Microbial Ecology and Evolution
The research at the del Campo Lab is focused on the study of host-associated microbes and the effect of global warming on the microbiomes of benthic and planktonic marine animals. We have a wet and dry lab, to perform experiments and bioinformatics analysis, enabling the broadest possible goals.
Effects of ocean warming on the microbiomes of benthic and planktonic marine animals. Ongoing climate change and its effects on the environment, such as rising sea temperature, has strong impacts on free-living marine microbial communities. However, the effects of global warming have not been properly studied on host-associated microbiomes. Microbiomes (both prokaryotic and eukaryotic) associated with host organisms have a strong influence on host evolution, physiology, and ecological functions. We study how environmental changes resulting from global warming affect the composition and function of the microbiomes in key members of the marine fauna and consequently how these changes affect the hosts. Currently, our study focuses on these impacts on corals, teleost fish, and zooplankton. To tackle this novel research topic, we use a combination of molecular biology, ecophysiology, and bioinformatics.
The eukaryotic microbiome. Unlike the study of the bacterial fraction of the microbiome, the study of the micro-eukaryotes associated with animals has largely been restricted to visual identification or molecular targeting of particular groups. The application of high-throughput sequencing approaches, such as those used to look at bacteria, has been limited because the barcode gene we use to study microeukaryotes ecology and distribution in the environment, the 18S rRNA gene, is also present in the host animals. As a result, when host-associated microbial eukaryotes are analyzed the retrieved sequences are dominated by the host. Stemming from my work on coral-associated microeukaryotes, we successfully implemented an approach that avoids the amplification of metazoan host genes, which allows us to use high throughput methods to study the microeukaryotic communities of animals. This approach opens the door to the study of diversity and distribution of microeukaryotes in a myriad of environments, from the coral surface to the human gut.
Web page: https://delcampolab.com/
Oehlert AM, Garza J, Nixon S, Frank L, Folkerts EJ, Stieglitz JD, Lu C, Heuer RM, Benetti DD, Del Campo J, Gomez FA, Grosell M. 2024. Implications of dietary carbon incorporation in fish carbonates for the global carbon cycle. Science of The Total Environment, 916:169895. DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.169895
Obiol A, del Campo J, de Vargas C, Mahé F, Massana R. 2024. How marine are Marine Stramenopiles (MAST)? A cross-system evaluation. FEMS Microbiology Ecology. DOI:10.1093/femsec/fiae130
Holt CC, del Campo J, Keeling PJ. 2024. Source and variation of the amazing live Sea-Monkey microbiome. PLOS ONE, 19(8):e0308763. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0308763
Boscaro V, James ER, Fiorito R, Del Campo J, Scheffrahn RH, Keeling PJ. 2024. Updated classification of the phylum Parabasalia. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. DOI:10.1111/jeu.13035
Bonacolta AM, Krause-Massaguer J, Smit NJ, Sikkel PC, del Campo J. 2024. A new and widespread group of fish apicomplexan parasites. Current Biology, 34(12):2748-2755.e3. DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.084
Rosales SM, Huebner LK, Evans JS, Apprill A, Baker AC, Becker CC, Bellantuono AJ, Brandt ME, Clark AS, Del Campo J, Dennison CE, Eaton KR, Huntley NE, Kellogg CA, Medina M, Meyer JL, Muller EM, Rodriguez-Lanetty M, Salerno JL, Schill WB, Shilling EN, Stewart JM, Voss JD. 2023. A meta-analysis of the stony coral tissue loss disease microbiome finds key bacteria in unaffected and lesion tissue in diseased colonies. ISME Communications, 3(1):19. DOI:10.1038/s43705-023-00220-0
Hehenberger E, Boscaro V, James ER, Hirakawa Y, Trznadel M, Mtawali M, Fiorito R, Del Campo J, Karnkowska A, Kolisko M, Irwin NAT, Mathur V, Scheffrahn RH, Keeling PJ. 2023. New Parabasalia symbionts Snyderella spp. and Daimonympha gen. nov. from South American Rugitermes termites and the parallel evolution of a cell with a rotating “head.”. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 70(5): 0-3. DOI:10.1111/jeu.12987
Del Campo J, Carlos-Oliveira M, Čepička I, Hehenberger E, Horák A, Karnkowska A, Kolisko M, Lara E, Lukeš J, Pánek T, Piwosz K, Richter DJ, Škaloud P, Sutak R, Tachezy J, Hampl V. 2023. The protist cultural renaissance. Trends in Microbiology. DOI:10.1016/j.tim.2023.11.010
Davies SW, Gamache MH, Howe-Kerr LI, Kriefall NG, Baker AC, Banaszak AT, Bay LK, Bellantuono AJ, Bhattacharya D, Chan CX, Claar DC, Coffroth MA, Cunning R, Davy SK, Del Campo J, Díaz-Almeyda EM, Frommlet JC, Fuess LE, González-Pech RA, Goulet TL, Hoadley KD, Howells EJ, Hume BCC, Kemp DW, Kenkel CD, Kitchen SA, LaJeunesse TC, Lin S, McIlroy SE, McMinds R, Nitschke MR, Oakley CA, Peixoto RS, Prada C, Putnam HM, Quigley K, Reich HG, Reimer JD, Rodriguez-Lanetty M, Rosales SM, Saad OS, Sampayo EM, Santos SR, Shoguchi E, Smith EG, Stat M, Stephens TG, Strader ME, Suggett DJ, Swain TD, Tran C, Traylor-Knowles N, Voolstra CR, Warner ME, Weis VM, Wright RM, Xiang T, Yamashita H, Ziegler M, Correa AMS, Parkinson JE. 2023. Building consensus around the assessment and interpretation of Symbiodiniaceae diversity. PeerJ, 11(June):e15023. DOI:10.7717/peerj.15023
Bonacolta AM, Miravall J, Gómez-Gras D, Ledoux JB, López-Sendino P, Garrabou J, Massana R, Del Campo J. 2023. Differential apicomplexan presence predicts thermal stress mortality in the Mediterranean coral Paramuricea clavata. Environmental Microbiology. DOI:10.1111/1462-2920.16548
Minardi D, Ryder D, Del Campo J, Fonseca VG, Kerr R, Mortensen S, Pallavicini A, Bass D. 2022. Improved high throughput protocol for targeting eukaryotic symbionts in metazoan and eDNA samples. Molecular Ecology Resources, 22(2):664-678. DOI:10.1111/1755-0998.13509
Singh RA, Boscaro V, James ER, Karnkowska A, Kolisko M, Gavelis GS, Okamoto N, del Campo J, Fiorito R, Hehenberger E, Irwin NAT, Mathur V, Scheffrahn RH, Keeling PJ. 2021. Characterization of new cristamonad species from kalotermitid termites including a novel genus, Runanympha. Scientific Reports, 11(7270): 1–12. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-86645-w
Orkin JD, Montague MJ, Tejada-Martinez D, de Manuel M, Del Campo J, Cheves Hernandez S, Di Fiore A, Fontsere C, Hodgson JA, Janiak MC, Kuderna LFK, Lizano E, Martin MP, Niimura Y, Perry GH, Valverde CS, Tang J, Warren WC, de Magalhães JP, Kawamura S, Marquès-Bonet T, Krawetz R, Melin AD. 2021. The genomics of ecological flexibility, large brains, and long lives in capuchin monkeys revealed with fecalFACS. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(7). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2010632118.