Education

1987 Ph. D. Ecology  University of Georgia, Athens, GA

1982 M. Sc. Natural Resources  Cornell Universtiy, Ithaca, NY

1977 B. Sc. Biology Colgate University, Hamilton, NY

1993-1998 Assistant Professor, The University of Georgia
Department of Marine Sciences

1989-1992 Assistant Research Microbiologist, The University of Georgia
Department of Microbiology

1988-1989 Postdoctoral Associate, The University of Georgia
Department of Microbiology

Peer Reviewed Publications (2000 - Present)

Moran, M. A., W. M. Sheldon, and R. G. Zepp. 2000. Carbon loss and optical property changes during long-term photochemical and biological degradation of estuarine dissolved organic matter.  Limnology and Oceanography 45:1254-1264.

González, J. M., R. Simó, R. Massana, J. S. Covert, E. O Casamayor, C. Pedrós-Alió, and M. A. Moran. 2000. Bacterial community structure associated with a dimethylsulfoniopropionate-producing North Atlantic algal bloom. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 66:4237-4246.

Buchan, A., L. S. Collier, E. L. Neidle, and M. A. Moran. 2000. Key aromatic-ring-cleaving enzyme, protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase, in the ecologically important marine Roseobacter lineage. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 66:4662-4672.

Esham, E. C., W. Ye, and M. A. Moran. 2000. Identification and characterization of humic substances-degrading bacterial isolates from an estuarine environment. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 1174:1-9.

Covert, J. S. and M. A. Moran. 2001. Molecular characterization of estuarine bacterial communities that use high- and low-molecular weight fractions of dissolved organic carbon. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 25:127-139.

Buchan, A., E. L. Neidle, and M. A. Moran. 2001. Diversity of ring-cleaving dioxygenase gene pcaH in a salt marsh bacterial community. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 67:5801-5809.

Buchan, A., S. Y. Newell, J. I. L. Moreta, and M. A. Moran. 2002. Analysis of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of rRNA genes in fungal communities of a southeastern U.S. salt marsh. Microbial Ecology 43: 329-340.

Miller, W. L., M. A. Moran, W. M. Sheldon, R. G. Zepp, and S. Opsahl. 2002. Determination of apparent quantum yield spectra for the formation of biologically labile photoproducts. Limnology and Oceanography 47: 343-352.

Hardwick, E. O, W. Ye, M. A. Moran, and R. E. Hodson. 2003. Temporal dynamics of three culturable g-Proteobacteria taxa in salt marsh sediments.  Aquatic Ecology 37:55-64.

Stepanauskas, R., M. A. Moran, B. Bergamaschi, and J. T. Hollibaugh.  2003. Covariance of bacterioplankton composition and water chemistry in a temperate delta estuary.  Aquatic Microbial Ecology 31:85-98.

Lyons, J. I., S. Y. Newell, A. Buchan, and M. A. Moran. 2003. Diversity of ascomycete laccase gene sequences in a southeastern U.S. salt marsh. Microbial Ecology 45:270-281.

Moran, M. A., J. M. González, and R. P. Kiene. 2003. Linking a bacterial taxon to sulfur cycling in the sea: studies of the marine Roseobacter group.  Geomicrobiology Journal 20:375-388.

González, J. M., J. S. Covert, W. B. Whitman, J. Henricksen, F. Mayer, B. Scharf, R. Schmitt, A. Buchan, J. A. Fuhrman, R. P. Kiene, and M. A. Moran. 2003. Silicibacter pomeroyi sp. nov. and Roseovarius nubinhibens sp. nov., DMSP demethylating bacteria from marine environments.  International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 53:1261-1269.

Buchan, A., S. Y. Newell, M. Butler, E. J. Biers, J. T. Hollibaugh, and M. A. Moran. 2003. Dynamics of bacterial and fungal communities on decaying salt marsh grass. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 69:6676-6687.

Buchan, A., E. L. Neidle, and M. A. Moran. 2004. Diverse organization of genes of the b-ketoadipate pathway in members of the marine Roseobacter lineage. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 70: 1658-1668.

Zepp, R. G., W. M. Sheldon, and M. A. Moran. 2004. Dissolved organic fluorophores in southeastern U.S. coastal waters: Correction method for eliminating Rayleigh and Raman scattering peaks in excitation-emission matrices. Marine Chemistry 89:15-36.

Vila, M., R. Simó, R. P. Kiene, J. Pinhassi, J. M. González, M. A. Moran, C. Pedrós-Alió. 2004. Dimethylsulfoniopropionate incorporation by marine bacterioplankton taxa studied by microautoradiography combined with fluorescence in situ hybridization.  Applied and Environmental Microbiology 70:4648-4657.

Chen, R. F., P. Bissett, P. Coble, R. Conmy, G. B. Gardner, M. A. Moran, X. Wang, M. L. Wells, P. Whelan, and R. G. Zepp. 2004. Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM)Source Characterization in the Louisiana Bight.  Marine Chemistry 89:257-272.

Moran, M. A., A. Buchan, J. M. González, J. F. Heidelberg, W. B. Whitman, R. P. Kiene, J. R. Henriksen, G. M. King, R. Belas, C. Fuqua, L. Brinkac, M. Lewis, S. Johri, B. Weaver, G. Pai, J. A. Eisen, E. Rahe, W. M. Sheldon, W. Ye, T. R. Miller, J. Carlton, D. A. Rasko, I. T. Paulsen, Q. Ren, S. C. Daugherty, R. T. Deboy, R. J. Dodson, A. S. Durkin, R. Madupu, W. C. Nelson, S. A. Sullivan, M. J. Rosovitz, D. H. Haft, J. Selengut, and N. Ward. 2004. Genome sequence of Silicibacter pomeroyi reveals adaptations to the marine environment. Nature 432:910-913.

