Lab news:
Welcome Carly Myers and Elin Larsson to the group!
We are hiring:
Cao Lab
Division of Biosphere Sciences & Engineering
Carnegie Institution for Science.
Nematodes are among the most abundant and diverse groups in the soil fauna and they play a significant role in soil ecology. The association between the soil-dwelling entomopathogenic (EPN, insect-parasitic) nematodes of Steinernema spp. and their naturally occurring mutualistic bacteria in the genus Xenorhabdus has great potential for agriculture due to their multi-faceted antagonistic effects on agricultural pests. My lab will be piloting new genetic model systems using Steinernema nematodes and Xenorhabdus bacteria to study the molecular mechanisms underlying host-microbes signaling. In addition, my group is interested in exploring the potential of these symbiotic pairs in biosphere engineering.
Publications
Cao, M. CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing in Steinernema entomopathogenic nematodes. bioRxiv 2023.11.24.568619 (2023) doi:10.1101/2023.11.24.568619.
Cao, M., Schwartz, H. T., Tan, C.-H. & Sternberg, P. W. The entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema hermaphroditum is a self-fertilizing hermaphrodite and a genetically tractable system for the study of parasitic and mutualistic symbiosis. Genetics 220, (2022). Editor's pick as highlight.
Cao, M. & Goodrich‐Blair, H. Xenorhabdus nematophila bacteria shift from mutualistic to virulent Lrp‐dependent phenotypes within the receptacles of Steinernema carpocapsae insect‐infective stage nematodes. Environ Microbiol22, 5433–5449 (2020).
Stilwell, M. D**., Cao, M**., Goodrich-Blair, H. & Weibel, D. B. Studying the symbiotic bacterium Xenorhabdus nematophila in individual, living Steinernema carpocapsae nematodes using microfluidic systems. mSphere 3, e00530-17 (2018). **denotes equal contribution as co-first authors.
Cao, M., Patel, T., Rickman, T., Goodrich-Blair, H. & Hussa, E. A. High levels of the Xenorhabdus nematophila transcription factor Lrp promote mutualism with the Steinernema carpocapsae nematode host. Appl Environ Microb83, e00276-17 (2017).