Seth Bordenstein

Director of the One Health Microbiome Center; Huck Chair in Microbiome Sciences; Professor of Biology and Entomology

Seth Bordenstein

Research Summary

The evolutionary and genetic principles that shape symbiotic interactions between animals, microbes, and viruses and the major applications of these interactions to human health.

Huck Affiliations

Links

Most Recent Publications

Theory of host-microbe symbioses: Challenges and opportunities

Pamela Ferretti, Maria M. Martignoni, Lisa C. McManus, Taom Sakal, Armun Liaghat, Bethany Stevens, Kyle J.M. Dahlin, Lucas S. Souza, Zoe G. Cardon, Cynthia B. Silveira, Seth R. Bordenstein, Joan Roughgarden, 2025, Cell Host and Microbe on p. 1052-1056

Ecologically expanding the One Health framework to unify the microbiome sciences

Nichole Ginnan, Sharifa G. Crandall, Madangchanok Imchen, Francisco Dini-Andreote, Tim I. Miyashiro, Vishal Singh, Erika Ganda, Seth R. Bordenstein, 2025, mBio

Wolbachia and its pWCP plasmid show differential dynamics during the development of Culex mosquitoes

Alice Brunner, Camille Gauliard, Jordan Tutagata, Seth R. Bordenstein, Sarah R. Bordenstein, Blandine Trouche, Julie Reveillaud, 2025, Microbiology spectrum

Cytoplasmic incompatibility factor proteins from Wolbachia prophage are costly to sperm development in Drosophila melanogaster

Rupinder Kaur, Seth R. Bordenstein, 2025, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Prophage proteins alter long noncoding RNA and DNA of developing sperm to induce a paternal-effect lethality

Rupinder Kaur, Angelina McGarry, J. Dylan Shropshire, Brittany A. Leigh, Seth R. Bordenstein, 2024, Science on p. 1111-1117

The mechanism of cytoplasmic incompatibility is conserved in Wolbachia-bearing Aedes aegypti mosquitoes deployed for arbovirus control

Rupinder Kaur, C Meier, Elizabeth McGraw, J Hillyer, Seth R. Bordenstein, 2024, PLoS Biology on p. e3002573

The disciplinary matrix of holobiont biology Uniting life’s seen and unseen realms guides a conceptual advance in research

Seth Bordenstein, Holobiont Biology Network, 2024, Science on p. 731-732

It is time to authenticate the Microbiome Sciences with accredited educational programs and departments

Nichole Ginnan, Seth R. Bordenstein, 2023, PLoS Biology

Human microbiome variation associated with race and ethnicity emerges as early as 3 months of age

Elizabeth K. Mallott, Alexandra R. Sitarik, Leslie D. Leve, Camille Cioffi, Carlos A. Camargo, Kohei Hasegawa, Seth R. Bordenstein, 2023, PLoS Biology

Low Gut Microbial Diversity Augments Estrogen-Driven Pulmonary Fibrosis in Female-Predominant Interstitial Lung Disease

Ozioma S. Chioma, Elizabeth Mallott, Binal Shah-Gandhi, Za Darreyal Wiggins, Madison Langford, Andrew William Lancaster, Alexander Gelbard, Hongmei Wu, Joyce E. Johnson, Lisa Lancaster, Erin M. Wilfong, Leslie J. Crofford, Courtney G. Montgomery, Luc Van Kaer, Seth Bordenstein, Dawn C. Newcomb, Wonder Puryear Drake, 2023, Cells

Most-Cited Papers

Host biology in light of the microbiome: Ten principles of holobionts and hologenomes

Seth R. Bordenstein, Kevin R. Theis, 2015, PLoS Biology

Minimum information about an uncultivated virus genome (MIUVIG)

Simon Roux, Evelien M. Adriaenssens, Bas E. Dutilh, Eugene V. Koonin, Andrew M. Kropinski, Mart Krupovic, Jens H. Kuhn, Rob Lavigne, J. Rodney Brister, Arvind Varsani, Clara Amid, Ramy K. Aziz, Seth R. Bordenstein, Peer Bork, Mya Breitbart, Guy R. Cochrane, Rebecca A. Daly, Christelle Desnues, Melissa B. Duhaime, Joanne B. Emerson, François Enault, Jed A. Fuhrman, Pascal Hingamp, Philip Hugenholtz, Bonnie L. Hurwitz, Natalia N. Ivanova, Jessica M. Labonté, Kyung Bum Lee, Rex R. Malmstrom, Manuel Martinez-Garcia, Ilene Karsch Mizrachi, Hiroyuki Ogata, David Páez-Espino, Marie Agnès Petit, Catherine Putonti, Thomas Rattei, Alejandro Reyes, Francisco Rodriguez-Valera, Karyna Rosario, Lynn Schriml, Frederik Schulz, Grieg F. Steward, Matthew B. Sullivan, Shinichi Sunagawa, Curtis A. Suttle, Ben Temperton, Susannah G. Tringe, Rebecca Vega Thurber, Nicole S. Webster, Katrine L. Whiteson, Steven W. Wilhelm, K. Eric Wommack, Tanja Woyke, Kelly C. Wrighton, Pelin Yilmaz, Takashi Yoshida, Mark J. Young, Natalya Yutin, Lisa Zeigler Allen, Nikos C. Kyrpides, Emiley A. Eloe-Fadrosh, 2019, Nature Biotechnology on p. 29-37