Mou, X., M. A. Moran, R. Stepansuskas, J. M. González and R. E. Hodson. 2005. Culture-independent identification of bacterioplankton involved in DMSP transformations by flow cytometric cell sorting and subsequent molecular analyses. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 71:1405-1416.

Poretsky, R. S., N. Bano, A. Buchan, G. LeCleir, J. Kleikemper, M. Pickering, W. M. Pate, M. A. Moran, and J. T. Hollibaugh. 2005. Analysis of microbial gene transcripts in environmental samples. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 71: 4121-4126.

Stepanauskas, R., M. A. Moran, B. A. Bergamaschi, and J. T. Hollibaugh. 2005. Sources, bioavailability, and photoreactivity of dissolved organic carbon in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.  Biogeochemistry 74: 131–149.

Buchan, A., J. M. González, and M. A. Moran. 2005. An overview of the marine Roseobacter lineage. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 71: 5665-5677.

Lyons, J. I., S. Y. Newell, R. P. Brown, and M. A. Moran. 2005. Screening for bacteria-fungal associations in a south-eastern US salt marsh using pre-established fungal monocultures. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 54:179-187.

Shank, G. C., R. G. Zepp, R. F. Whitehead, and M. A. Moran. 2005. Variations in the spectral properties of freshwater and estuarine CDOM caused by partitioning onto river and estuarine sediments. Estuarine and Coastal Shelf Science 65:289-301.

Pinhassi, J., R. Simó, J. M. González, M. Vila, L. Alonso-Sáez, R. P. Kiene, M. A. Moran, and C. Pedrós-Alio. 2005. Dimethylsulfoniopropionate turnover linked to the composition and dynamics of the bacterioplankton assemblage during a microcosm phytoplankton bloom. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 71: 7650-7660.

Howard, E. C., J. R. Henriksen, A. Buchan, C. R. Reisch, H. Bürgmann, R. Welsh, W. Ye, J. M. González, K. Mace, S. B. Joye, R. P. Kiene, W. B. Whitman, and M. A. Moran. 2006. Bacterial taxa that limit sulfur flux from the ocean. Science 314:649-652.

LeCleir, G. R., A. Buchan, J. Maurer, M. A. Moran, J. T. Hollibaugh. 2007. Comparison of chitinolytic enzymes from an alkaline hypersaline lake and an estuary. Environ. Microbiol. 9: 197–205.

Biers, E. J., R. G. Zepp, and M. A. Moran. 2007. The role of nitrogen in chromophoric and fluorescent dissolved organic matter formation. Marine Chemistry 103:46–60.

Mou, X., R. E. Hodson, M. A. Moran. 2007. Bacterioplankton assemblages transforming dissolved organic compounds in coastal seawater. Environmental Microbiology 9:2025–2037. doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2007.01318.x

Dong, Y., M. A. Moran, and S. Guerrero. 2007. Exploring marine bacterial diversity in coastal Georgia salt marshes using DNA technology. The American Biology Teacher. In press.

Moran, M. A., R. Belas, M. A. Schell, J. M. González, F. Sun, S. Sun, B. J. Binder, J. Edmonds, W. Ye, B. Orcutt, E. C. Howard, C. Meile, W. Palefsky, A. Goesmann, Q. Ren, I. Paulsen, L. E. Ulrich, L. S. Thompson, E. Saunders, and A. Buchan. 2007. Ecological genomics of marine roseobacters. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 73:4559-4569.

Moran, M. A. and E. V. Armbrust. 2007. Genomes of sea microbes. In: A Sea of Microbes. The Oceanography Society Journal. L. Proctor and D. Karl, issue editors. June 2007, pp. 47-55.

Bürgmann, H., E. C. Howard, W. Ye, F. Sun, S. Sun, S. Napierala, and M. A. Moran. 2007. Transcriptional response of Silicibacter pomeroyi DSS-3 to dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP). Environmental Microbiology 9:2742-2755.

Moran, M. A. and W. L. Miller. 2007. Resourceful heterotrophs make the most of light in the coastal ocean. Nature Reviews Microbiology 5:792-800.

Edmonds, J. W., N. B. Weston, S. B. Joye, and M. A. Moran. 2008. Variation in prokaryotic community composition as a function of resource availability in tidal creek sediments. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. In press.

Mou, X., S. Sun, R. A. Edwards, R. E. Hodson, and M. A. Moran. 2008. Bacterial carbon processing by generalist species in the coastal ocean. Nature 451:708-711.

Dinsdale, E. A., R. A. Edwards, D. Hall, F. Angly, M. Breitbart, J. M. Brulc, M. Furlan, C. Desnues, M. Haynes, L. Li, L. McDaniel, M. A. Moran, K. E. Nelson, C. Nilsson, R. Olson, J. Paul, B. Rodriguez Brito, Y. Ruan, B. K. Swan, R. Stevens, D. L. Valentine, R. Vega-Thurber, L. Wegley, B. A. White,  and F. Rohwer. 2008. Functional metagenomic profiling of nine biomes. Nature. In press.