Maria L. Marco

Assistant Adjunct Professor

Degree

Ph. D. University of California, Berkeley, 2002

Research

Professor Marco is investigating the ecology and molecular genetics of lactic acid bacteria (LAB). These microorganisms are required for the production of many artisanal and industrial fermented plant, dairy, and meat products. Species of LAB are also provided as probiotics in foods and nutritional supplements intended to confer health benefits upon the host. This group's primary focus is on the adaptations of LAB to their natural environments including plants, food matrices, and mammalian gastrointestinal tracts. They are applying functional genomics, microbial ecology, and systems biology approaches to identify and characterize the host-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions of LAB in these environments. Such approaches enable improved application of LAB in foods to benefit human health.

Selected Publications

• Maria L Marco, Theodorus H. F. Peters, Roger S. Bongers,1,2 Douwe Molenaar, Saskia van Hemert, Justin L. Sonnenburg, Jeffrey I. Gordon and Michiel Kleerebezem. 2009. Lifestyle of Lactobacillus plantarum in the mouse caecum. Environmental Microbiology.

• Maria L. Marco and Michiel Kleerebezem. 2008. Assessment of real-time RT-PCR for quantification of Lactobacillus plantarum gene expression during stationary phase and starvation. Journal of Applied Microbiology 104:587-594.

• Maria L. Marco, Roger S. Bongers, Willem M. de Vos, and Michiel Kleerebezem. 2007. Spatial and temporal expression of Lactobacillus plantarum genes in the gastrointestinal tracts of mice. Applied and Environmental Microbiology  73(1): 124-132.

• Maria L. Marco, Sonia Pavan, and Michiel Kleerebezem. 2006. Towards understanding molecular modes of probiotic action. Current Opinion in Biotechnology  17:204-210.

• Maria L. Marco, Jennifer Legac, and Steven E. Lindow.  2005.  Pseudomonas syringae genes induced during colonization of leaf surfaces.  Environmental Microbiology  7(9):1379-1391.