Nancy A. Moran
{{short description|American biologist}}
{{For|the American folk-rock singer-songwriter|Nancy Moran}}
{{Infobox scientist
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| name = Nancy A. Moran
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1954|12|21}}
| birth_place = Dallas, Texas
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| fields = Evolutionary biology
| workplaces = University of Arizona (1986-2010); Yale University (2010-2013); University of Texas, Austin (2013-Present)
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| education = Ph.D.
| alma_mater = University of Michigan
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| website = {{URL|web.biosci.utexas.edu/moran/}}
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Nancy A. Moran (born December 21, 1954, Dallas, Texas) is an American evolutionary biologist and entomologist, University of Texas Leslie Surginer Endowed Professor, and co-founder of the Yale Microbial Diversity Institute.{{Cite journal
| last1 = Zagorski | first1 = N.
| title = Profile of Nancy A. Moran
| doi = 10.1073/pnas.0508498102
| journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
| volume = 102
| issue = 47
| pages = 16916–16918
| year = 2005
| pmid = 16286644
| pmc =1288003
| bibcode = 2005PNAS..10216916Z
| doi-access = free
}}{{cite web |url=http://www.yale.edu/moran/Home.html |title=Moran Lab • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology • Yale University |access-date=2011-07-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805143130/http://www.yale.edu/moran/Home.html |archive-date=2011-08-05 }} Since 2005, she has been a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. Her seminal research has focused on the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum and its bacterial symbionts including Buchnera (bacterium).[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/science/04obaphid.html?src=mv "Carrots Share Trait With Tiny Pea Aphid"], The New York Times, HENRY FOUNTAIN, May 3, 2010 In 2013, she returned to the University of Texas at Austin, where she continues to conduct research on bacterial symbionts in aphids, bees, and other insect species. She has also expanded the scale of her research to bacterial evolution as a whole. She believes that a good understanding of genetic drift and random chance could prevent misunderstandings surrounding evolution. Her current research goal focuses on complexity in life-histories and symbiosis between hosts and microbes, including the microbiota of insects.
Early life
Moran is one of eight children of Robert Moran, who ran a drive-in movie theater. As a child, Moran liked to collect insects in jars. Yet as youth she never envisioned becoming a scientist and did not even find her biology class interesting. Moran began her undergraduate studies at the University of Texas in 1972 in an honors program known as Plan II. She started out as an art major, and later switched to philosophy. For an elective requirement she took an introduction to biology course. From this, she became interested in biology. During her senior year at college while taking a class on animal behavior with Nancy Burley as a TA (who later studied bird behavior), she undertook an honors project on mate choice in pigeons.{{cite journal|last1=Burley|first1=Nancy|last2=Moran|first2=Nancy|title=The significance of age and reproductive experience in the mate preferences of feral pigeons, Columba livia|journal=Animal Behaviour|volume=27|year=1979|pages=686–698|issn=0003-3472|doi=10.1016/0003-3472(79)90005-8|s2cid=53202864}}
Education and career
In 1976, Moran graduated from the University of Texas with a B.A. in Biology in 1976. She received her Ph.D. in zoology in 1982 from the University of Michigan studying with W.D. Hamilton and Richard D. Alexander. In 1984, she was a fellow at the National Academy of Sciences in the Institute of Entomology in Czechoslovakia{{cite web |url=http://web.biosci.utexas.edu/moran/nancymoran.html |title=NANCY MORAN |access-date=April 1, 2019}}>. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Northern Arizona University from 1984-1986.{{Cite web|url=http://web.biosci.utexas.edu/moran/nancymoran.html|title=Nancy Moran University of Texas at Austin|website=web.biosci.utexas.edu|access-date=2017-11-24}} She rose to the rank of Regents' Professor at the University of Arizona from 1986-2010, was the William H. Fleming Professor at Yale University from 2010-2013, and subsequently moved to the University of Texas where she is now the Leslie Surginer Endowed Professor and Warren J. and Viola Mae Raymer Chair.
