture that values diversity, equality, and acceptance. His management style is characterized by a non-micromanaging approach, allowing lab members autonomy in their work while remaining engaged and enthusiastic about new data, ideas, and experimental directions. Professor Baltrus is committed to supporting a healthy work-life balance for his researchers, recognizing the importance of mental and physical health alongside scientific progress. His goal is to provide a variety of experimental suggestions to push the boundaries of knowledge, particularly during critical discussions related to manuscripts, papers, and grants.
Research topics
- Biology
- Genetics
- Botany
- Computer Science
- Microbiology
- Computational biology
- World Wide Web
- Database
- Evolutionary biology
- Chemistry
Selected publications
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · 2021 · 93 citations
Senior authorCorrespondingNaturally occurring plasmids come in different sizes. The smallest are less than a kilobase of DNA, while the largest can be over three orders of magnitude larger. Historically, research has tended to focus on smaller plasmids that are usually easier to isolate, manipulate and sequence, but with improved genome assemblies made possible by long-read sequencing, there is increased appreciation that very large plasmids-known as megaplasmids-are widespread, diverse, complex, and often encode key tra…
IMG/PR: a database of plasmids from genomes and metagenomes with rich annotations and metadata
Nucleic Acids Research · 2023 · 87 citations
Plasmids are mobile genetic elements found in many clades of Archaea and Bacteria. They drive horizontal gene transfer, impacting ecological and evolutionary processes within microbial communities, and hold substantial importance in human health and biotechnology. To support plasmid research and provide scientists with data of an unprecedented diversity of plasmid sequences, we introduce the IMG/PR database, a new resource encompassing 699 973 plasmid sequences derived from genomes, metagenomes…
Thiosulfinate Tolerance Is a Virulence Strategy of an Atypical Bacterial Pathogen of Onion
Current Biology · 2020 · 63 citations
mSystems · 2022 · 25 citations
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Interspecies killing activity of Pseudomonas syringae tailocins
Microbiology · 2022 · 22 citations
Senior authorCorrespondingtailocins and establish a platform for further investigations into the evolution of tailocin host range and strain specificity.
Recent grants
How a phage-derived weapon system shapes interbacterial interactions within and across species
NSF · $550k · 2019–2023
NSF · $653k · 2014–2019
NIH · $142k · 2010
Frequent coauthors
- 32 shared
Meara Clark
University of Arizona
- 28 shared
Kevin Dougherty
Foundation Medicine (United States)
- 28 shared
Brian A. Smith
University of Minnesota
- 26 shared
Kevin L. Hockett
Pennsylvania State University
- 19 shared
Brian H. Kvitko
Plant (United States)
- 17 shared
A. Elizabeth Arnold
University of Arizona
- 14 shared
Jeffery L. Dangl
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- 13 shared
Joseph E. Spraker
Paragon Genomics (United States)
Education
- 2006
PhD, Ecology and Evolution
University of Oregon
- 2001
B.A., Biology
University of Delaware
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