JT Van Leuven

Microbial genomics and evolution

Originally from Spokane, WA, I spent time in Montana as an undergraduate and graduate student. As an undergrad, I studied melanistic garter snakes around Townsend, MT (http://crimsonbluffs.org/Black_Snake.html). As a senior, I became interested in microbiology and joined Dr. John McCutcheon’s lab at the University of Montana (http://mccutcheonlab.org/), where I used genomics and microscopy to uncover the role of endosymbiotic bacteria in cicadas. Because of an interest in studying the interactions between viruses, bacteria, and animals, I joined the Institute for Modeling Collaboration and Innovation (IMCI) in 2016 as a postdoc where I received training in bacteriophage experimental evolution and statistical modeling.

• Van Leuven, JT, AJ Gonzales, AQ Wixom, BJ Ridenhour, CR Miller, TA Miura. 2020 Rhinovirus reduces the severity of subsequent respiratory viral infections, which is associated with dampened inflammatory responses. [https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.06.371005v1?rss=1]
• Van Leuven, JT, MM Ederer, KS Slavens, L Scott, RA Hughes, V Codrea, AD Ellington, HA Wichman, CR Miller. ΦX174 attenuation by whole genome codon deoptimization. 2020. GBE. doi:10.1093/gbe/evaa214.
• Torrevillas, BK, SM Garrison, AJ Mckeeken, D Patel, JT Van Leuven, NI Dizon, KI Rivas, NJ Hathaway, JA Bailey, JN Waitumbi, CM Kifude, J Oyieko, VA Stward, S Luckhart. Plasmodium falciparum DHFR and DHPS mutations are associated with HIV-1 co-infection and a novel DHPS mutation I504T is identified in Western Kenya. 2020. Front Cell and Inf Micro. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2020.600112
• Krey, KL, PD Nabity, CK Blubaugh, Z Fu, JT Van Leuven, JP Reganold, A Berim, DR Gang, AS Jensen, WE Snyder. Organic farming sharpens plant defenses in the field. 2020. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.00097
• *Faber, MS, *JT Van Leuven, MM Ederer, Y Sapozhnikov, ZL Wilson, HA Wichman, TA Whitehead, CR Miller. Saturation mutagenesis genome engineering of infective ΦX174 bacteriophage via unamplified oligo pools and golden gate assembly. 2020. ACS Synthetic Biology 9 (1), 125-131. doi:10.1021/acssynbio.9b00411, *co-first authors
• Krey, KL, CK Blubaugh, JT Van Leuven, WE Snyder. Organic soils and competitors impact herbivore survival. 2019. Environmental Entomology. doi:10.1093/ee/nvz100
• Brown, CJ, D Mtui, B Oswald, JT Van Leuven, EJ Vallender, N Schultz-Darken, CN Ross, SN Austad, LJ Forney. Comparative genomics of Bifidobacterium isolated from marmosets and humans. 2019. American Journal of Primatology. May 6:e983. doi:10.1002/ajp.22983
• Van Leuven, JT, M Mao, GM Bennett, JP McCutcheon. Cicada endosymbionts have tRNAs that are correctly processed despite having genomes that do not encode all of the tRNA processing machinery. 2019. mBio 10 (3) e01950-18.
• Crabtree, AM, EA Kizer, SS Hunter, JT Van Leuven, MW Fagnan, DD New, PA Rowley. A Rapid Method for the Purification and Sequencing of dsRNA Mycoviruses. 2018. Viruses 11(1): 70. doi.org/10.3390/v11010070
• Lukasik, P, RA Chong, K Nazario, Y Matsuura, D Bublitz, MA Campbell, MM Meyer, JT Van Leuven, P Pessacq, C Veloso, C Simon, JP McCutcheon. One hundred mitochondrial genomes of cicadas. 2018. J. Heredity 110(2):p247–256, doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esy068
• Lukasik, P, K Nazario, JT Van Leuven, MA Campbell, M Meyer, A Michalik, P Pessacq, C Simon, C Veloso, JP McCutcheon. Multiple splits of a nutritional endosymbiont into interdependent symbiotic complexes. 2018. PNAS 115:E226-E235 [Selected by editors for cover image]
• Miller, CR, JT Van Leuven, HA Wichman, P Joyce. Selecting among three basic fitness landscape models: additive, multiplicative and stickbreaking. 2018. J Theor Pop Biol Jul;122:97-109. doi: 10.1016/j.tpb.2017.10.006
• Van Leuven, JT, BJ Ridenhour, CR Milller, TA Miura. Lung epithelial cells have virus-specific and shared gene expression responses to infection by diverse respiratory viruses. 2017. PLoS ONE 12, e0178408
• Ridenhour, BJ, SL Brooker, JE Williams, JT Van Leuven, AW Miller, MD Dearing, CH Remien. Modeling time-series data from microbial communities. 2017. ISME J doi:10.1038/ismej.2017.107
• *Campbell, M, *JT Van Leuven, RC Meister, C Simon, K Carey, JP McCutcheon. Genome expansion by genome reduction in the cicada endosymbiont Hodgkinia. 2015. PNAS 112, 10192–10199. *co-first authors [Selected by editors for cover image]
• Ammons, MCB, K Morrissey, BP Tripet, JT Van Leuven, G Lazarus, JM Zenilman, PP Stewart, GA James, V Copié. Functional association of metabolic profile and microbiome in chronic pressure ulcer wounds. 2015. PLoS ONE, e0126735
• Van Leuven, JT, RC Meister, C Simon, JP McCutcheon. Sympatric speciation of an endosymbiont results in two genomes with the functionality of one. 2014. Cell 158:6 [Selected by the editors a video abstract and cover image]
• Duncan, RB, F Husnik, JT Van Leuven, DG Gilbert, LM Davalos, JP McCutcheon, ACC Wilson. Dynamic recruitment of amino acid transporters to the insect-symbiont interface. 2014. Molecular Ecology 23, 1608-1623 [Selected for special Nature's Microbiome issue]
• Van Leuven, JT, and JP McCutcheon. An AT mutational bias in the tiny GC-rich endosymbiont genome of Hodgkinia. 2012. Genome Biology and Evolution 4, 24-27 [Selected for highlight by the editorial board]