Research
=Aphids=
Early in Moran's career she studied an aphid species local to Arizona, Melaphis rhois, which has a peculiar life cycle migrating to moss from a complex gall on sumac. While Moran's initial hypothesis was that this was a complex adaptation to changing seasons, it turned out that it was an ancient adaptation dating back over 50 million years.{{cite journal|last1=Moran|first1=N. A.|title=A 48-Million-Year-Old Aphid--Host Plant Association and Complex Life Cycle: Biogeographic Evidence|journal=Science|volume=245|issue=4914|year=1989|pages=173–175|issn=0036-8075|doi=10.1126/science.245.4914.173|pmid=17787877|bibcode=1989Sci...245..173M|s2cid=2710577}} This work attracted the attention of Paul Baumann at the University of California at Davis, an expert in microbial diversity with an interest in aphid microbial diversity culminating in a 15-year collaboration on the mutualistic relationship between aphids and their symbionts.
=''Buchnera aphidicola'' and the genomic evolution of other symbiotic bacteria=
Initially, Moran and Baumman used 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing to demonstrate that Buchnera aphidicola bacteria and their aphid hosts co-evolve, or evolve together, due to their long-term symbiotic relationship. Subsequently, they demonstrated this coevolution of symbionts in mealybugs.{{cite journal|last1=Munson|first1=Mark A.|last2=Baumann|first2=Paul|last3=Morant|first3=Nancy A.|title=Phylogenetic relationships of the endosymbionts of mealybugs (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae) based on 165 rDNA sequences|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|volume=1|issue=1|year=1992|pages=26–30|issn=1055-7903|doi=10.1016/1055-7903(92)90032-C|pmid=1342920|bibcode=1992MolPE...1...26M }}
As new technologies emerged and improved, Moran transitioned to examining the genomic evolution of symbiotic bacteria. By comparing Buchnera, an obligately host-associated bacteria, with closely related free-living bacteria, she demonstrated that Buchnera tends to accumulate nonsynonymous, silent mutations, more rapidly, increasing the AT-content of the genome with an accelerated rate of evolution.{{cite journal|last1=Moran|first1=N. A.|title=Accelerated evolution and Muller's rachet in endosymbiotic bacteria.|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=93|issue=7|year=1996|pages=2873–2878|issn=0027-8424|doi=10.1073/pnas.93.7.2873|pmc=39726|pmid=8610134|bibcode=1996PNAS...93.2873M|doi-access=free}} In other words, these obligately host-associated bacteria accumulate mutations. They also accumulate deleterious mutations through Muller's Ratchet, such that genome reduction reflects an evolutionary phenomenon known as genetic drift. Her research continued to involve sequencing genes of symbionts through whole genome sequencing and comparing them to free-living relatives using comparative genomics.{{cite journal|last1=Tamas|first1=I.|title=50 Million Years of Genomic Stasis in Endosymbiotic Bacteria|journal=Science|volume=296|issue=5577|year=2002|pages=2376–2379|issn=0036-8075|doi=10.1126/science.1071278|pmid=12089438|bibcode=2002Sci...296.2376T|s2cid=19226473}}{{cite journal|last1=McCutcheon|first1=John P.|last2=Moran|first2=Nancy A.|title=Extreme genome reduction in symbiotic bacteria|journal=Nature Reviews Microbiology|volume=10|issue=1|year=2011|pages=13–26|issn=1740-1526|doi=10.1038/nrmicro2670|pmid=22064560|s2cid=7175976}}{{cite journal|last1=Moran|first1=Nancy A.|title=Microbial Minimalism|journal=Cell|volume=108|issue=5|year=2002|pages=583–586|issn=0092-8674|doi=10.1016/S0092-8674(02)00665-7|pmid=11893328|s2cid=18688744|doi-access=free}}
=''Drosophila'' gut microbiomes=
Moran's research on Drosophila gut microbiomes demonstrated that, unlike other species, Drosophila's microbiome content was ingested with food and varied widely between individuals and populations.{{Cite journal|last1=Martinson|first1=Vincent G.|last2=Carpinteyro-Ponce|first2=Javier|last3=Moran|first3=Nancy A.|last4=Markow|first4=Therese A.|date=2017-09-22|title=A distinctive and host-restricted gut microbiota in populations of a cactophilic Drosophila species|journal=Applied and Environmental Microbiology|doi=10.1128/AEM.01551-17|issn=1098-5336|pmid=28939605|volume=83|issue=23|pmc=5691420|pages=e01551-17|bibcode=2017ApEnM..83E1551M }} Her research provides information on this model organism and the bacteria it possesses which affects research done with Drosophila. The research demonstrated that gut microbiota in Drosophila used as model organisms is more representative of the food they eat as opposed to the wild-type Drosophila gut microbiota. The conclusion of the research stressed the importance of including fieldwork into microbiota research to better understand the environment-driven gut microbiota makeup.
