Dr. Colleen M. Cavanaugh is the Edward C. Jeffrey Professor of Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and co-founder of the Microbial Sciences Initiative at Harvard University. Her research interests focus on microbial symbiosis and evolution with emphasis on bacteria-animal associations including diversity, transmission strategies, and coevolution. She has participated in research cruises worldwide with deep-sea dives in the submersible Alvin. With expertise in the study of uncultured bacteria, her research has expanded from marine symbioses to the characterization of the microbiomes of human and wild animals and their role in health and disease. This includes recent studies on the gut microbiome of Darwin’s finches and the human oral microbiome.

Recent Publications

Gomaa, F., D.R. Utter, W. Loo, D.J.G. Lahr, and C.M. Cavanaugh. 2022. Exploring the protist microbiome: The diversity of bacterial communities associated with Arcella spp. (Tubulina: Amoebozoa). European Journal of Protistology, 82, 125861 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejop.2021.125861

Utter, D.R., C.M. Cavanaugh, and G.G. Borisy. 2022. Genome-centric dynamics shape the diversity of oral bacterial populations. mBio, e02414-22. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.02414-22

Garcia, A.K., C.M. Cavanaugh, and B. Kaçhar. 2021. The curious consistency of carbon biosignatures over billions of years of Earth-life coevolution. The ISME J 15:2183-2194. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-021-00971-5

Utter, D.R., G.G. Borisy, A. Murat Eren, C.M. Cavanaugh, and J.L. Mark Welch. 2020. Metapangenomics of the oral microbiome provides insights into habitat adaptation and cultivar diversity. Genome Biol 21:1-25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-020-02200-2

Utter, D.R., X. He, C.M. Cavanaugh, J.S. McLean, and B. Bor. 2020. The saccharibacterium TM7x elicits differential responses across its host range. The ISME J 14, 3054-3067. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-020-00736-6

Li, J., S. Lemer, L. Kirkendale, R. Bieler, C.M. Cavanaugh, and G. Giribet. 2020. Shedding light: a phylotranscriptomic perspective illuminates the origin of photosymbiosis in marine bivalves. BMC Evol Biol 20:50. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-020-01614-7

Loo, W.T., R.Y. Dudaniec, S. Kleindorfer, and C.M. Cavanaugh. 2019. An inter-island comparison of Darwin’s finches reveals the impact of habitat, host phylogeny, and island on the gut microbiome. PLoS One 14(12). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226432

Loo, W.T., J. García-Loor, R.Y. Dudaniec, S. Kleindorfer, and C.M. Cavanaugh. 2019. Host phylogeny, diet, and habitat differentiate the gut microbiomes of Darwin’s finches on Santa Cruz Island. Sci Rep 9, 18781. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-54869-6

Grond, K., J.M. Perreau, W.T. Loo, A.J. Spring, C.M. Cavanaugh, and S.M. Hird. 2019. Longitudinal microbiome profiling reveals impermanence of probiotic bacteria in domestic pigeons. PloS One 14(6):e0217804. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220347

Thomas, P.J., A.J. Boller, S. Satagopan, F.R. Tabita, C.M. Cavanaugh, and K.M. Scott. 2019. Isotope discrimination by form IC RubisCO from Ralstonia eutropha and Rhodobacter sphaeroides, metabolically versatile members of ‘Proteobacteria’ from aquatic and soil habitats. Environm. Microbiol. 21(1):72-80.https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.14423

Li, J., M. Volteadt, L. Kirkendale, and C.M. Cavanaugh. 2018. Characterizing photosymbiosis between Fraginae bivalves and Symbiodinium using phylogenetics and stable isotopes. Front. Ecol. Evol., 6, 45. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2018.00045

Russell, S.L., E. McCartney, and C.M. Cavanaugh. 2018. Transmission strategies in a chemosynthetic symbiosis: detection and quantification of symbionts in host tissues and their environment. Proc. R. Soc. B, 285:20182157. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.2157

Gomaa, F., M. Gersh, and C.M. Cavanaugh. 2018. Diverse Legionella-like bacteria associated with testate amoebae of the genus Arcella (Arcellinida: Amoebozoa). J Eukaryot Microbiol. 65:661-668. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeu.12511

Reveillaud, J., R. Anderson, S. Reves-Sohn, C.M. Cavanaugh, and J.A. Huber. 2018. Metagenomic investigation of vestimentiferan tubeworm endosymbionts from Mid-Cayman Rise reveals new insights into metabolism and diversity. Microbiome 6:1-15.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-018-0411-x

Opel, A.H., C.M. Cavanaugh, R.D. Rotjan, and J. Pakes Nelson. 2017. The effect of coral restoration on Caribbean reef fish communities. Mar Biol 164:221-237. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-017-3248-0

Russell, S.L. and C.M. Cavanaugh. 2017. Intra-host genetic diversity of bacterial symbionts exhibits evidence of mixed infections and recombinant haplotypes. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 34:2747-2761. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msx188

Russell, S.L., R.B. Corbett-Detig, and C.M. Cavanaugh. 2017. Mixed transmission modes and dynamic genome evolution in an obligate animal-bacterial symbiosis. The ISME J 11:1359-1371. https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2017.10

Alivisatos, A.P. et al. and the Unified Microbiome Initiative Consortium. 2015. A unified initiative to harness Earth’s microbiomes. Science 350:507-508. DOI: 10.1126/science.aac8480

Boller, A.J., P.J. Thomas, C.M. Cavanaugh, and K.M. Scott. 2015. Isotopic discrimination and kinetic parameters of RubisCO from the marine bloom-forming diatom, Skeletonema costatum. Geobiology 13:33-43. https://doi.org/10.1111/gbi.12112

Dmytrenko^, O., S. Russell, W. Loo, K.M. Fontanez, L. Liao, G. Roeselers, R. Sharma, F.J. Stewart, I.L.G. Newton, T. Woyke, D. Wu, J.L. Morgan, J.A. Eisen, and C.M. Cavanaugh. 2014. The genome of the intracellular bacterium of the coastal bivalve, Solemya velum: A blueprint for thriving in and out of symbiosis. BMC Genomics 15: 924. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-15-924

Fontanez, K.M. and C.M. Cavanaugh. 2014. Evidence for horizontal transmission from multi-locus phylogeny of deep-sea mussel (Mytilidae) symbionts". Environmental Microbiology 474:147-154. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.12379