Dr.
Margaret J. McFall-Ngai
Carnegie Institution for Science
Microbiologist; Immunologist; Educator
Area
Biological Sciences
Specialty
Microbiology and Immunology
Elected
2012
Professor of Medical Microbiology and Immunology. Showed how specific beneficial bacteria are recognized and accepted by animal hosts and demonstrated the dependence of normal host development on interactions with specific microbes. Developed a system for dissecting the foundations of animal-bacterial mutualism, based on the association between the squid Euprymna scolopes and its symbiont Vibrio fischeri. Deploying a variety of approaches, showed how normal light-organ development requires interaction with cell envelope constituents of V. fischeri and identified the specific constituents necessary and sufficient to induce light organ morphogenesis during symbiont colonization. Demonstrated that these constituents interact with host recognition proteins that have homologs in all animals and that other host immune components have specific roles during establishment of the symbiosis. Work on this system has been central in the increasing understanding that host immune receptors mediate recognition and acceptance of beneficial or commensal bacteria in addition to initiating defensive responses. Showed how the exclusivity of this association is maintained despite presence of diverse bacteria in the environment. Her discoveries have provided the central model for how an animal host mediates colonization by symbionts acquired during development, foreshadowing parallel findings for other systems, including establishment of mammalian gut microbiota.
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