=Honey bee gut microbiomes=
Moran is currently researching honey bees and their interaction with gut microbiota. Her research found that microbiota interact with host metabolism and hormone signaling.{{Cite journal|last1=Zheng|first1=Hao|last2=Powell|first2=J. Elijah|last3=Steele|first3=Margaret I.|last4=Dietrich|first4=Carsten|last5=Moran|first5=Nancy A.|date=2017-05-02|title=Honeybee gut microbiota promotes host weight gain via bacterial metabolism and hormonal signaling|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=114|issue=18|pages=4775–4780|doi=10.1073/pnas.1701819114|issn=1091-6490|pmc=5422775|pmid=28420790|doi-access=free|bibcode=2017PNAS..114.4775Z }} This research showed that microbiota in social bees degrade plant polymers that the organisms consumes in their diet. The research compared the bee's microbiome to other species and determined it can model host-microbiota interactions due to similarities such as types of bacteria. Her work with eusocial corbiculate bees demonstrates that different phylogenies within this class of bees share a common ancestor for their gut microbiota independent of geography or sympatry.{{Cite journal|last1=Kwong|first1=Waldan K.|last2=Medina|first2=Luis A.|last3=Koch|first3=Hauke|last4=Sing|first4=Kong-Wah|last5=Soh|first5=Eunice Jia Yu|last6=Ascher|first6=John S.|last7=Jaffé|first7=Rodolfo|last8=Moran|first8=Nancy A.|date=March 2017|title=Dynamic microbiome evolution in social bees|journal=Science Advances|volume=3|issue=3|pages=e1600513|doi=10.1126/sciadv.1600513|issn=2375-2548|pmc=5371421|pmid=28435856|bibcode=2017SciA....3E0513K}} Corbiculate bees include honey bees, bumble bees, and stingless bees. She completed research on the symbiotic relationship between host insects and their gut microbiota and her research team has found that the honey bee's exposure to antibiotics disrupts the microbiota, which regulates weight and hormone signaling, and increases mortality rates.{{Cite journal|last1=Raymann|first1=Kasie|last2=Shaffer|first2=Zack|last3=Moran|first3=Nancy A.|date=March 2017|title=Antibiotic exposure perturbs the gut microbiota and elevates mortality in honeybees|journal=PLOS Biology|volume=15|issue=3|pages=e2001861|doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.2001861|issn=1545-7885|pmc=5349420|pmid=28291793 |doi-access=free }} The data collected demonstrates the bee's susceptibility to fatal pathogens after antibiotic exposure.
