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Grace E. Lim-Fong, Ph.D. Education:
Postdoc University of California, San Diego, 2004-2005
Ph.D. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 2004
B.S. University of California, Berkeley, 1998 E-mail: glim@rmc.edu Office: Copley 128A
Courses:
BIOL 121 Integrative Biology I
BIOL 122 Integrative Biology II
BIOL 235 Marine Biology
BIOL 311 Microbiology |
Research Interests
I am broadly interested in symbiotic relationships between microbes and invertebrates, and my current research is centered on bryozoan-bacterium symbioses. One system which I study is the marine bryozoan Bugula neritina, which harbors a bacterial symbiont, and whose larvae are chemically defended by a group of compounds called bryostatins. These bryostatins, while playing an important ecological role in the bryozoan, are also biomedically important as bryostatin 1 is currently being tested for its anti-cancer and anti-Alzheimer's properties. We discovered that bryostatins are biosynthesized by the bacterial symbionts, and that at least one other Bugula species appear to contain novel bryostatins. I am interested in the co-evolution of Bugula bryozoans and their bacterial symbionts, and in the environmental factors that regulate this symbiosis. Since the bacterial symbionts have not been cultivated in the lab, I frequently rely on molecular approaches in my studies.
Publications
Trindade-Silva, A., Lim-Fong, G. E., Sharp, K. H., Haygood, M. G. (2010) Bryostatins: Biological context and biotechnological prospects. Current Opinion in Biotechnology 21:834–842.
Lim-Fong, G. E. ; Regali, L. A*.; Haygood. M. G. (2008) Evolutionary relationships of
Endobugula bacterial symbionts and their
Bugula bryozoan hosts.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology 74:3605-3609. * Indicates undergraduate student researcher.
Derman, A. I.; Lim-Fong, G. E; Pogliano, J. (2007) Intracellular mobility of plasmid DNA is limited by the ParA family of partitioning systems. Molecular Microbiology 67:935-946.
Larsen, R. A.; Cusumano, C; Fujioka, A; Lim-Fong, G. E., Patterson, P; Pogliano, J. (2007) Treadmilling of a prokaryotic tubulin-like protein, TubZ, required for plasmid stability in Bacillus thuringiensis. Genes and Development 21:1340-1352.
Lim, G. E.; Derman, A. I.; Pogliano, J. (2005) Bacterial DNA segregation by dynamic SopA polymers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102: 17658-17663.
Lim, G. E. and Haygood. M. G. (2004) Candidatus Endobugula glebosa, a specific bacterial symbiont of the marine bryozoan Bugula simplex. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 70:4921-4929.
Hildebrand, M.; Waggoner L. W.; Lim, G. E.; Sharp, K. H.; Ridley, C. P.; Haygood M. G. (2004) Molecular approaches to identify, clone, and express symbiont bioactive metabolite genes. Natural Product Reports 22: 122-142.
Davidson, S. K.; Allen, S. W.; Lim, G. E.; Anderson, C. M.; Haygood, M. G.. (2001) Evidence for the biosynthesis of bryostatins by the bacterial symbiont "Candidatus Endobugula sertula" of the bryozoan Bugula neritina. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 67: 4531-4537.