Recent Preprints under review and in revision:

 

†denotes corresponding author; **denotes equal contributions.

 

Cao, M†. Environmental factors that impact the development of infective juveniles of entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema hermaphroditum. (2026) doi:10.64898/2026.04.07.717109. In revision: Integrative and Comparative Biology. [link to current preprint]

 

Xu, M., Ireri, S. W., Prator, M., Lostroh, C. P. & Cao, M†. Establishing a genetic part library for tunable double-stranded RNA circuit construction and RNA interference in Caenorhabditis elegans. (2026) doi:10.64898/2026.03.29.715104. In revision: ACS Synthetic Biology [link to current preprint].

 

Larsson, E. M., Myers, C. R., Newman, D. K†. & Cao, M†. The nematode symbiotic bacterium Xenorhabdus griffiniae can sense and respond to the presence of its host Steinernema hermaphroditum. (2025) doi:10.1101/2025.06.16.660008. Major revision: Applied and Environmental Microbiology. [link to current preprint]

 

Progress report: Ireri, S. W. and Cao, M†. CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in the agriculturally beneficial entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema feltiae. BioRxiv 2025.07.18.665633 (2025) doi:10.1101/2025.07.18.665633. [link to current preprint]

 

Cao, M†. CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing in Steinernema entomopathogenic nematodes. bioRxiv 2023.11.24.568619 (2023) doi:10.1101/2023.11.24.568619. Minor revision with no further experiments in Genetics. [link to current preprint]

 

Peer-reviewed publications:

Chen, V., Marken, J. P., Murray, R. M. & Cao, M†. Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 Occupies Previously Undocumented Host Niches in the Insect‐Parasitic Nematode Steinernema hermaphroditum. Environ. Microbiol. Rep. 18, (2026). [link to paper]

 

Ireri, S. W. & Cao, M†.  CRISPR-Cas9-based Mutagenesis in the Entomopathogenic Nematode Steinernema hermaphroditum and the Maintenance of Mutant Lines. J. Vis. Exp: JoVE (2025) doi:10.3791/68932. [link to paper]

 

Heppert, J. K. Awori, RM. Cao, M. Chen, G. Mcleish, J. Goodrich-Blair, H. Analyses of Xenorhabdus griffiniae genomes reveal two distinct sub-species that display intra-species variation due to prophages. BMC Genom. 25, 1087 (2024). [link to paper]

 

Cao, M†., Schwartz, HT, Tan, C-H and Sternberg, PW†. 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). [link to paper]

 

Mucci NC, Jones KA, Cao M, Wyatt MR 2nd, Foye S, Kauffman SJ, Richards GR, Taufer M, Chikaraishi Y, Steffan SA, Campagna SR, and Goodrich-Blair H. Apex predator nematodes and meso-predator bacteria consume their basal insect prey through discrete stages of chemical transformations. mSystems. 7(3), e0031222 (2022). [link to paper]

 

Cao, M and 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 Microbiol 22, 5433–5449 (2020). [link to paper]

 

Stilwell, MD**, Cao, M**, Goodrich-Blair, H and Weibel, DB. Studying the symbiotic bacterium Xenorhabdus nematophila in individual, living Steinernema carpocapsae nematodes using microfluidic systems. mSphere 3, e00530-17 (2018). [link to paper]

 

Cao, M, Patel, T, Rickman, T, Goodrich-Blair, H, and Hussa, EA. High levels of the Xenorhabdus nematophila transcription factor Lrp promote mutualism with the Steinernema carpocapsae nematode host. Appl Environ Microb 83, e00276-17 (2017). [link to paper]

 

Cao, M†, and Goodrich-Blair, H. Ready or not: Microbial adaptive responses in dynamic symbiosis environments. J Bacteriol 199, e00883-16 (2017). [link to paper]