Matthew B. Sullivan

Assistant Professor of Evology & Evolutionary Biology and Molecular & Cellular Biology
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
M.Phil., Queens University of Belfast

The lab is focused in three primary research areas:  Cyanophages, Roseophages, Sea of Cortez Project.  Through the use of (meta)genomics, we query 'wild' viral populations to identify important hypotheses that can be evaluated using model-system approaches with appropriate cyanophage and/or roseophage isolates.

Research Interests

The Sullivan Lab (a.k.a. The Tucson Marine Phage lab) investigates the co-evolution of microbe and virus (phage) in 'wild' populations, as well as the impact of marine phages on microbe-mediated global biogeochemistry.  Genomics and model-systems-based experimentation revealed that cyanobacterial phages are numerically abundant and often contain 'host' photosynthesis genes.  Remarkably, these genes are expressed during infection and act as a diversity generator for their numerically dominant globally distributed photosynthetic hosts.  As a complement to this photosynthesis-based phage-host system, we are developing a non-photosynthetic phage-host system using another ubiquitously present surface water marine microbial lineage whose members have a suite of biogeochemically important metabolic features, Roseobacter.  Through the use of (meta)genomics, we query 'wild' viral populations to identify important hypotheses that can be evaluated using model-system approaches with appropriate cyanobacterial and/or roseobacterial phage isolates.  In addition, we are developing single-cell assays to investigate four questions that are critical for modeling and predicting the impacts of phage-host interactions in the wild.  Specifically, these include gaining an understanding of the in situ host range of phage isolates, the metabolic capacity of to-date uncultured phage-host systems, the impacts of host growth status on phage production, and the fraction of microbial cells that are infected in wild populations.  Interested and motivated graduate students, please check us out!

Select Publications

Any link on the below references will take you off of the BMCB site and to an abstract of that particular paper.

Sullivan, M.B., K.H.Huang, M.C. Coleman, L.R. Thompson, F. Rohwer, and S.W. Chisholm.  Viruses mucking with microbial metabolism: How bad is it?  In preparation.

Sullivan, M.B., M.C. Coleman, K.H. Huang, M. Henn, and S.W. Chisholm.  Wild viral population genomics: The genomes of 100 cyanophages isolated using a single Prochlorococcus host and a single water sample.  In preparation.

Sullivan, M.B., M.C. Coleman, and S.W. Chisholm.  Genome-wide expression dynamics of a Prochlorococcus myovirus and podovirus: Differential take over their hosts.  In preparation.

Sullivan, M.B., B. Krastins, J. Hughes, K. Huang, M. Chase, D. Sarracino, and S.W. Chisholm.  Tri-partite co-evolutionary dynamics between a siphovirus, insertion sequences and their cyanobacterial hosts.  Submitted.

Sullivan, M.B., M.C. Coleman, V. Quinlivan, J.E. Rosenkrantz, A.S. DeFrancesco, G. Tan, R. Fu, J.A. Lee, J.B. Waterbury, J.P. Bielawski, and S.W. Chisholm.  2008.  Portal protein diversity and phage ecology.  Environmental Microbiology  10: 2810-2823.

Dammeyer, T., S.C. Bagby, M.B. Sullivan, S.W. Chisholm, and N. Frankenberg-Dinkel.  2008.  Efficient phage-mediated pigment biosynthesis in oceanic cyanobacteria.  Current Biology  18: 442-448.

Moore, L.R., A. Coe, E.R. Zinser, M.A. Saito, M.B. Sullivan, D. Lindell, K. Frois-Moniz, J.B. Waterbury, and S.W. Chisholm.  2007.  Culturing the marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus.  Limnology and Oceanography: Methods  5: 353-362.

Breitbart, M., L.R. Thompson, C.S. Suttle, and M.B. Sullivan.  2007.  Exploring the vast diversity of marine viruses.  Oceanography  20: 135-139.

Lindell, D., J.D. Jaffe, M.L. Coleman, M.E. Futschik, I.M. Axmann, T. Rector, G. Kettler, M.B. Sullivan, R. Steen, W.R. Hess, G.M. Church, and S.W. Chisholm.  2007.  Genome-wide expression dynamics of a marine virus and host reveal features of co-evolution.  Nature  449: 83-86.

Sullivan, M.B., D.L. Lindell, J.A. Lee, L.R. Thompson, J.P. Bielawski, and S.W. Chisholm.  2006.  Prevalence and evolution of core photosystem II genes in marine cyanobacterial viruses and their hosts.  PLoS Biology  4: e234.

Coleman, M.C., M.B. Sullivan, A.C. Martiny, C. Steglich, K. Barry, E.F. Delong, and S.W. Chisholm.  2006.  Genomic islands and the ecology and evolution of Prochlorococcus.  Science  311: 1768-1770.

DeLong, E.F., C.M. Preston, T. Mincer, V. Rich, S.J. Hallam, N.U. Frigaard, A. Martinez, M.B. Sullivan, R. Edwards, B.R. Brito, S.W. Chisholm, and D.M. Karl.  2006. Community genomics among stratified microbial assemblages in the ocean's interior. Science  311: 496-503.

Paul, J.H., and M.B. Sullivan.  2005.  Marine phage genomics: What have we learned?  Current Opinion in Biotechnology 16: 299-307.

Sullivan, M.B., M. Coleman, P. Weigele, F. Rohwer, and S.W. Chisholm.  2005. Three Prochlorococcus cyanophage genomes: Signature features and ecological interpretations.  PLoS Biology  3: e144.

Lindell, D.L., M.B. Sullivan, Z.I. Johnson, A. Tolonen, F. Rohwer, and S.W. Chisholm. 2004.  Transfer of photosynthesis genes to and from Prochlorococcus viruses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 101: 11013-11018.

Sullivan, M.B., J.B. Waterbury, and S.W. Chisholm.  2003.  Cyanophages infecting the oceanic cyanobacterium, Prochlorococcus.  Nature  424: 1047-1051.

Rocap, G.R. F.W. Larimer, J. Lamerdin, S. Malfatti, P. Chain, N.A. Ahlgren, A. Arellano, M. Coleman, L. Hauser, W.R. Hess, Z.I. Johnson, M. Land, D. Lindell, A.F. Post, W. Regala, M. Shah, S.L. Shaw, C. Steglich, M.B. Sullivan, C.S. Ting, A. Tolonen, E.A. Webb, E.R. Zinser, and S.W. Chisholm.  2003.  Niche differentiation as seen from whole genome comparison of two ecotypes of Prochlorococcus.  Nature  424: 1042-1047.

Paul, J.H., M.B. Sullivan, A.M. Segall, and F. Rohwer.  2002.  Marine phage genomics.  Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology. Part B, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology  133: 463-476.

Kana, T.M., M.B. Sullivan, J.C. Cornwell, and K.M. Groszkowski.  1998. Denitrification in estuarine sediments as determined by membrane inlet mass spectrometry. Limnology and Oceanography  43: 334-339.

Contact Information

Mailing: Matthew B. Sullivan, Assistant Professor Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology University of Arizona Life Sciences South 246 P. O. Box 210106 Tucson, AZ 85721-0106

Telephone: 520-626-6297 Fax: 520-621-3709 Email: mbsulli@email.arizona.edu

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