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Forest Rohwer (born 1969) is an American microbial ecologist and Professor of Biology at
San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...
. His particular interests include
coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...
microbial ecology and
virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are ...
es as both evolutionary agents and opportunistic pathogens in various environments.


Education and career

Rohwer holds bachelor's degrees with emphases in biology, chemistry, and history from the
College of Idaho The College of Idaho (C of I) is a private liberal arts college in Caldwell, Idaho. Founded in 1891 by Rev. William Judson Boone as a Presbyterian college, it is the state's oldest private liberal arts college and has an enrollment of over ...
and earned his doctorate in molecular biology from the
San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...
/
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...
Joint Doctoral Program.


Contributions


Shotgun metagenomics

In 2002, as a research scientist
San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...
, Rohwer performed the first shotgun
metagenome Metagenomics is the study of all genetic material from all organisms in a particular environment, providing insights into their composition, diversity, and functional potential. Metagenomics has allowed researchers to profile the microbial co ...
(Breitbart et al. 2002). This method of randomly sequencing DNA from the environment transformed the study of viruses and microbes in the environment and associated with macroorganisms.


Viral diversity

The first shotgun metagenome, also called
virome Virome refers to the assemblage of viruses that is often investigated and described by metagenomic sequencing of viral nucleic acids that are found associated with a particular ecosystem, organism or holobiont. The word is frequently used to d ...
, showed that there were thousands of viral species per liter of seawater (Breitbart et al. 2002; Angly et al. 2006). Working with Anca Segall, Mya Brietbart, Rob Edwards, and the SDSU Biomath Group, Rohwer performed the first virome studies of corals, soils, sediments and humans (Breitbart et al. 2003, 2005, 2008). Based on this work, he proposed that viruses, and particularly
bacteriophage A bacteriophage (), also known informally as a phage (), is a virus that infects and replicates within bacteria. The term is derived . Bacteriophages are composed of proteins that Capsid, encapsulate a DNA or RNA genome, and may have structu ...
, are the most diverse biological entities on Earth.


Phage Proteomic Tree

Virome studies showed that most viral diversity was extreme and almost completely unknown. Rob Edwards and Rohwer proposed that a genome-based taxonomy was need to link the metagenomic data to the existing, morphology-based taxonomy. The controversial Phage Proteomic Tree was the resulting system and was featured in ''Life in Our Phage World'' (2015).


Holobionts

Working with
Nancy Knowlton Nancy Knowlton is a coral reef biologist and a former Sant Chair for Marine Science at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Life She graduated from Harvard University, and from the University of California, Berkeley, with a PhD. ...
at the
Scripps Institution of Oceanography Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) is the center for oceanography and Earth science at the University of California, San Diego. Its main campus is located in La Jolla, with additional facilities in Point Loma. Founded in 1903 and incorpo ...
, Rohwer showed that reef-building
corals Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...
harbored hundreds of thousands of unique bacterial species (Rohwer et al. 2002). They proposed that these bacteria, viruses and other microbes were important for coral health and formed an ecological unit called the
holobiont A holobiont is an assemblage of a Host (biology), host and the many other species living in or around it, which together form a discrete ecological unit through symbiosis, though there is controversy over this discreteness. The components of a h ...
. Further, they hypothesized that changing membership of the holobiont was the primary mechanism of adaption to changing environmental conditions.


Microbialization of coral reefs

In 2005, Rohwer participated in the Northern Line Island expedition headed by Enric Sala and Stuart Sandin. The goal of this research cruise was to determine the effects of human populations on coral reefs. Rohwer performed the first shotgun metagenomes from these islands and proposed that overfishing by humans led to microbialization. Subsequent studies showed microbialization is a global phenomenon and a primary reason for the decline of coral reefs (McDole et al. 2012). This work was featured in Rohwer's book ''Coral Reef in the Microbial Seas''.


Bacteriophage Attachment to Mucus (BAM) Immunity

While studying corals, Kristen Marhaver and Rohwer noted that
bacteriophage A bacteriophage (), also known informally as a phage (), is a virus that infects and replicates within bacteria. The term is derived . Bacteriophages are composed of proteins that Capsid, encapsulate a DNA or RNA genome, and may have structu ...
, viruses that infect bacteria, were four to five times more abundant than the surrounding seawater. Building on this observation, Jeremy Barr and Rohwer (Barr et al. 2013; 2015) showed that bacteriophage bind to mucus through hypervariable protein domains displayed on the
capsid A capsid is the protein shell of a virus, enclosing its genetic material. It consists of several oligomeric (repeating) structural subunits made of protein called protomers. The observable 3-dimensional morphological subunits, which may or m ...
. This effectively concentrates the bacteriophage in the mucus, where they kill bacteria and protect the underlying animal tissue. Rohwer has proposed that this Bacteriophage Attachment to Mucus (BAM) Immunity is the first example and origin of the specific immune response.


Piggyback-the-Winner

Microbialized coral reefs have relatively high bacteria abundances and reduced
bacteriophage A bacteriophage (), also known informally as a phage (), is a virus that infects and replicates within bacteria. The term is derived . Bacteriophages are composed of proteins that Capsid, encapsulate a DNA or RNA genome, and may have structu ...
abundances. To explain this observation, Rohwer and colleagues (Knowles et al. 2016) proposed that the
temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...
life cycle was the predominant bacteriophage life cycle at high host abundances. The resulting bacterial lysogens would be protected from other bacteriophage via superinfection exclusion and protists via expression of virulence factors.


Work

He has authored more than 180 scientific papers and book chapters, as well as two popular science book, ''Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas'' (2010) and ''Life in Our Phage World'' (2015). He pioneered the use of
metagenomics Metagenomics is the study of all genetics, genetic material from all organisms in a particular environment, providing insights into their composition, diversity, and functional potential. Metagenomics has allowed researchers to profile the mic ...
as a means to characterize viral and microbial communities, such as those associated with coral reefs. His field work with colleagues includes expeditions to the
Northern Line Islands The Line Islands, Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands () are a chain of 11 atolls (with partly or fully enclosed lagoons, except Vostok and Jarvis) and coral islands (with a surrounding reef) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Hawaii ...
in 2005 and 2010, and to the Southern Line Islands in 2009.


Awards

Rohwer has been named a Fellow of both the
American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
(AAAS) and the
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) is a Canadian-based global research organization that brings together teams of top researchers from around the world to address important and complex questions. It was founded in 1982 and is su ...
(CIFAR). In 2008, he received the Young Investigators Award from the International Society of Microbial Ecology (ISME).


Personal life

Growing up in
Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...
, Rohwer learned
scuba diving Scuba diving is a Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...
in a frigid glacial lake. Later he took that skill to tropical waters where, for more than twenty years, he has been diving and doing research on coral reefs around the world.


See also

*
Proteomics Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins. Proteins are vital macromolecules of all living organisms, with many functions such as the formation of structural fibers of muscle tissue, enzymatic digestion of food, or synthesis and replicatio ...


References


External links


The Rohwer Lab at San Diego State University

Coral Reef Systems website including documentary videos and the blog of the 2010 research expedition to the Line Islands
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rohwer, Forest American ecologists American molecular biologists American virologists College of Idaho alumni San Diego State University faculty Living people 1969 births