Matthew Traxler

Education

Matt Traxler received his BS and PhD in microbiology from the University of Oklahoma,
and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School. His PhD studies used whole-genome
transcriptomics and network analyses to understand stress responses in E. coli.
His postdoctoral studies have included the use of NanoDESI and MALDI-TOF imaging
mass spectrometry to examine chemical exchange during actinomycete interactions.
His research aims include integrating metabolomic and transcriptomic paradigms with
the ultimate goal of understanding the role of specialized metabolism in bacterial
interactions and translating this knowledge into a platform for natural products discovery.

The Traxler lab seeks to simultaneously build: 1) a framework for studying the physiology of interspecies interactions, and 2) an innovative program for natural products discovery. The unique combination of nascent metabolomic techniques and transcriptomics, complemented by a perspective rooted in bacterial physiology, will provide a much deeper picture of how interspecies interactions can impact specialized metabolism, and the role these compounds play in natural settings.  The critical new information learned from these experiments will, in turn, be leveraged to maximum effect in the search for new natural products of potential therapeutic value.

Lambert S*, Traxler MF*, Craig M, Maciejewska M, Ongena M, van Wezel GP, Kolter R, and Rigali S. Altered desferrioxamine-mediated iron utilization is a common trait of bald mutants of Streptomyces coelicolor. Metallomics. 2014 Jul 23;6(8):1390-9.

Traxler MF, Watrous JD, Alexandrov T, Dorrestein PC, and Kolter R. Interspecies interactions stimulate diversification of the Streptomyces coelicolor secreted metabolome. MBio. 2013 Aug 20;4(4).

Traxler MF, Kolter R. A massively spectacular view of the chemical lives of microbes.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Jun 26;109(26):10128-9.

Seyedsayamdost MR*, Traxler MF*, Clardy J, Kolter R. Old meets new: using interspecies interactions to detect secondary metabolite production in actinomycetes. Methods Enzymol. 2012;517:89-109. PMID: 23084935

Traxler MF, Seyedsayamdost MR, Clardy J, Kolter R.  Interspecies modulation of bacterial development through iron competition and siderophore piracy. Mol Microbiol. 2012 Nov;86(3):628-44

Seyedsayamdost MR, Traxler MF, Zheng SL, Kolter R, Clardy J. Structure and biosynthesis of amychelin, an unusual mixed-ligand siderophore from Amycolatopsis sp. AA4. J Am Chem Soc. 2011 Aug 3;133(30):11434-7.

Romero D, Traxler MF, López D, Kolter R. Antibiotics as signal molecules. Chem Rev. 2011 Sep 14;111(9):5492-505. PMCID: PMC3173521

Traxler MF, Zacharia VM, Marquardt S, Summers SM, Nguyen HT, Stark SE, Conway T. Discretely calibrated regulatory loops controlled by ppGpp partition gene induction across the 'feast to famine' gradient in Escherichia coli. Mol Microbiol. 2011 Feb;79(4):830-45

Traxler MF, Summers SM, Nguyen HT, Zacharia VM, Hightower GA, Smith JT, Conway T.  The global, ppGpp-mediated stringent response to amino acid starvation in Escherichia coli.  Mol Microbiol. 2008 Jun;68(5):1128-48. 

Traxler MF, Chang DE, and Conway T. Guanosine 3',5'-bispyrophosphate coordinates global gene expression during glucose-lactose diauxie in Escherichia coli.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Feb 14;103(7):2374-9.