The FLUXNET2015 dataset and the ONEFlux processing pipeline for eddy covariance data

The FLUXNET2015 dataset provides ecosystem-scale data on CO2, water, and energy exchange between the biosphere and the atmosphere, and other meteorological and biological measurements, from 212 sites around the globe (over 1500 site-years, up to and including year 2014). These sites, independently managed and operated, voluntarily contributed their data to create global datasets. Data were quality controlled and processed using uniform methods, to improve consistency and intercomparability across sites. The dataset is already being used in a number of applications, including ecophysiology studies, remote sensing studies, and development of ecosystem and Earth system models. FLUXNET2015 includes derived-data products, such as gap-filled time series, ecosystem respiration and photosynthetic uptake estimates, estimation of uncertainties, and metadata about the measurements, presented for the first time in this paper. In addition, 206 of these sites are for the first time distributed under a Creative Commons (CC-BY 4.0) license. This paper details this enhanced dataset and the processing methods, now made available as open-source codes, making the dataset more accessible, transparent, and reproducible.Peer reviewe

Identification and characterization of mycobacteriophage L5 excisionase

The well-characterized mycobacteriophage L5 forms stable lysogens in Mycobacterium smegmatis. Establishment of lysogeny involves integration of the phage genome into the chromosome of its mycobacterial hosts through an integrase-mediated site-specific recombination event. As L5 lysogens spontaneously generate free phage particles, prophage excision must also occur, although an L5 excisionase gene had not been identified. We show here that L5 gene 36 encodes the phage excisionase and is a small, heat-stable 56-amino-acid protein that strongly stimulates excisive recombination both in vivo and in vitro. The ability to manipulate the highly directional phage integration and excision reactions will provide powerful tools for the introduction, curing and recovery of foreign genes in recombinant mycobacterial strains