SelectedWorks - Aurelien Tartar

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Selected Works of Aurelien Tartar

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My lab work is focused on pathogenomics: we are using a variety of –omics technologies to characterize host-pathogen interactions at the molecular level, and identify novel microbial genes required to create diseases in host systems (known as virulence factors, or microbial effectors). Our main microbial models consist of entomopathogens, which cause diseases in insects. We are currently working on mosquito pathogens, in an effort to identify genes that may be translated into novel mosquito control technologies, and help prevent mosquito-borne diseases such as Zika or malaria.

During the past few years, we have developed collaborative relationships with the Oomycete Molecular Genetics Network (OMGN) group. Accordingly, our activities are mainly centered on oomycete molecular biology. We are generating genomics and transcriptomics data for the oomycete genus Lagenidium, which includes pathogens of insects and crustaceans. We use the sequence data to establish comparative genomics analyses between plant pathogenic and animal pathogenic oomycetes, and between oomycete and fungal pathogens of invertebrates.

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About Aurelien Tartar

My lab work is focused on pathogenomics: we are using a variety of –omics technologies to characterize host-pathogen interactions at the molecular level, and identify novel microbial genes required to create diseases in host systems (known as virulence factors, or microbial effectors). Our main microbial models consist of entomopathogens, which cause diseases in insects. We are currently working on mosquito pathogens, in an effort to identify genes that may be translated into novel mosquito control technologies, and help prevent mosquito-borne diseases such as Zika or malaria.

During the past few years, we have developed collaborative relationships with the Oomycete Molecular Genetics Network (OMGN) group. Accordingly, our activities are mainly centered on oomycete molecular biology. We are generating genomics and transcriptomics data for the oomycete genus Lagenidium, which includes pathogens of insects and crustaceans. We use the sequence data to establish comparative genomics analyses between plant pathogenic and animal pathogenic oomycetes, and between oomycete and fungal pathogens of invertebrates.

Articles (24)

Analysis of surfactant-associated bacteria in the sea surface microlayer using deoxyribonucleic acid sequencing and synthetic aperture radar (Georgia Parks, Cayla W Dean, John Alexander Kluge, et al.) International Journal of Remote Sensing (2020)

The sea surface microlayer (SML) is the upper 1 mm of the ocean, where Earth’s biogeochemical processes occur between the ocean and atmosphere. It is physicochemically distinct from the water below and highly variable in ...

Oomycete Metabarcoding Reveals the Presence of Lagenidium spp. in Phytotelmata (Paula Leoro-Garzon, Andrew J. Gonedes, Isabel Olivera, et al.) PeerJ Preprints (2019)

The oomycete genus Lagenidium, which includes the mosquito biocontrol agent L. giganteum, is composed of animal pathogens, yet is phylogenetically closely related to the well characterized plant pathogens Phytophthora and Pythium spp. These phylogenetic affinities ...

Catechol‐O‐Methyltransferase Val158Met Polymorphism Associates with Affect and Cortisol Levels in Women (Lauren D. Hill, Margaret S. Lorenzetti, Sarah M. Lyle, et al.) Brain and Behavior (2018)

Introduction We tested the extent to which the catechol‐O‐methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met polymorphism is associated with affective state and evening cortisol levels. We limited our study to women as previous research suggests that the link between ...

Relative Abundance of Bacillus spp., Surfactant-Associated Bacterium Present in a Natural Sea Slick Observed by Satellite SAR Imagery over the Gulf of Mexico (Kathryn Howe, Cayla W Dean, John Alexander Kluge, et al.) Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene (2018)

The damping of short gravity-capillary waves (Bragg waves) due to surfactant accumulation under low wind speed conditions results in the formation of natural sea slicks. These slicks are detectable visually and in synthetic aperture radar ...

DNA Analysis of Surfactant-Associated Bacteria in a Natural Sea Slick Observed by TerraSAR-X and RADARSAT-2 Over the Gulf of Mexico (Kathryn Howe, Cayla Whitney Dean, John Alexander Kluge, et al.) International Journal of Remote Sensing (2017)

The damping of short gravity-capillary waves (Bragg waves) due to surfactant accumulation under low wind speed conditions results in the formation of natural sea slicks. These slicks are detectable visually and in synthetic aperture radar ...

