Honors and Awards
Fulbright Scholarship to study coralline algal antifouling, Northern Ireland, U.K., 1997
Research Interests
Matthew Sullivan’s research focus is on the co-evolution of microbe and virus (phage) in ‘wild’ populations, as well as the impact of marine phages on microbe-mediated global biogeochemistry. Genomics and model-systems-based experimentation revealed that cyanobacterial phages often contain ‘host’ photosynthesis genes, which are expressed during infection and act as a diversity generator for their numerically-dominant, globally-distributed photosynthetic hosts.
As a complement to this cyanobacterial-phage system, we (The Sullivan Lab, a.k.a. The Tucson Marine Phage Lab) are developing a non-photosynthetic phage-host system using another ubiquitously present surface water marine microbial lineage whose members have a suite of globally important biogeochemical metabolic features, Roseobacter. Using a genomic and metagenomic toolkit, we query 'wild' viral populations to identify important hypotheses that can be evaluated using model-system approaches with appropriate cyanobacterial and/or roseobacterial phage isolates.
Finally, we are also developing single-cell assays to investigate four questions that are critical for modeling and predicting the impacts of phage-host interactions in the wild. Specifically, these include gaining an understanding of the in situ host range of phage isolates, the metabolic capacity of to-date uncultured phage-host systems, the impacts of host growth status on phage production, and the fraction of microbial cells that are infected in wild populations.
Visit Matt Sullivan's website.
Selected Publications
- Sullivan, M.B., M.C. Coleman, J.R. Rosenkrantz, J.A. Lee, V. Quinlivan, G.P. Tan, J.P. Bielawski, S.W. Chisholm. Portal protein diversity and phage ecology. submitted.
- T. Dammeyer, S.C. Bagby, M.B. Sullivan, S.W. Chisholm & N. Frankenberg-Dinkel. Efficient phage-mediated pigment biosynthesis in oceanic cyanobacteria. Current Biology. in press.
- L.R. Moore & A. Coe, E.R. Zinser, M.A. Saito, M.B. Sullivan, D. Lindell, K. Frois-Moniz, J.B. Waterbury & S.W. Chisholm. 2007. Culturing the marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus. Limnology & Oceanography: Methods, 5: 353-362.
- M. Breitbart, L.R. Thompson, C.S. Suttle & M.B. Sullivan. 2007. Exploring the vast diversity of marine viruses. Oceanography. 20: 135-139.
- Lindell D, J.D. Jaffe, M.L. Coleman, M.E. Futschik, I.M. Axmann, T. Rector, G. Kettler, M.B. Sullivan, R. Steen, W.R. Hess, G.M. Church, S.W. Chisholm. 2007. Genome-wide expression dynamics of a marine virus and host reveal features of co-evolution. Nature. 449:83-86.
- Faculty of 1000 “must read” 21Sep2007 (http://www.f1000biology.com/article/id/1091902)
- M.B. Sullivan* and D.L. Lindell*, J.A. Lee, L. Thompson, J.P. Bielawski, S.W. Chisholm. 2006. Prevalence and evolution of core photosystem II genes in marine cyanobacterial viruses and their hosts. PLoS Biology. 4: e234. (* these authors contributed equally to this work).
- Faculty of 1000 “must read” 6 July 2006 (http://www.f1000biology.com/article/16802857)
- Science Editor’s Highlight of the literature (21 July 2006)
- Nature Reviews Microbiology, Highlight of the literature (Sept. 2006, vol. 4, 642-643)
- One of only 4 suggested readings for opinion piece entitled “Biology’s Next Revolution” (written by Nigel Goldenfield & Carl Woese, 2007. Nature 445: 369.)
- Coleman, M.C., M.B. Sullivan, A.C. Martiny, C. Steglich, K. Barry, E.F. Delong, S.W. Chisholm. 2006. Genomic islands and the ecology and evolution of Prochlorococcus. Science. 311: 1768-1770.
- DeLong, E.F., C.M. Preston, T. Mincer, V. Rich, S.J. Hallam, N.U. Frigaard, A. Martinez, M.B. Sullivan, R. Edwards, B.R. Brito, S.W. Chisholm, D.M. Karl. 2006. Community genomics among stratified microbial assemblages in the ocean's interior. Science. 311: 496-503.
- Paul, J.H. & M.B. Sullivan. 2005. Marine phage genomics: What have we learned? Comp Biochem Physiol B Biochem Mol Biol. 16:299-307.
- Sullivan, M.B., M. Coleman, P. Weigele, F. Rohwer & S.W. Chisholm. 2005. Three Prochlorococcus cyanophage genomes: Signature features and ecological interpretations. PLoS Biology. 3: e144.
- Nature Reviews Microbiology, Highlight of the literature (July 2005, vol. 3, 520)
- Lindell, D.L.* and M.B. Sullivan*, Z.I. Johnson, A. Tolonen, F. Rohwer & S.W. Chisholm. 2004. Transfer of photosynthesis genes to and from Prochlorococcus viruses. PNAS. 101: 11013-11018. (* these authors contributed equally to this work)
- Sullivan, M.B., J.B. Waterbury & S.W. Chisholm. 2003. Cyanophages infecting the oceanic cyanobacterium, Prochlorococcus. Nature. 424: 1047-1051.
- Rocap, G.R. F.W. Larimer, J. Lamerdin, S. Malfatti, P. Chain, N.A. Ahlgren, A. Arellano, M. Coleman, L. Hauser, W.R. Hess, Z.I. Johnson, M. Land, D. Lindell, A.F. Post, W. Regala, M. Shah, S.L. Shaw, C. Steglich, M.B. Sullivan, C.S. Ting, A. Tolonen, E.A. Webb, E.R. Zinser & S.W. Chisholm. 2003. Niche differentiation as seen from whole genome comparison of two ecotypes of Prochlorococcus. Nature. 424: 1042-1047.
- Paul, J.H., M.B. Sullivan, A.M. Segall & F. Rohwer. 2002. Marine Phage Genomics. Comp Biochem Physiol B Biochem Mol Biol. 133: 463-76.
- Kana, T.M., M.B. Sullivan, J.C. Cornwell & K.M. Groszkowski. 1998. Denitrification in estuarine sediments as determined by membrane inlet mass spectrometry. Limnology & Oceanography.43(2): 334-339.
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