Area of research
Molecular Biology · Social Psychology
Research interest
Research topics from publications: Metagenome-Assembled Genome Sequences of Five Strains from the Microtus ochrogaster (Prairie Vole) Fecal Microbiome; Non-Nitrogen-Fixing Sinorhizobium meliloti Can Escape Sanctions in Indeterminate Alfalfa Nodules, Exhibiting Parasitic Growth. Representative work: ) is an important model for the study of social monogamy and dual parental care of offspring. Characterization of specific host species-microbe strain interactions is critical for understanding the effects of the microbiota on mood and behavior. The five metagenome-assembled genome sequences reported here represent an important step in defining the prairie vole microbiome The soil bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti can proliferate by leveraging its nitrogen-fixing symbiosis with legumes that form indeterminate root nodules, such as Medicago sativa (alfalfa) and M. truncatula. In contrast to determinate-nodulating legumes, such as Glycine max (soybean) and Lotus japonicus, indeterminate-nodulating legumes impose terminal differentiation on nitrogen-fixing (N 2 -fixing) rhizobia. Thus, the bacterial population is split between those that benefit the plant by N 2 fixation, but are a reproductive dead end, and those that are undifferentiated, capable of resuming free-living growth but not fixing nitrogen. We show that in mixed nodules colonized by nearly isogenic s