Notable awards and honors
- 1997 MacArthur Fellows Program
- 2004 Member of the National Academy of Sciences
- 2006 Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences{{cite web |url=https://www.amacad.org/directory?search_api_fulltext=nancy%20a.%20moran&field_class_section=All&field_class_section_1=All&field_deceased=1&sort_bef_combine=search_api_relevance%20DESC |title=American Academy of Arts & Sciences Directory |access-date=April 1, 2019}}
- 2007 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science{{cite web |url=https://www.aaas.org/sites/default/files/AnnualReports/2007/aaas_ar_07l_Fellows.pdf |title=AAAS Fellows |access-date=April 1, 2019}}
- 2008 University of Arizona Alumni Association Extraordinary Faculty Award{{cite web |url=http://arizonaalumni.com/programs-events/awards-recognition/alumni-year-award-winners/2008-award-winners |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401203426/http://arizonaalumni.com/programs-events/awards-recognition/alumni-year-award-winners/2008-award-winners |url-status=usurped |archive-date=April 1, 2019 |title=University of Arizona Alumni Association |date=August 2013 |access-date=April 1, 2019}}
- 2010 International Prize for Biology, Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science{{cite web |url=https://news.yale.edu/2010/10/08/yale-evolutionary-biologist-nancy-moran-wins-coveted-japanese-science-prize |title=Yale Evolutionary Biologist Nancy Moran Wins Coveted Japanese Science Prize |date=8 October 2010 |access-date=April 1, 2019}}
- 2014 International Society for Microbial Ecology James Tiedje Award for outstanding lifetime contribution to [microbial ecology] {{cite web |url=https://www.isme-microbes.org/awards/jim-tiedje-award |title=Jim Tiedje Award |access-date=April 1, 2019}}
- 2016 Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution's Lifetime Contribution Award{{cite web |url=https://www.smbe.org/smbe/AWARDS/FacultyAwards/MotooKimuraLifetimeContributionAward.aspx |title=Motoo Kimura Lifetime Contribution Award |access-date=April 1, 2019}}
- 2017 Molecular Ecology Prize{{cite web |url=https://www.molecularecologist.com/2017/05/nancy-moran-awarded-the-2017-molecular-ecology-prize/ |title=Nancy Moran awarded the 2017 Molecular Ecology Prize |author=Jeremy Yoder |date=May 31, 2017 |access-date=April 1, 2019}}
- 2023 Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology{{cite web | url=http://www.nasonline.org/programs/awards/waksman-award-in-microbiology.html | title=Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology }}
Taxonomy
In 2011, one of Moran's trainees, John McCutcheon, named an endosymbiont in the mealy bug system Moranella endobia, in recognition of Moran's contributions to the field.{{cite journal|last1=McCutcheon|first1=John P.|last2=von Dohlen|first2=Carol D.|title=An Interdependent Metabolic Patchwork in the Nested Symbiosis of Mealybugs|journal=Current Biology|volume=21|issue=16|year=2011|pages=1366–1372|issn=0960-9822|doi=10.1016/j.cub.2011.06.051|pmc=3169327|pmid=21835622|bibcode=2011CBio...21.1366M }}
Works
- {{Cite journal | last1 = Moran | first1 = N. A. | last2 = Degnan | first2 = P. H. | last3 = Santos | first3 = S. R. | last4 = Dunbar | first4 = H. E. | last5 = Ochman | first5 = H. | title = Inaugural Article: The players in a mutualistic symbiosis: Insects, bacteria, viruses, and virulence genes | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0507029102 | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 102 | issue = 47 | pages = 16919–16926 | year = 2005 | pmid = 16195380| pmc = 1287993| doi-access = free }}
- Hamilton, W. D., Henderson, P. A. & Moran, N. A. (1980) Natural Selection and Social Behavior: Recent Research and New Theory, eds. Alexander, R. D. & Tinkle, D. W. (Chiron Press, New York), pp. 363–382.
