Interdepartmental Microbiology Graduate Program Fall 2021 Newsletter

December 20, 2021

Interdepartmental Microbiology Graduate Program

Fall 2021 Newsletter

As the semester comes to a close we’d like to highlight and celebrate some of the amazing work and achievements of the graduate students and faculty in the Interdepartmental Microbiology Graduate Program!

Please join us in congratulating the following students who passed their final examinations!

Dr. Aric Warner defended their thesis titled “Microbial engineering, characterization, and applications through novel data processing and synthetic biology systems” in July, graduating with a doctoral degree. Congratulations to Dr. Warner and their Major Professors Dr. Laura Jarboe and Dr. Zengyi Shao!
Dr. Conard Lee defended their thesis titled “Agricultural management effects on root-associated microbiome assemblage and implications for soil and plant health” in September, graduating with a doctoral degree. Congratulations to Dr. Lee and their Major Professor Dr. Larry Halverson!
Dr. Carmen Lopez defended their thesis titled “Synthetic biology approaches for the construction of improved microbial cell factories” in November, graduating with a doctoral degree. Congratulations to Dr. Lopez and their Major Professor Dr. Zengyi Shao!
Dr. Justin Anast defended their thesis titled “Exploration of the transcriptomes and functional contributions of Listeria monocytogenes plasmids during food production associated stress conditions” in November, graduating with a doctoral degree. Congratulations to Dr. Anast and their Major Professor Dr. Stephan Schmitz-Esser!
Dr. Emalie Thomas-Popo defended their thesis titled “Application of atmospheric cold plasma, ultraviolet radiation, or natural antimicrobials for control of foodborne pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms” in November, graduating with a doctoral degree. Congratulations to Dr. Thomas-Popo and their Major Professor Dr. Aubrey Mendonca!

The following publications include Interdepartmental Microbiology students and faculty as authors, highlighted in bold.

Ott, L.C., Engelken, M., Scott, S.M., McNeill, E.M., Mellata, M. (2021). Drosophila Model for Gut-Mediated Horizontal Transfer of Narow- and Borad-Host-Range Plasmids. mSphere 6(5), e00698-00621. doi:10.1128/mSphere.00698-21
Koester, L. R., Petry, A. L., Youngs, C. R., & Schmitz-Esser, S. (2021). Ewe Vaginal Microbiota: Associations With Pregnancy Outcome and Changes During Gestation. Frontiers in microbiology, 12, 745884. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.745884
Justin M Anast, Stephan Schmitz-Esser, Certain Listeria monocytogenes plasmids contribute to increased UVC ultraviolet light stress, FEMS Microbiology Letters, Volume 368, Issue 17, September 2021, fnab123, https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnab123
Emmanuel T. Nsamba, Abesh Bera, Michael Costanzo, Charles Boone, Mohan L. Gupta; Tubulin isotypes optimize distinct spindle positioning mechanisms during yeast mitosis. J Cell Biol 6 December 2021; 220 (12): e202010155. doi: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202010155

This work was also highlighted in the following article “Specialist α-tubulins for pluralist microtubules”
https://rupress.org/jcb/article/220/12/e202110038/212789/Specialist-tubulins-for-pluralist
Redweik, G.A.J., Kogut, M.H., Arsenault, R.J., Lyte, M., Mellata, M. Reserpine improves Enterobacteriaceae resistance in chicken intestine via neuro-immunometabolic signaling and MEK1/2 activation. Commun Biol 4, 1359 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02888-3

This work is discussed and highlighted in the following article on the CALS website https://www.cals.iastate.edu/news/releases/iowa-state-university-researchers-discover-new-approach-fight-salmonella-poultry

The following article has been accepted for publication

Kanodia, P., and Miller, W.A. Effects of the noncoding subgenomic RNA of red clover necrotic mosaic virus in virus infection. Journal of Virology 0(ja), JVI.01815-01821. doi:10.1128/JVI.01815-21

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Melha Mellata and her alumnus Dr. Graham Redweik on their patent “Gut bacterium-based treatment to increase poultry gut health and food safety”! Their work is summarized and highlighted in the following news article - https://fshn.hs.iastate.edu/researcher-issued-patent-for-poultry-gut-bacteria-health/

Additionally, we would like to congratulate the following students who received awards and fellowships over the course of the semester!

Debarpan Dhar
- Won 1^st prize from the ASM-North Central Branch Graduate Oral Presentation category with their presentation "Developing a comprehensive understanding of the genomic signal sequences required for packaging of mammalian orthoreovirus gene segments".
- Was awarded the Lora and Russ Talbot Gaduate Fellowship in Veterinary Medicine for 2021. This award aims to encourage and nurture graduate student careers towards post-doctoral research or other full-term employments
Sarah Dewolf
- Won 3^rd prize from the ASM-North Central Branch Graduate Oral Presentation category with their presentation “Promoter mutagenesis to investigate the contribution of a sigma 70 variant to antibiotic resistance in E. coli pathobiont LF82”
Zackry Stevenson
- Received the Iowa Space Grant Consortium Graduate Fellowship Award for graduate students pursuing research opportunities in STEM disciplines that support the mission of NASA

And congratulations to Abesh Bera and Holly Loper for their performance in the Graduate College’s 6^th annual Three Minute Thesis competition, placing as Runner Up and Finalist respectively. While the full final round has not yet been posted, Abesh’s presentation can be viewed here https://vimeo.com/640414115

Finally, we’d like to highlight the following article by Iowa State University Alumnus Dr. Steven L. Daniel (who graduated with his Ph.D. in Microbiology from ISU in 1988) titled “Forty Years of Oxalobacter formigenes, a Gutsy Oxalate-Degrading Specialist”. The article, which was published in August in Applied and Evironmental Microbiology, reviews Dr. Milton Allison’s long term research on Oxalobacter. Dr. Allison was himself a part of the Interdepartmental Microbiology program during his time at Iowa State, and mentored Dr. Daniel during his doctoral work. The full article can be accessed here https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00544-21 and the citation is included below

Daniel, S.L., Moradi, L., Paiste, H., Wood, K.D., Assimos, D.G., Holmes, R.P., et al. (2021). Forty Years of Oxalobacter formigenes, a Gutsy Oxalate-Degrading Specialist. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 87(18), e00544-00521. doi:10.1128/AEM.00544-21

If you would like your work to be highlighted in future newsletters, please send your news items to MGSO’s Social Media Officer (Zachary Burton, zburton@iastate.edu) and Webmaster (Chiron Anderson, chirona@iastate.edu). News items will be shared on the official Interdepartmental Microbiology program Twitter and Facebook pages, as well as here on the website!

Thank you to everyone who shared your wonderful accomplishments with us! We hope everyone has a good winter break, and we’ll see you again in the new year!