Phylosymbiosis: Relationships and Functional Effects of Microbial Communities across Host Evolutionary History

Andrew W. Brooks, Kevin D. Kohl, Robert M. Brucker, Edward J. van Opstal, Seth R. Bordenstein, 2016, PLoS Biology

Getting the hologenome concept right: An eco-evolutionary framework for hosts and their microbiomes

Kevin R. Theis, Nolwenn M. Dheilly, Jonathan L. Klassen, Robert M. Brucker, John F. Baines, Thomas C.G. Bosch, John F. Cryan, Scott F. Gilbert, Charles J. Goodnight, Elisabeth A. Lloyd, Jan Sapp, Philippe Vandenkoornhuyse, Ilana Zilber-Rosenberg, Eugene Rosenberg, Seth R. Bordenstein, 2016, mSystems

Prophage WO genes recapitulate and enhance Wolbachia-induced cytoplasmic incompatibility

Daniel LePage, Daniel P. Le Page, Jason Metcalf, Sarah Bordenstein, Jungmin On, Jessamyn Perlmutter, J Shropshire, Emily Layton, Lisa Funkhouser-Jones, John Beckmann, Seth R. Bordenstein, 2017, Nature on p. 243--247

Microbiota and the social brain

Eoin Sherwin, Seth R. Bordenstein, John L. Quinn, Timothy G. Dinan, John F. Cryan, 2019, Science

Gut microbiota diversity across ethnicities in the United States

Andrew W. Brooks, Sambhawa Priya, Ran Blekhman, Seth R. Bordenstein, 2018, PLoS Biology

Living in the endosymbiotic world of Wolbachia: A centennial review

R Kaur, J Shropshire, Karissa Cross, Brittany Leigh, Alexander Mansueto, Victoria Stewart, Sarah Bordenstein, Seth R. Bordenstein, 2021, Cell Host and Microbe on p. 879--893

An introduction to phylosymbiosis

Shen Jean Lim, Seth R. Bordenstein, 2020, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Bile diversion to the distal small intestine has comparable metabolic benefits to bariatric surgery

Charles Robb Flynn, Vance L. Albaugh, Steven Cai, Joyce Cheung-Flynn, Phillip E. Williams, Robert M. Brucker, Seth R. Bordenstein, Yan Guo, David H. Wasserman, Naji N. Abumrad, 2015, Nature Communications

News Articles Featuring Seth Bordenstein

Dec 15, 2025

The stories that defined 2025 for the One Health Microbiome Center at Penn State

The One Health Microbiome Center (OHMC) at Penn State in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences is one of the largest and most active organizations in the field and provides centralized resources to Penn State, the nation and the world.

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Nov 11, 2025

Host-microbiome interaction biologist to receive inaugural Microbiome Medal Thomas Bosch, senior research professor at Kiel University, will receive the inaugural Microbiome Medal and speak about his wo

Thomas Bosch, senior research professor at Kiel University, will receive the inaugural Microbiome Medal and speak about his work on Dec. 12

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Oct 15, 2025

One Health Microbiome Center announces 2026 symposium, keynote speaker lineup

The One Health Microbiome Center (OHMC) in the Penn State Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences will host the One Health Microbiome Symposium on May 13 and 14, 2026.

Full Article

Oct 01, 2025

New microorganism survival commission aims to fill critical conservation gap

Global group to examine potential extinction of microbes essential to planetary and human health.

Full Article

Sep 23, 2025

One Health Microbiome Center awards 11 inaugural doctoral training fellows

Fellows represent the first cohort of the National Institutes of Health-supported doctoral training program in microbiome sciences and biotechnology.

Full Article

Sep 03, 2025

Connection among gut fungi, genetics and disease risk in humans identified

Novel genome-wide association study sheds light on the human genetic determinants of the fungal component of the human microbiome and their relation to chronic disease.

Full Article

Sep 02, 2025

Study finds links between human genetic variation, gut mycobiome, and chronic disease risk

Clinicians' ability to diagnose and treat chronic diseases is limited by scientific uncertainty around factors contributing to disease risk. A study published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology uncovers evidence of the first ternary relationships between human genetic variation, variation in gut mycobiome, and risk of developing chronic disease.