Glycoside Hydrolases Family 20 (GH20) Represent Putative Virulence Factors That Are Shared by Animal Pathogenic Oomycetes, but Are Absent in Phytopathogens (Isabel Olivera, Katrina Fins, Sara Rodriguez, et al.) BMC Microbiology (2016)

Background Although interest in animal pathogenic oomycetes is increasing, the molecular basis mediating oomycete-animal relationships remains virtually unknown. Crinkler (CRN) genes, which have been traditionally associated with the cytotoxic activity displayed by plant pathogenic oomycetes, ...

Surfactant-Associated Bacteria in the Near-Surface Layer of the Ocean (Naoko Kurata, Katie E. Vella, Bryan Hamilton, et al.) Scientific Reports (2016)

Certain marine bacteria found in the near-surface layer of the ocean are expected to play important roles in the production and decay of surface active materials; however, the details of these processes are still unclear. ...

Surfactant Associated Bacteria in the Sea Surface Microlayer: Case Studies in the Straits of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico (Bryan Hamilton, Cayla Whitney Dean, Naoko Kurata, et al.) Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing (2015)

Certain genera of bacteria found in the near-surface layer of the ocean can be involved in the production and decay of surface active materials (surfactants), resulting in slicks on the sea surface. Slicks can be ...

Transcriptome analysis of the entomopathogenic oomycete Lagenidium giganteum reveals putative virulence factors (P. F. Quiroz Velasquez, S. K. Abiff, K. C. Fins, et al.) Applied and Environmental Microbiology (2014)

A combination of 454 pyrosequencing and Sanger sequencing was used to sample and characterize the transcriptome of the entomopathogenic oomycete Lagenidium giganteum. More than 50,000 high-throughput reads were annotated through homology searches. Several selected reads ...

The non-photosynthetic algae Helicosporidium spp.: emergence of a novel group of insect pathogens (Aurelien Tartar) Insects (2013)

Since the original description of Helicosporidium parasiticum in 1921, members of the genusHelicosporidium have been reported to infect a wide variety of invertebrates, but their characterization has remained dependent on occasional reports of infection. Recently, ...

Detection of Helicosporidium spp. in metagenomic DNA (N. Mancera, L. G. Douma, S. James, et al.) Journal of Invertebrate Pathology (2012)

Distinct isolates of the invertebrate pathogenic alga Helicosporidium sp., collected from different insect hosts and different geographic locations, were processed to sequence the 18S rDNA and β-tubulin genes. The sequences were analyzed to assess genetic ...

Molecular evolution of glutamine synthetase II: Phylogenetic evidence of a non-endosymbiotic gene transfer event early in plant evolution (S. Ghoshroy, M. Binder, Aurelien Tartar, et al.) BMC Evolutionary Biology (2010)

Background Glutamine synthetase (GS) is essential for ammonium assimilation and the biosynthesis of glutamine. The three GS gene families (GSI, GSII, and GSIII) are represented in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. In this study, we ...

Parallel metatranscriptome analyses of host and symbiont gene expression in the gut of the termite Reticulitermes flavipes (Aurelien Tartar, M. Wheeler, X. Zhou, et al.) Biotechnology for Biofuels (2009)

Background Termite lignocellulose digestion is achieved through a collaboration of host plus prokaryotic and eukaryotic symbionts. In the present work, we took a combined host and symbiont metatranscriptomic approach for investigating the digestive contributions of ...

Termite digestomes as sources for novel lignocellulases (M. E. Scharf and Aurelien Tartar) Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining (BioFPR) (2008)

For most animals, lignocellulose is a nutritionally poor food source that is highly resistant to enteric degradation. Termites, however, have the unique ability to digest lignocellulose with high efficiency, often using it as a sole ...

Evolution of glutamine synthetase in heterokonts: evidence for endosymbiotic gene transfer and the early evolution of photosynthesis (D. L. Robertson and Aurelien Tartar) Molecular Biology and Evolution (2006)

For most animals, lignocellulose is a nutritionally poor food source that is highly resistant to enteric degradation. Termites, however, have the unique ability to digest lignocellulose with high efficiency, often using it as a sole ...

