A5047659535- Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
- Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- Insect symbiosis and bacterial influences
- Insects and Parasite Interactions
- Plant and animal studies
- Gut microbiota and health
- Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies
- Insect and Pesticide Research
- Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Protist diversity and phylogeny
- Clostridium difficile and Clostridium perfringens research
- Insect Utilization and Effects
- Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria
- Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Marine and coastal ecosystems
- Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Bacteriophages and microbial interactions
- COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Parasites and Host Interactions
- Microbial Fuel Cells and Bioremediation
- Marine Biology and Ecology Research
- Enzyme Production and Characterization
- Problem and Project Based Learning
- Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal
University of Georgia
2014-2025
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2010-2014
University of Hawaii System
2014
Linde (United States)
2013
California Institute of Technology
2005-2011
Parsons (United States)
2010
Auburn University
2006
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
2006
Stanford University
2006
Gene inventory and metagenomic techniques have allowed rapid exploration of bacterial diversity the potential physiologies present within microbial communities. However, it remains nontrivial to discover identities environmental bacteria carrying two or more genes interest. We used microfluidic digital polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplify analyze multiple, different obtained from single cells harvested nature. A gene encoding a key enzyme involved in mutualistic symbiosis occurring...
Up and down go the cyanobacteria Plankton move together in strikingly coordinated daily patterns, sinking at night to avoid being eaten rising surface daylight photosynthesize. Otteson et al. found similar activity patterns even smallest of planktonic organisms, such as photosynthetic bacteria (see Perspective by Armbrust). Because it's hard take regular samples open ocean, authors built a robotic sampler set it adrift for several days mid-Pacific. The captured showed immediate responses...
Viruses may very well be the most abundant biological entities on planet. Yet neither metagenomic studies nor classical phage isolation techniques have shed much light identity of hosts viruses. We used a microfluidic digital polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approach to physically link single bacterial cells harvested from natural environment with viral marker gene. When we implemented this technique microbial community residing in termite hindgut, found genus-wide infection patterns...
Significance Microbial communities regulate the cycling of energy and matter in environment, yet how they respond to environmental change is not well-known. We describe here a day life wild planktonic microbial species using robotic sampling coupled with genome-wide gene expression analysis. Our results showed that closely related populations, as well very different bacterial archaeal species, displayed remarkably similar time-variable synchronous patterns over 2 d. suggest specific cues may...
The omnivorous cockroach Periplaneta americana hosts a diverse hindgut microbiota encompassing hundreds of microbial species. In this study, we used 16S rRNA gene sequencing to examine the effect diet on composition P. community. Results show that exhibit highly stable core community with low variance in compositions between individuals and minimal change response dietary shifts. This microbiome is shared laboratory-hosted wild-caught individuals, although specimens exhibited higher...
The water column of streams hosts a unique microbial community that is distinct from the communities stream benthos and surrounding soil. This shaped by complex interacting forces, including dispersal environments in-stream selection. However, how processes structuring change over space time remains poorly understood. In this study, we characterize spatial temporal trends in composition throughout network spanning first through fifth order streams. We found headwater are compositionally...
Summary A considerable fraction of the E arth's organic carbon exists in dissolved form seawater. To investigate roles planktonic marine microbes biogeochemical cycling this matter ( DOM ), we performed controlled seawater incubation experiments and followed responses an oligotrophic surface water microbial assemblage to perturbations with derived from axenic culture P rochlorococcus , or high‐molecular weight concentrated nearby waters. The rapid transcriptional both elagibacter populations...
The gut microbiome plays a key role in host health. Therefore, it is important to understand the evolution of microbiota and how impacts, impacted by, evolution. In this study, we explore relationship between phylogeny composition omnivorous, gregarious cockroaches within Blattodea order, an ancient lineage that spans 300 million years evolutionary divergence. We demonstrate strong species identity found weaker but significant for determining similarity over extended periods time. This study...
Transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in millions deaths and declining economies around world. K18-hACE2 mice develop disease resembling SARS-CoV-2 infection a virus dose-dependent manner. The relationship between intestinal or microbiome is not fully understood. In this context, we characterized cecal lung microbiomes SARS-CoV-2-challenged transgenic presence absence treatment with M
Gut microbiome composition is determined by a complex interplay of host genetics, founder's effects, and environment. We are using omnivorous cockroaches as model to disentangle the relative contribution these factors. Cockroaches useful for host-gut interactions due their rich hindgut microbial community, diet, gregarious lifestyle. In this study, we used 16S rRNA sequencing compare gut community allopatric laboratory populations Periplaneta americana well sympatric, wild-caught P....
ABSTRACT We present a laboratory module that uses isolation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria from locally collected stream water samples to introduce undergraduate students basic microbiological culture-based and molecular techniques. This also educates them on the global public health threat organisms. Through eight sessions, are involved in quality testing sources their neighborhoods, followed by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae . By end module, should be able...
1 The American cockroach, Periplaneta americana , is a cosmopolitan insect notorious for thriving among humans undeterred by attempts to eliminate it. traits that contribute its ubiquity as an opportunistic pest, such long lifespan, expansive neurosensory capacity, and nutritional flexibility, also make P. excellent invertebrate model organism with history in neuroscience physiological research. Current genetic resources available highlight large, complex genome richly diverse...
The aquatic environment has been recognized as a source of antibiotic resistance (AR) that factors into the One Health approach to combat AR. To provide much needed data on AR in environment, comprehensive survey antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB), genes (ARGs), and residues was conducted mixed-use watershed wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) within evaluate these contaminants surface water. A culture-based used determine prevalence diversity ARB Low levels Salmonella (9.6%) Escherichia...
In this study, we examine gene diversity for formyl-tetrahydrofolate synthetase (FTHFS), a key enzyme in homoacetogenesis, recovered from the gut microbiota of six species higher termites. The "higher" termites (family Termitidae), which represent majority extant termite and genera, engage broader feeding nesting styles than "lower" Previous studies homoacetogenesis have focused on wood-feeding lower termites, preponderance FTHFS sequences were related to those acetogenic treponemes. While...
Significance Most environments host a poorly understood microbial diversity. In recent years, work on gene inventories and metagenomics has revealed much about the species metabolic genes that may be present in situ; however, connecting with environmental function lagged. Here combination of emerging single-cell other approaches gut microbes catalyze key activity their termite hosts. The results implicate previously unappreciated deltaproteobacterium living protist.
The macronutrient composition of a host's diet shapes its gut microbial community, with dietary fiber in particular escaping host digestion to serve as potent carbon source for microbiota. Despite widespread recognition fiber's importance microbiome health, nutritional research often fails differentiate hyper-processed fibers from cell-matrix derived intrinsic fibers, limiting our understanding how individual polysaccharides influence the community. We use American cockroach (
DATA REPORT article Front. For. Glob. Change, 13 November 2018Sec. Forest Hydrology Volume 1 - 2018 | https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2018.00007
As the cases of Salmonella enterica infections associated with contaminated water are increasing, this study was conducted to address role surface as a reservoir S. serotypes. We sampled rivers and streams (n = 688) over 3-year period (2015 2017) in mixed-use watershed Georgia, USA, 70.2% total stream samples tested positive for Salmonella. A 1,190 isolates were recovered characterized by serotyping, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). wide range...
The ability of some insects to engage in complex orchestrations tracheal gas exchange has been well demonstrated, but its evolutionary origin remains obscure. According a recently proposed hypothesis, may employ spiracular control guard tissues against long-term oxidative damage by using the discontinuous gas-exchange cycle (DGC) limit internal oxygen partial pressure (PO2). This manuscript describes different approach guarding lower termite Zootermopsis nevadensis. These do not display DGC...
We examined the diversity of a marker gene for homoacetogens in two cockroach gut microbial communities. Formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase (FTHFS or fhs) libraries prepared from wood-feeding cockroach, Cryptocercus punctulatus, were dominated by sequences that affiliated with termite treponemes. No spirochete-like recovered omnivorous roach Periplaneta americana, which was Firmicutes-like sequences.