R. J. Sommer

The paper investigates whether a genetic module controlling feeding-structure morphogenesis in diplogastrid nematodes is conserved in rhabditid nematodes, finding it is not.

The paper shows that a whole genome duplication enabled a nematode to evolve a new cannibalistic mouth morph through co-option of conserved developmental switch genes.

This study functionally characterizes Ppa-NHR-10 in Pristionchus pacificus, showing it regulates starvation resistance through lipid catabolism rather than feeding-structure morphogenesis.

This study shows nematodes influence microbial succession in beetle grub decay by selecting high-nutrition microbes, which in turn affects nematode metabolism and dauer larva formation.

This study measures the costs of plasticity and phenotype in nematodes using experimental and modeling approaches, showing reduced fecundity in plastic strains and fitness trade-offs in non-plastic strains.

The paper identifies a tissue-specific safety mechanism, SAPA, that suppresses age-dependent protein aggregation in C. elegans pharyngeal muscles but not body-wall muscles.

This study shows that bacterial vitamin B12 enhances predatory behaviors in nematodes, specifically surplus-killing, through metabolic and transcriptional changes.

This study uses museum specimens to generate whole-genome phylogenies of extinct Oryctes beetles, revealing taxonomic misclassifications and independent colonization events on the Mascarene Islands.