Our lab asks how animals harness microbial metabolism to regulate their internal chemistry and build biological materials. Using bivalve biomineralization as a primary model system, we investigate how hosts regulate microbial function, how microbial metabolisms become integrated with animal physiology, and how these partnerships evolve across environments. We combine approaches from microbial ecology, molecular biology, physiology, chemistry, and geochemistry to uncover general principles of host–microbe coordination.
Latest Publications
"Coexpression among eastern oyster host and microbiome genes suggest coordinated regulation of calcifying fluid chemistry"
How do oysters maintain the chemistry required to build shells as their environment changes? In this study, we combined tidal pH experiments with measurements of calcifying-fluid chemistry and host and microbial gene expression. We found that oysters rapidly regulate the pH of their shell-forming fluid, while microbial genes involved in nitrogen and sulfur cycling were linked to host immune and neural pathways. These findings suggest that oysters and their resident microbes may work together to regulate the chemistry underlying biomineralization.
