Research

Research in our laboratory focuses on the evolutionary ecology of plants. We are especially interested in the factors that shape the plant microbiome and how the microbiome - in turn - shapes plant phenotypic variation. Our approach is interdisciplinary – we combine techniques from ecology, plant biology, and microbiology with techniques from statistical, molecular, and population genetics. Our long term goal is to understand how the plant microbiome forms, and how the host-plant’s microbiome shapes its adaptation to new and changing environments.

Publications

Mittelstrass J, Sperone FG, Horton MW (2021).

Using transects to disentangle the environmental drivers of plant-microbiome assembly (https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.14190)

Plant, Cell & Environment, September 2021

Tabrett A, Horton MW (2020).

The influence of host genetics on the microbiome (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.20835.1)

F1000Research, February 2020

Bergelson J, Mittelstrass J, Horton MW (2019).

Characterizing both bacteria and fungi improves understanding of the Arabidopsis root microbiome (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-37208-z)

Scientific Reports, January 2019