About the Authors

Philip D. Weyman

Affiliation Department of Synthetic Biology and Bioenergy, The J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, Maryland, United States of America

Walter A. Vargas

Current address: Centro Hispano-Luso de Investigaciones Agrarias (CIALE), Departamento de Microbiología y Genética, Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

Affiliation Department of Synthetic Biology and Bioenergy, The J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, Maryland, United States of America

Yingkai Tong

Affiliation Department of Synthetic Biology and Bioenergy, The J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, Maryland, United States of America

Jianping Yu

Affiliation National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, United States of America

Pin-Ching Maness

Affiliation National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, United States of America

Hamilton O. Smith

Affiliation Department of Synthetic Biology and Bioenergy, The J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, Maryland, United States of America

Qing Xu

qxu2019@gmail.com

Affiliation Department of Synthetic Biology and Bioenergy, The J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, Maryland, United States of America

Competing Interests

The employer of the authors (J. Craig Venter Institute) is considering filing a patent based on research presented in this paper. However, this does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: PDW WAV YT JY P-CM HOS. Performed the experiments: PDW WAV YT QX. Analyzed the data: PDW WAV YT JY P-CM QX. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: PDW WAV YT JY P-CM QX. Wrote the paper: PDW QX.