Projects per year
Personal profile
Personal profile
The Bordenstein laboratory endeavors to understand, optimize, and disseminate the principles that shape interactions between animals, microbes, and viruses and the basic, translational, and clinical outcomes of these interactions. Key questions that drive the science and applications:
1. What are the rules of human microbiome variation, and how do they intersect with health disparities?
2. How does a bacteriophage in an endosymbiont underpin a global pandemic (Wolbachia) and a major mosquito control strategy?
3. What are the rules of microbiome and virome variation across host species? What genetic factors influence phylosymbiosis?
4. How do microbes assist the origin of new host species?
5. How can science education rethink student achievement for high schools, colleges, and citizen scientists? 6. How can students infuse themselves in discovery-based research to learn scientific concepts, make new discoveries, and apply hands-on biotechnology?
Research interests
We are interested in the evolutionary, genetic, and biochemical principles that shape interactions within the host-microbiome consortia, also known as the holobiont. Our long term goal is to combine knowledge from humans and animal model systems to define what are the rules of microbiome and symbiosis variation within and between animal species. We seek to answer three main questions: (1) What human features (genes, diet, sociality, etc) robustly impact the microbiome, metabolome, and disease risk phenome? (2) What animal genes affect colonization, replication, and maternal transmission of bacteria such as the inherited Wolbachia endosymbiont in arthropods? (3) What is the degree of phylogenetic signal on animal-associated microbiomes (aka, phylosymbiosis); simply put, do phylogenetically-related species have more similar microbiomes? If the answer is yes, then is phylosymbiosis consequential to host biology?
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Projects
- 12 Finished
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The Epigenetics of Cytoplasmic Incompatibility
Bordenstein, S. (PI) & Kaur, R. (CoPI)
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
5/7/24 → 3/31/25
Project: Research project
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The Mechanism of Cytoplasmic Incompatibility
Bordenstein, S. (PI) & Bordenstein, S. S. R. (CoPI)
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
1/1/20 → 12/31/24
Project: Research project
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Wolbachia Genes that Mediate Male Killing
Bordenstein, S. (PI)
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
12/26/17 → 11/30/20
Project: Research project
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The Genetic Basis of Cytoplasmic Incompatibility
Bordenstein, S. (PI)
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
5/24/17 → 4/30/18
Project: Research project
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Wolbachia Genes That Mediate Cytoplasmic Incompatibility
Bordenstein, S. (PI)
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
2/1/16 → 1/31/18
Project: Research project
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Cytoplasmic incompatibility factor proteins from Wolbachia prophage are costly to sperm development in Drosophila melanogaster
Kaur, R. & Bordenstein, S. R., Feb 12 2025, In: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 292, 2040, 20243016.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Prophage proteins alter long noncoding RNA and DNA of developing sperm to induce a paternal-effect lethality
Kaur, R., McGarry, A., Dylan Shropshire, J., Leigh, B. A. & Bordenstein, S. R., Mar 8 2024, In: Science. 383, 6687, p. 1111-1117 7 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access6 Scopus citations -
The disciplinary matrix of holobiont biology Uniting life’s seen and unseen realms guides a conceptual advance in research
The Holobiont Biology Network, Nov 15 2024, In: Science. 386, 6723, p. 731-732 2 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access4 Scopus citations -
The mechanism of cytoplasmic incompatibility is conserved in Wolbachia-bearing Aedes aegypti mosquitoes deployed for arbovirus control
Kaur, R., Meier, C. J., McGraw, E. A., Hillyer, J. F. & Bordenstein, S. R., Mar 2024, In: PLoS biology. 22, 3, e3002573.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access5 Scopus citations -
Human microbiome variation associated with race and ethnicity emerges as early as 3 months of age
Mallott, E. K., Sitarik, A. R., Leve, L. D., Cioffi, C., Camargo, C. A., Hasegawa, K. & Bordenstein, S. R., Aug 2023, In: PLoS biology. 21, 8 August, e3002230.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access28 Scopus citations