UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. — Over the past two decades, scientists have discovered that all multicellular life forms on Earth, including human beings, play host to a multitude of microorganisms. Scientific research has also revealed that the perpetual interplay of these tiny microbial lifeforms has profound effects on plants, animals, insects and environments. But our collective understanding of the particulars of all these interactions remains today in its infancy, according to Seth Bordenstein.
Bordenstein, professor of biology and entomology, Huck Chair in Microbiome Sciences and director of the One Health Microbiome Center at Penn State, has spent his entire career investigating ways that microorganisms interact and affect their host species. In the latest episode of the Tracking Traits podcast, he shares some of the insights he has achieved, as well as a great number of questions that remain to be answered.
Like many working in the life sciences today, Bordenstein said he believes the rapidly evolving field of microbiome studies represents nothing short of a paradigm shift for the field of biology and related disciplines.
“We are recognizing that microbes are universal in all environments, in all hosts,” Bordenstein said. “We're recognizing that their influences on adaptations on health and disease are so profound that their explanatory power is going to be massively important to explaining how life's diversity, life's threats and life's health ultimately is understood.”
Bordenstein was interviewed about his research for the podcast by Thomas Sontag, a Brazilian-born Penn State undergraduate biology student. Their wide-ranging conversation hit upon a variety of topics, including the unplanned nature of Bordenstein’s career path. He originally intended to become a medical doctor.
“I had a light bulb moment that I hope everybody has in college," Bordenstein said. "I took a course unexpectedly in evolutionary biology that blew my mind. And from that point on, I said, ‘What the heck can I do with this?’ and found myself in a laboratory to do evolutionary research.”
As luck would have it, the very first lab where Bordenstein took up his new professional direction was engaged in the study of one microorganism that would prove to be phenomenally significant: a bacteria named Wolbachia. This bacterium has drawn attention for its prevalence, inhabiting half of the world’s arthropod species, and its ability to block the replication of pathogenic RNA viruses like Zika and dengue inside mosquitoes. As a result, Bordenstein said, our understanding of Wolbachia has opened up entirely new methods for combatting these diseases.
“This is not science fiction,” Bordenstein said. “This has actually happened in over 10 countries across the world, and resultingly, they've seen declines in Zika and dengue virus incidences, up to 95% declines in those populations after the releases of the Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes.”
In his podcast interview, Bordenstein went on to tell the story of the Wolbachia Project, a collaboration with his wife, Sarah, that engages high school students from around the world to gain firsthand experiences conducting genetic research. The outreach program has, to date, reached approximately 60,000 students across more than a dozen countries.
Other topics covered on the podcast include current and potential future medical applications that can be derived from deeper knowledge of the microbial world. Additionally, Bordenstein shared how it’s now possible for everyday people to have their individual microbiomes analyzed and how he was personally affected by learning about his own.
“I think that the microbiome revolution is coming, and no matter which direction we look at it from, there will be a period of time when it becomes very normal to do a microbiome sample out of the doctor's office to link that with a human genotype of your genotype and to get the full genetic or genomic or what we'll call the hologenomic profile of your body,” Bordenstein said. “And therefore, the elements that make you sick or that keep you healthy will be resolved through a whole system set of DNA sequencing.”
“Microbes: the great interconnectors of all life on Earth” is available on all major podcast platforms. The Tracking Traits podcast is a production of the Center for Human Evolution and Diversity and features Penn State undergrads interviewing researchers about their work and personal passions. New episodes are released monthly.
The Center for Human Evolution and Diversity is housed within the Department of Anthropology in Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts, with support from the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.