Seth Bordenstein

About

Seth Bordenstein is a professor of Biology and Entomology at Penn State, serving as the Director of the One Health Microbiome Center and holding the Huck Chair in Microbiome Sciences. His research focuses on the evolutionary and genetic principles that shape symbiotic interactions between animals, microbes, and viruses, with a particular emphasis on their applications to human health. Bordenstein's work explores the microbiome sciences within the framework of holobiont biology, uniting life’s seen and unseen realms, and advancing the understanding of host-microbe interactions, phylosymbiosis, and the microbiome's role in health and disease. He has contributed to the development of the microbiome sciences as an interdisciplinary field, leading initiatives such as the One Health Microbiome Center, which is recognized as one of the largest and most active organizations in this domain. His research has significant implications for understanding the microbiome's influence on host biology, disease risk, and ecological health.

Research topics

• Biology
• Genetics
• Evolutionary biology
• Ecology
• Computational biology
• Microbiology
• Cell biology
• Zoology

Selected publications

• Human microbiome variation associated with race and ethnicity emerges as early as 3 months of age

  PLoS Biology · 2023-08-17 · 62 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Human microbiome variation is linked to the incidence, prevalence, and mortality of many diseases and associates with race and ethnicity in the United States. However, the age at which microbiome variability emerges between these groups remains a central gap in knowledge. Here, we identify that gut microbiome variation associated with race and ethnicity arises after 3 months of age and persists through childhood. One-third of the bacterial taxa that vary across caregiver-identified racial catego…

  PublisherDOI

• The disciplinary matrix of holobiont biology

  Science · 2024-11-14 · 37 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Uniting life's seen and unseen realms guides a conceptual advance in research.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Prophage proteins alter long noncoding RNA and DNA of developing sperm to induce a paternal-effect lethality

  Science · 2024-03-07 · 26 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  The extent to which prophage proteins interact with eukaryotic macromolecules is largely unknown. In this work, we show that cytoplasmic incompatibility factor A (CifA) and B (CifB) proteins, encoded by prophage WO of the endosymbiont Wolbachia, alter long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) and DNA during Drosophila sperm development to establish a paternal-effect embryonic lethality known as cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI). CifA is a ribonuclease (RNase) that depletes a spermatocyte lncRNA important for t…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Launching the IUCN Microbial Conservation Specialist Group as a global safeguard for microbial biodiversity

  Nature Microbiology · 2025-09-12 · 18 citations

  letter
  PublisherDOI

• The mechanism of cytoplasmic incompatibility is conserved in Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes deployed for arbovirus control

  PLoS Biology · 2024-03-28 · 15 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  The rising interest and success in deploying inherited microorganisms and cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) for vector control strategies necessitate an explanation of the CI mechanism. Wolbachia-induced CI manifests in the form of embryonic lethality when sperm from Wolbachia-bearing testes fertilize eggs from uninfected females. Embryos from infected females however survive to sustain the maternally inherited symbiont. Previously in Drosophila melanogaster flies, we demonstrated that CI modifie…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Dimensions: The Microbial Basis of Animal Speciation

  NSF · $1.3M · 2011–2017

• Wolbachia Genes that Mediate Male Killing

  NIH · $421k · 2017–2020

• Wolbachia Genes That Mediate Cytoplasmic Incompatibility

  NIH · $432k · 2016–2018

Frequent coauthors

• J. Dylan Shropshire

  Vanderbilt University

  43 shared

• Brittany A. Leigh

  Vanderbilt University

  42 shared

• Sarah R. Bordenstein

  Pennsylvania State University

  39 shared

• Robert M. Brucker

  Harvard University

  27 shared

• Rupinder Kaur

  Pennsylvania State University

  27 shared

• John H. Werren

  University of Rochester

  24 shared

• Andrew Brooks

  United Nations Children's Fund

  24 shared

• Elizabeth K. Mallott

  Washington University in St. Louis

  23 shared

Labs

• One Health Microbiome CenterPI

Awards & honors

• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sc…
• Inaugural Microbiome Medal (2025)

Similar researchers at Pennsylvania State University

• Sally Assmannh-82
• J. Martin Bollingerh-74
• Philip Bevilacquah-64