# mSphere of Influence: High-throughput screens to rapidly assign function to microbial genes

## TL;DR

This paper discusses how a 2015 study introduced high-throughput methods to link genetic changes to traits in fungi, enabling faster gene function analysis.

## Contribution

The paper highlights the adoption of transposon-based screening for functional gene analysis in fungi, a novel application of existing bacterial methods.

## Key findings

- The 2015 study enabled rapid mutant fitness quantification in bacteria using barcoded transposons.
- This approach inspired new high-throughput screening methods for diverse fungal species.
- It allows for correlating genetic mutations with observable traits in fungi.

## Abstract

Lori Huberman works in the field of fungal genetics, with an emphasis on investigating the genetic mechanisms fungi use to sense and respond to the nutrients and toxins in their environment. In this mSphere of Influence article, she reflects on how “Rapid quantification of mutant fitness in diverse bacteria by sequencing randomly bar-coded transposons” by K. M. Wetmore, M. N. Price, R. J. Waters, J. S. Lamson, et al. (mBio 6:e00306-15, 2015, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00306-15) made an impact on her by establishing technologies that open realistic possibilities for developing high-throughput screening methods to correlate phenotype to genotype in diverse fungal species.