- {{Cite journal | last1 = Moran | first1 = N. A. | title = A 48-Million-Year-Old Aphid--Host Plant Association and Complex Life Cycle: Biogeographic Evidence | doi = 10.1126/science.245.4914.173 | journal = Science | volume = 245 | issue = 4914 | pages = 173–175 | year = 1989 | pmid = 17787877| bibcode = 1989Sci...245..173M | s2cid = 2710577 }}
- {{Cite journal
| last1 = Munson | first1 = M. A.
| last2 = Baumann | first2 = P.
| last3 = Clark | first3 = M. A.
| last4 = Baumann | first4 = L.
| last5 = Moran | first5 = N. A.
| last6 = Voegtlin | first6 = D. J.
| last7 = Campbell | first7 = B. C.
| title = Evidence for the establishment of aphid-eubacterium endosymbiosis in an ancestor of four aphid families
| journal = Journal of Bacteriology
| volume = 173
| issue = 20
| pages = 6321–6324
| year = 1991
| pmid = 1917864
| pmc = 208962
| doi = 10.1128/jb.173.20.6321-6324.1991
}}
- {{Cite journal
| last1 = Moran | first1 = N. A.
| title = Accelerated evolution and Muller's rachet in endosymbiotic bacteria
| journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
| volume = 93
| issue = 7
| pages = 2873–2878
| year = 1996
| pmid = 8610134
| pmc = 39726
| doi=10.1073/pnas.93.7.2873
| bibcode = 1996PNAS...93.2873M
| doi-access = free
}}
- {{Cite journal | last1 = Oliver | first1 = K. M. | last2 = Russell | first2 = J. A. | last3 = Moran | first3 = N. A. | last4 = Hunter | first4 = M. S. | title = Facultative bacterial symbionts in aphids confer resistance to parasitic wasps | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0335320100 | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 100 | issue = 4 | pages = 1803–1807 | year = 2003 | pmid = 12563031| pmc = 149914| bibcode = 2003PNAS..100.1803O | doi-access = free }}
- {{Cite journal | last1 = Oliver | first1 = K. M. | last2 = Moran | first2 = N. A. | last3 = Hunter | first3 = M. S. | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0506131102 | title = Variation in resistance to parasitism in aphids is due to symbionts not host genotype | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 102 | issue = 36 | pages = 12795–12800 | year = 2005 | pmid = 16120675| pmc = 1200300| bibcode = 2005PNAS..10212795O | doi-access = free }}
- {{Cite journal | last1 = Dale | first1 = C. | last2 = Plague | first2 = G. R. | last3 = Wang | first3 = B. | last4 = Ochman | first4 = H. | last5 = Moran | first5 = N. A. | title = Type III secretion systems and the evolution of mutualistic endosymbiosis | doi = 10.1073/pnas.182213299 | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 99 | issue = 19 | pages = 12397–12402 | year = 2002 | pmid = 12213957| pmc = 129456| bibcode = 2002PNAS...9912397D | doi-access = free }}
- {{Cite journal | last1 = Daubin | first1 = V. | last2 = Moran | first2 = N. A. | last3 = Ochman | first3 = H. | doi = 10.1126/science.1086568 | title = Phylogenetics and the Cohesion of Bacterial Genomes | journal = Science | volume = 301 | issue = 5634 | pages = 829–832 | year = 2003 | pmid = 12907801| bibcode = 2003Sci...301..829D | s2cid = 11268678 | url = https://hal.science/hal-00427390 }}
Personal life
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{wikiquote}}
- [http://web.biosci.utexas.edu/moran/ Lab of Nancy Moran]
- {{google scholar id|5CH2x_YAAAAJ}}
- {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uswftf6y7tU |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/uswftf6y7tU |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|title=CSHL Keynote: Dr. Nancy Moran, University of Texas - Austin|date=12 May 2014|website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}
- {{cite web|title=Nancy Moran - The effects of the microbiome on the behavior of bees|date=25 January 2017|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2V1yKFt2SI |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/D2V1yKFt2SI |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moran, Nancy A.}}
Category:21st-century American biologists
Category:Scientists from Dallas
Category:University of Arizona faculty
Category:University of Texas at Austin College of Natural Sciences alumni
Category:University of Michigan alumni
Category:American evolutionary biologists
Category:American women evolutionary biologists