Professor
Email: mshapira@berkeley.edu
Phone: (510) 643-2579
Lab Webpage: http://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/shapira/
Research Description
Research in our lab seeks to understand the fundamentals of host-microbe interactions in the context of the whole organism, using the powerful genetic model Caenorhabditis elegans as a model host. We focus on the role of host genetic factors in shaping gut microbiome structure and function, how gut commensals affect host immunity and host-pathogen interactions, and how aging changes all that (with special interest in the role of antagonistic pletriopy in aging). Our level of investigation spans the range between molecular mechanisms, ecological constraints and impact on evolution.
Selected Publications
Interactions with a Complex Microbiota Mediate a Trade-Off between the Host Development Rate and Heat Stress Resistance
Samuel Slowinski, Isabella Ramirez, Vivek Narayan, Medha Somayaji, Maya Para, Sarah Pi, Niharika Jadeja, Siavash Karimzadegan, Barbara Pees and Michael Shapira
Microorganisms 8: 1781 (2020)
CeMbio - The Caenorhabditis elegans Microbiome Resource
Philipp Dirksen, Adrien Assié, Johannes Zimmermann, Fan Zhang, Adina-Malin Tietje, Sarah Arnaud Marsh, Marie-Anne Félix, Michael Shapira, Christoph Kaleta, Hinrich Schulenburg, Buck Samuel G3 (2020)
TGFβ/BMP signaling determines abundance and contributions of C. elegans gut commensals
Maureen Berg, David Monnin, Juhyun Cho, Lydia Nelson, Alex Crits-Christoph, and Michael Shapira
Nature Communications 10(1): 604 (2019)
Integration of Stress Signaling in Caenorhabditis elegans Through Cell Non-autonomous Contributions of the JNK Homolog KGB-1
Limeng Liu, Cyrus Ruediger and Michael Shapira Genetics 210(4): 1317-1328 (2018)
Caenorhabditis elegans as a Model for Microbiome Research
Zhang F, Berg M, Dierking K, Félix MA, Shapira M, Samuel BS, Schulenberg H.
Frontiers in Microbiology 8: 485 (2017)
Host-microbiota interactions in Caenorhabditis elegans and their significance
Shapira, M. Current Opinion in Microbiology 38: 142-147 (2017)
Host-Specific Functional Significance of Caenorhabditis Gut Commensals
Berg M, Zhou XY, Shapira M. Frontiers in Microbiology 7: 1622 (2016)
Gut Microbiotas and Host Evolution: Scaling Up Symbiosis
Shapira, M. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 31(7): 539-549 (2016)
Assembly of the Caenorhabditis elegans gut microbiota from diverse soil microbial environments
Berg M, Stenuit B, Ho J, Wang A, Parke C, Knight M, Alvarez-Cohen L, Shapira M.
ISME J 10(8): 1998-2009 (2016)
The Developmental Intestinal Regulator ELT-2 Controls p38-Dependent Immune Responses in Adult C. elegans
Block DH, Twumasi-Boateng K, Kang HS, Carlisle JA, Hanganu A, Lai TY, Shapira M.
Plos Genetics 11(5): e1005265 (2015)