Full Article

Jul 22, 2025

$2.6M NIH grant to fund new microbiome sciences training program at Penn State

The internationally recognized One Health Microbiome Center (OHMC) in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State is the recipient of a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to train doctoral students in biotechnological innovation, industry advancements and interdisciplinary microbiome research.

Full Article

Jun 12, 2025

Human microbiome pioneer to deliver World Microbiome Day lecture

The One Health Microbiome Center (OHMC) in the Huck Institutes of Life Sciences at Penn State will host Curtis Huttenhower, professor of computational biology and bioinformatics, for a special virtual lecture at 10 a.m. on June 27 in honor of World Microbiome Day.

Full Article

Jun 10, 2025

Q&A: Unifying the microbiome sciences for global health and sustainability

Recently, members of Penn State's One Health Microbiome Center published an article in the American Society for Microbiology’s flagship journal, mBio. In this Q&A, a few of the paper’s authors discussed how the center is leading the charge to breakdown traditional disciplinary silos and expand the One Health focus to include more than just pathogenic microbial threats.

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Jun 09, 2025

Two Penn State doctoral students selected for industry internship in Germany

The One Health Microbiome Center (OHMC) in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State is sending two doctoral students to Hilden, Germany, for a seven-week industry internship at the headquarters of QIAGEN, a global leader in biotechnology for life sciences diagnostics, equipment and research.

Full Article

Apr 09, 2025

Postdoctoral training series assists scholars seeking fellowships

Three free sessions cover funding mechanisms, strategies for crafting effective proposals, and feedback to strengthen current fellowship applications.

Full Article

Mar 17, 2025

BioArtist Mellissa Monsoon to present 'Collaborating with Microbes'

The One Health Microbiome Center and College of Arts and Architecture are co-hosting three events as part of a multi-year SciArt collaboration.

Full Article

Nov 14, 2024

Q&A: How do microbiomes influence the study of life?

Microorganisms — bacteria, viruses and other tiny life forms — may drive biological variation in visible life as much, if not more, than genetic mutations, creating new lineages and even new species of animals and plants, according to Seth Bordenstein, director of Penn State’s One Health Microbiome Center within the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.

Full Article

Sep 30, 2024

One Health Microbiome Center launches new video series

The Penn State One Health Microbiome Center (OHMC) announced the launch of a new video series highlighting the center's state-of-the-art resources, research capabilities and collaborative efforts in microbiome sciences.

Full Article

May 14, 2024

'Research Art Collection' showcase in Old Main

The Office of the Senior Vice President for Research at Penn State hosted an open house for the “Research Art Collection” on April 25. The collection showcases the fine balance between art and research through various displays. From cassowary bird scans to bio-manufactured fashion to sustainable architecture, these works are featured in several different dimensional formats, including digital, print and 3D.

Full Article

Mar 08, 2024

Virus hijacking insect sperm causes brutal sterility, find scientists

Penn State researchers unveil the tale of Wolbachia and its viral accomplice manipulating insect reproduction

Full Article

Mar 08, 2024

How does a virus hijack insect sperm to control disease vectors and pests?

A widespread bacteria called Wolbachia and a virus that it carries can cause sterility in male insects by hijacking their sperm, preventing them from fertilizing eggs of females that do not have the same combination of bacteria and virus.

Full Article

Jan 27, 2024

QIAGEN Announces Partnership With Penn State University to Advance Microbiome Sciences

QIAGEN Announces Partnership With Penn State University to Advance Microbiome Sciences

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Jan 25, 2024

Qiagen Announces Partnership With Penn State University To Advance Microbiome Sciences

Qiagen announces partnership with Penn State University to Advance Microbiome Sciences

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Jan 25, 2024

Qiagen partners with Penn State to advance microbiome sciences

QIAGEN announced a first-in-kind collaboration with Penn State University to create a shared research and education facility for the fast-developing microbiome sciences

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Jan 25, 2024

QIAGEN announces partnership with Penn State University to advance microbiome sciences

QIAGEN announced a first-in-kind collaboration with Penn State University to create a shared research and education facility for the fast-developing microbiome sciences

Full Article

Jan 25, 2024

QIAGEN announces partnership with Penn State University to advance microbiome sciences

Qiagen to provide instruments and solutions for shared research and education facility at the One Health Microbiome Center to support faculty and students

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Jan 25, 2024

Penn State, QIAGEN announce strategic partnership to advance microbiome sciences

Penn State, known for innovations in interdisciplinary research, and QIAGEN LLC, a leader in sample-to-insight solutions, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to foster advancements in microbiome sciences

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Dec 08, 2023

Penn State researchers propose a path to authenticate the Microbiome Sciences

Penn State's One Health Microbiome Center is taking a lead role in the promotion of Microbiome Sciences as an autonomous discipline, publishing an editorial in the latest issue of PLOS Biology.

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