Differential expression of chitin synthase (CHS) and glucan synthase (FKS) genes correlates with the formation of a modified, thinner cell wall in in vivo-produced Beauveria bassiana cells (Aurelien Tartar, A. M. Shapiro, D. W. Scharf, et al.) Mycopathologia (2005)

During infection (in vivo), the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana produces yeast-like cells that are surrounded by modified cell walls. These modifications have been related to the fungus ability to limit recognition by the host defense ...

Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) survey of the highly adapted green algal parasite, Helicosporidium (A. P. De Koning, Aurelien Tartar, Drion G. Boucias, et al.) Protist (2005)

Helicosporidia are obligate invertebrate pathogens with a unique and highly adapted mode of infection. The evolutionary history of Helicosporidia has been uncertain, but several recent molecular phylogenetic studies have shown an unexpectedly close relationship to ...

A pilot-scale Expressed Sequence Tag analysis of Beauveria bassiana gene expression reveals a tripeptidyl peptidase that is differentially expressed in vivo (Aurelien Tartar and Drion G. Boucias) Mycopathologia (2004)

The entomopathogen Beauveria bassiana is a dimorphic fungus that displays an in vivo-specific, yeast-like parasitic phase. In order to study the transcriptome of B. bassiana during this unique developmental phase, we developed a method to ...

Chitinase gene of the dimorphic mycopathogen Nomuraea rileyi (R. Wattanalai, Drion G. Boucias, Aurelien Tartar, et al.) Journal of Invertebrate Pathology (2004)

The non-photosynthetic, pathogenic green alga Helicosporidium sp. has retained a modified, functional plastid genome (Aurelien Tartar and Drion G. Boucias) FEMS Microbiology Letters (2004)

A fragment of the Helicosporidium sp. (Chlorophyta: Trebouxiophyceae) plastid genome has been sequenced. The genome architecture was compared to that of both a non-photosynthetic relative (Prototheca wickerhamii) and a photosynthetic relative (Chlorella vulgaris). Comparative genomic ...

Comparison of plastid 16S rDNA (rrn16) genes from Helicosporidium spp.: evidence supporting the reclassification of Helicosporidia as green algae (Chlorophyta) (Aurelien Tartar, Drion G. Bouncias, James J. Becnel, et al.) International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (2003)

The Helicosporidia are invertebrate pathogens that have recently been identified as non-photosynthetic green algae (Chlorophyta). In order to confirm the algal nature of the genus Helicosporidium, the presence of a retained chloroplast genome in Helicosporidia ...

Incertae sedis no more: the phylogenetic affinity of Helicosporidia (Aurelien Tartar and D. G. Bouncias) Journal of Phycology (2003)

The Helicosporidia are a unique group of pathogens found in diverse invertebrate hosts. They have been considered to be either protozoa or fungi, but have remained incertae sedis since 1931. Following the isolation of a ...

Detection of the toxin Hirsutellin A from Hirsutella thompsonii (S. Maimala, Aurelien Tartar, Drion G. Boucias, et al.) Journal of Invertebrate Pathology (2002)

A total of 162 strains of Hirsutella thompsonii, isolated from infected mites collected worldwide, were examined for the production of Hirsutellin A (HtA). More than half of the broth filtrates exhibited mortality rates superior to ...

Phylogenetic analysis identifies the invertebrate pathogen Helicosporidium sp. as a green alga (Chlorophyta) (Aurelien Tartar, Drion G. Boucias, Byron J. Adams, et al.) International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (2002)

Historically, the invertebrate pathogens of the genus Helicosporidium were considered to be either protozoa or fungi, but the taxonomic position of this group has not been considered since 1931. Recently, a Helicosporidium sp., isolated from ...

Helicosporidium (Aurelien Tartar) Biology Faculty Books and Book Chapters (2004)

The Encyclopedia of Entomology brings together the talents of over 350 distinguished entomologists from 36 countries to provide a detailed, global overview of insects and their close relatives, including taxonomy, behavior, ecology, physiology, history, and ...