Nancy A. Moran

Nancy A. Moran (born December 21, 1954, Dallas, Texas) is an American evolutionary biologist and entomologist, University of Texas Leslie Surginer Endowed Professor, and co-founder of the Yale Microbial Diversity Institute. Since 2005, she has been a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. In 2013, she returned to the University of Texas at Austin, where she continues to conduct research on bacterial symbionts in aphids, bees, and other insect species. She has also expanded the scale of her research to bacterial evolution as a whole. She believes that a good understanding of genetic drift and random chance could prevent misunderstandings surrounding evolution.

Education and career In 1976, Moran graduated from the University of Texas with a B.A. in Biology in 1976. She received her Ph.D. in zoology in 1982 from the University of Michigan studying with W.D. Hamilton and Richard D. Alexander. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Northern Arizona University from 1984-1986. She rose to the rank of Regents' Professor at the University of Arizona from 1986-2010, was the William H. Fleming Professor at Yale University from 2010-2013, and subsequently moved to the University of Texas where she is now the Leslie Surginer Endowed Professor and Warren J. and Viola Mae Raymer Chair. This work attracted the attention of Paul Baumann at the University of California at Davis, an expert in microbial diversity with an interest in aphid microbial diversity culminating in a 15-year collaboration on the mutualistic relationship between aphids and their symbionts.

As new technologies emerged and improved, Moran transitioned to examining the genomic evolution of symbiotic bacteria. By comparing Buchnera, an obligately host-associated bacteria, with closely related free-living bacteria, she demonstrated that Buchnera tends to accumulate nonsynonymous, silent mutations, more rapidly, increasing the AT-content of the genome with an accelerated rate of evolution. In other words, these obligately host-associated bacteria accumulate mutations. They also accumulate deleterious mutations through Muller's Ratchet, such that genome reduction reflects an evolutionary phenomenon known as genetic drift.

Drosophila gut microbiomes

Moran's research on Drosophila gut microbiomes demonstrated that, unlike other species, Drosophila's microbiome content was ingested with food and varied widely between individuals and populations. Her research provides information on this model organism and the bacteria it possesses which affects research done with Drosophila. This research showed that microbiota in social bees degrade plant polymers that the organisms consumes in their diet. Corbiculate bees include honey bees, bumble bees, and stingless bees. The data collected demonstrates the bee's susceptibility to fatal pathogens after antibiotic exposure. 2007 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 2008 University of Arizona Alumni Association Extraordinary Faculty Award 2010 International Prize for Biology, Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science 2014 International Society for Microbial Ecology James Tiedje Award for outstanding lifetime contribution to [microbial ecology] 2016 Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution's Lifetime Contribution Award 2017 Molecular Ecology Prize 2023 Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology

Taxonomy In 2011, one of Moran's trainees, John McCutcheon, named an endosymbiont in the mealy bug system Moranella endobia, in recognition of Moran's contributions to the field.

Works

Hamilton, W. D., Henderson, P. A. & Moran, N. A. (1980) Natural Selection and Social Behavior: Recent Research and New Theory, eds. Alexander, R. D. & Tinkle, D. W. (Chiron Press, New York), pp. 363–382.

Personal life Moran is married to Howard Ochman, a microbiologist, molecular genetist, and evolutionary biologist. She has one daughter. She acknowledges that the MacArthur genius award was a blessing, allowing her to reduce her teaching load to have more time for her research and her daughter.