Microbial communities are fundamental to planetary health and ecosystem processes. High‐throughput metagenomic sequencing has provided unprecedented insights into the structure and function of these communities. However, functionally profiling metagenomes remains constrained due to the limited sensitivity of existing sequence homology‐based methods to annotate evolutionarily divergent genes. Protein structure, more conserved t...

Summary Interactions between commensal microbes and invading pathogens are understudied, despite their likely effects on pathogen population structure and infection processes. We describe the population structure and genetic diversity of a broad range of co‐occurring Pseudomonas syringae isolated from infected and uninfected kiwifruit during an outbreak of bleeding canker disease caused by P. syringae pv. actinidiae ( Psa ) in...

Summary Horizontal gene transfer can precipitate rapid evolutionary change. In 2010 the global pandemic of kiwifruit canker disease caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae ( Psa ) reached New Zealand. At the time of introduction, the single clone responsible for the outbreak was sensitive to copper, however, analysis of a sample of isolates taken in 2015 and 2016 showed that a quarter were copper resistant. Genome sequen...