Project Description

The Oono lab investigates various questions concerning the evolutionary and ecological interactions between plant hosts and their microbes.  A major focus of the lab is understanding host specificity of endophytic fungi in pine needles. By identifying the diverse and abundant microbial community living cryptically within pine needles, we try to answer how these symbionts diversify, switch hosts, become pathogenic, disperse, reproduce, etc. However, we have many other on-going projects unrelated to pine endophytes, including legumes and rhizobia or ectomycorrhizal associations. 

Undergraduate Contribution

Students will be trained on various laboratory tasks, ranging from culturing to molecular biology, which includes DNA extraction, PCR, and sequencing. 

Requirements/Application Instructions

Students should email the professor with their interests and availability to volunteer in the lab.