A CNN iReport about an integrative lab series known as the Wolbachia in Nashville includes area high school students from School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt with the purpose of bringing real-world scientific research on microbes into high school biology classes. Angela Eeds, director with the School for Science ...

This article covers the history, pros and cons of the Hologenome Theory of Evolution with quotes from Richard Jefferson, Eugene Rosenberg, Seth Bordenstein, Jerry Coyne and others. You can access the article for free in the next 10 days by logging in to the New Scientist site. For more on ...

The fields of microbial symbiosis and speciation have achieved astonishing advances during the past two decades, yet symbiosis and speciation are not commonly discussed together and can seem to be odd partners in their capacity to operate synergistically in nature. Indeed, microbial symbiosis is a process by which two or ...

It is well understood that multiple factors contribute to the dynamics of the gut microbiota residing in an animal host. However, little is known about how bacterial microbiotas change during and after recent speciation events in their hosts. In this Evolution paper, Vanderbilt researchers report that incipient species share more ...

Scientists at Vanderbilt University have found a way to enrich for and sequence genomes of bacteria that are difficult to culture or purify because they live inside hosts with complex microbial communities. The study, reported in the latest issue of the journal Genome Biology and Evolution, reports that targeted genome ...