Nancy A. Moran

Research

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.

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)

Professional Experience

• National Acad. Sciences Fellow, 1984, Inst. of Entomology,  Czechoslovakia
  
• Postdoctoral Fellow, 1984-86, Northern Arizona University
  
• Assistant Professor, 1986-91, University of Arizona
  
• Associate Professor, 1991-96, University of Arizona
  
• Professor, 1996-2000, University of Arizona
  
• Regents’ Professor, 2000-2010, University of Arizona
  
• William H. Fleming Professor, May 2010-2013, Yale University
• Professor, 2013- , The University of Texas at Austin
• Leslie Surginer Endowed Professor, 2014-2017, The University of Texas at Austin
• Warren J. and Viola Mae Raymer Chair Professor, 2018- , The University of Texas at Austin

Publications (last two years)

Full publication list (website) | Google Scholar page

Motta EVS, Lariviere PJ, Jones KR, Song Y, Moran NA. 2024. Type VI secretion systems promote intraspecific competition and host interactions in a bee gut symbiont. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 121(44):e2414882121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2414882121.

Phillips LE, Sotelo KL, Moran NA. 2024. Characterization of gut symbionts from wild-caught Drosophila and other Diptera: description of Utexia brackfieldae gen. nov., sp. nov., Orbus sturtevantii sp. nov., Orbus wheelerorum sp. nov, and Orbus mooreae sp. nov. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 74(9):006516. doi: 10.1099/ijsem.0.006516.

Lariviere PJ, Ashraf AHMZ, Navarro-Escalante L, Leonard SP, Miller LG, Moran NA, Barrick JE. 2024. One-step genome engineering in bee gut bacterial symbionts.mBio 2024 Aug 6:e0139224. doi: 10.1128/mbio.01392-24. [Online ahead of print]

Motta EVS, de Jong TK, Gage A, Edwards JA, Moran N. 2024. Glyphosate effects on growth and biofilm formation in bee gut symbionts and diverse associated bacteria. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2024 Jul 16:e0051524. doi: 10.1128/aem.00515-24. [Online ahead of print]

Maeda GP, Kelly MK, Sundar A, Moran NA. 2024. Intracellular defensive symbiont is culturable and capable of transovarial, vertical transmission. mBio. 15:e0325323. doi: 10.1128/mbio.03253-23.

Richards TA, Moran NA. 2024. Symbiosis: In search of a deeper understanding. PLoS Biol. 22(4):e3002595. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002595.

Motta EVS, Moran NA. 2023. The honeybee microbiota and its impact on health and disease. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2: 122-137. doi: 10.1038/s41579-023-00990-3.

Li Z, Xue AZ, Maeda GP, Li Y, Nabity PD, Moran NA. 2023. Phylloxera and aphids show distinct features of genome evolution despite similar reproductive modes. Mol Biol Evol. 40:msad271. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msad271.

Villabona N, Moran N, Hammer T, Reyes A. 2023. Conserved, yet disruption-prone, gut microbiomes in neotropical bumblebees. mSphere. 8(6):e0013923. doi: 10.1128/msphere.00139-23

Huang Q, Lariviere PJ, Powell JE, Moran NA. 2023. Engineered gut symbiont inhibits microsporidian parasite and improves honey bee survival. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 120(25):e2220922120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2220922120.

Elston KM, Phillips LE, Leonard SP, Young E, Holley JC, Ahsanullah T, McReynolds B, Moran NA, Barrick JE. 2023. The Pathfinder plasmid toolkit for genetically engineering newly isolated bacteria enables the study of Drosophila-colonizing Orbaceae. ISME Commun. 3(1):49. doi: 10.1038/s43705-023-00255-3.

Motta EVS, Arnott RLW, Moran NA. 2023. Caffeine Consumption Helps Honey Bees Fight a Bacterial Pathogen. Microbiol Spectr. 11(3):e0052023. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.00520-23.

Powell JE, Lau P, Rangel J, Arnott R, De Jong T, Moran NA. 2023. The microbiome and gene expression of honey bee workers are affected by a diet containing pollen substitutes. PLoS One . 18(5):e0286070. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286070

Motta EVS, Moran NA. 2023. The effects of glyphosate, pure or in herbicide formulation, on bumble bees and their gut microbial communities. Sci Total Environ. 872:162102. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162102.

Hammer TJ, Easton-Calabria A, Moran NA. 2023. Microbiome assembly and maintenance across the lifespan of bumble bee workers. Mol Ecol. 32(3):724-740. doi: 10.1111/mec.16769.