Moran Laboratory People: Nancy Moran

		NANCY A. MORAN, Principal Investigator Regents' Professor Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Joint Regents' Professor, Department of Entomology My long-term interests are in the evolution of biological complexity, such as that apparent in complex life histories, in intimate interactions among species, and in species-diversity of clades and communities. My focus is on symbiosis, particularly that between multicellular hosts and microbes. Download .pdf curriculum vitae (current as of April 2009). Go to full statement of Research interests. Go to Contact Information.

Education

• B.A. Highest Honors, Biology, 1976 University of Texas
• M.S., Zoology, 1978 University of Michigan
• Ph.D., Zoology, 1982 University of Michigan (Dissertation advisors: William D. Hamilton and Richard D. Alexander)

Research and Professional Experience

• National Academy of Sciences Fellow, Institute of Entomology, Czechoslovakia 1984
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Northern Arizona University 1984-86
• Assistant Professor, University of Arizona 1986-91
• Associate Professor, University of Arizona 1991-96
• Professor, University of Arizona 1996-current

Honors and Awards

• University of Arizona Extraordinary Faculty Award 2008
• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, elected 2007
• Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, elected 2006
• Galileo Circle Faculty Fellow, College of Science, University of Arizona, elected 2006
• Member of the National Academy of Science, elected 2004
• University of Arizona Regents' Professor, elected 2001
• John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow 1997-2002
• American Society of Naturalists President's Award 1988

Current Grant Support (NM is PI unless otherwise noted)

NSF, Environmental Genomics: "Mutation in Genomes of Obligate Symbionts and Impacts on the Ecological Tolerances and Distributions of Hosts: Buchnera and Pea Aphids" (2008-2010, $772,422)

NSF, Microbial Genome Sequencing: "Highly Reduced Genomes of Coresident Bacterial Symbionts of Xylem-Feeding Insects: Ecological and Evolutionary Implications" (2006-2009, $440791) (Rod Wing is co-PI)

NSF-IGERT (training grant) in Evolutionary, Computational and Functional Genomics (2002-10, ~$2,700,000) (co-PI with Michael Nachman, PI)

NSF, Biodiversity Surveys and Inventories, "Discovery and characterization of bacterial endosymbiont diversity in Drosophila" (2003-08, $510,000) (T. Markow is co-PI)

USDA, Program on Functional Genomics of Agriculturally Important Organisms. "Microarray analysis of agriculturally relevant gene expression in the peach-potato aphid, Myzus persicae" (2005-08, $900,000) (G. Jander is PI, NM is co-PI)

NSF, Biocomplexity in the Environment, Genome-Enabled: "Response of host and symbiont genomes to environmental stress and its ecological consequences" (2003-08, $1,856,147)

Graduate and Post-doctoral Advising (advisees listed with their current positions)

Post-doctoral sponsor for 19 post-doctoral researchers:

• Allison Hansen (current)
• Zakee Sabree (current)
• John McCutcheon (current)
• Kerry Oliver (Assistant Professor, University of Georgia, Athens)
• Nicole Gerardo (Assistant Professor, Emory University)
• Atusushi Nakabachi (Researcher, RIKEN, Japan)
• Alexandra Wilson (Assistant Professor, University of Miami)
• Mariana Mateos (Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University)
• Emmanuelle Lerat (Researcher, Université Claude Bernard - Lyon I, France)
• Gordon Plague (Assistant Professor, Fordham University)
• Jennifer Wilcox (Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, Tucson)
• Colin Dale (Assistant Professor, University of Utah)
• Alejandro Mira (Researcher, Universidad de Alicante, Spain)
• Jennifer Wernegreen (Associate Scientist, Marine Biological Labs, Woods Hole)
• Claude Rispe (Research Scientist, INRA, Le Rheu, France)
• Jonas Sandström (Research Fellow, Swedish Agricultural University)
• Daniel Funk (Assistant Professor, Vanderbilt University)
• Ben Normark (Assistant Professor University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
• Daniel Papaj (Professor, University of Arizona)

Chair of 8 doctoral committees:

• Gaelen Burke (current)
• Keven Vogel (current)
• Patrick Degnan (current)
• Jacob Russell (2004, postdoctoral researcher, Harvard University)
• John Stireman (2001, Assistant Professor, Wright State University)
• Patrick Abbot (2001, Assistant Professor, Vanderbilt University)
• Goggy Davidowitz (1998, Assistant Research Scientist, University of Arizona)

Chair of 3 master's committees:

• Margaret Wilch (1999, Chair of Biology at Tucson High Magnet School)
• Gregory Simmons (1992, USDA entomologist)
• Jude Glass (1992, biology teacher at Vail Middle School)

Selected Publications

Degnan, P. H., Y. Yu, N. Sisneros, R.A. Wing, and N.A. Moran. 2009. Hamiltonella defensa, genome evolution of protective bacterial endosymbiont from pathogenic ancestors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 106: 9063-9068.

Moran, N. A., H. J. McLaughlin, and R. Sorek. 2009. The dynamics and time scale of ongoing genomic erosion in symbiotic bacteria. Science. 323: 379-382

Dunbar, H.E., Wilson, A.C., Ferguson, N.R., Moran, N.A. 2007. Aphid thermal tolerance is governed by a point mutation in bacterial symbionts. PLoS Biology 5(5): e96

Moran, N. A. and H. E. Dunbar. 2006. Sexual acquisition of beneficial symbionts in aphids. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U S A 103(34): 12803-6

Oliver, K. M., N. A. Moran, and M. Hunter. 2006. Costs and benefits of a superinfection of facultative symbionts in aphids. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 273(1591):1273-80

Moran, N. A. and P. H. Degnan. 2006. Functional genomics of Buchnera and the ecology of aphid hosts. Molecular Ecology, 15(5):1251-61

Russell, J. A. and N. A. Moran. 2006. Costs and benefits of symbiont infection in aphids: variation among symbionts and across temperatures. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 273(1586):603-610

Moran, N. A., P. Tran, and N. M. Gerardo. 2005. Symbiosis and insect diversification: an ancient symbiont of sap-feeding insects from the bacterial phylum Bacteroidetes. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 71(12):8802-10

Moran, N. A., P. H Degnan, S. R. Santos, H. E. Dunbar, and H. Ochman. 2005. The players in a mutualistic symbiosis: Insects, bacteria, viruses and virulence genes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 102:16919-16926

Oliver, K. M. N. A. Moran, and M. S. Hunter. 2005. Variation in resistance to parasitism in aphids is due to symbionts and not host genotype. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 102(36):12795-800

Moran, N. A. and G. R. Plague. 2004. Genomic changes following host restriction in bacteria. Current Opinions in Genetics and Development 14: 627-633.

Moran, N. A., G. Plague, J. Sandström, and J. Wilcox. 2003. A genomic perspective on nutrient-provisioning by bacterial symbionts of insects. . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (Colloquium Issue) 100: 14543-14548.

Wilcox, J. L., H. E. Dunbar, R. D. Wolfinger, and N. A. Moran. 2003. Consequences of reductive evolution for gene expression in an obligate endosymbiont. Molecular Microbiology 48: 1491-1500.

Lerat, E., V. Daubin and N. A. Moran. 2003. From gene trees to organismal phylogeny in prokaryotes: the case of the g -Proteobacteria. Public Library of Science- Biology 1: 101-108.

Dale, C., B. Wang, N. Moran and H. Ochman. 2003. Loss of DNA recombinational repair enzymes in the initial stages of genome degeneration in mutualistic bacterial endosymbionts. Molecular Biology and Evolution 20: 1188-1194.

Tamas, I, Klasson, L., Näslund, K., Eriksson, A.-S., Canbäck, B.,   Wernegreen J. J., Sandström, J. P., Moran, N. A.,   and S.G.E. Andersson. 2002. Fifty million years of genomic stasis in endosymbiotic bacteria. Science 296: 2376-2379.

Sandström, J. P., J. A. Russell, J. P. White, and N. A. Moran. 2001.   Independent origins and horizontal transfer of bacterial symbionts of aphids. Molecular Ecology 10: 217-228

Go to full list of Publications.