FSU Biology - Directories - Faculty

Department of Biological Science

at Florida State University

Biological Science Faculty Member

Dr. Kathryn M. Jones

Dr. Kathryn M. Jones

Associate Professor
Ph.D., University of Chicago
Graduate Faculty Status

POSITIONS AVAILABLE for postdoctoral investigators, graduate students, and undergraduate students


Research and Professional Interests:

I am interested in the symbiotic interaction between nitrogen-fixing rhizobial bacteria and their legume host plants. We use the agriculturally-important bacteria Sinorhizobium meliloti and Sinorhizobium medicae and their interactions with their plant hosts alfalfa and Medicago truncatula as a study system. Our goals are to understand: 1) How bacteria interact with and manipulate their environment during host plant invasion in such a way that the plant not only permits entry, but provides an invasion pathway for them; 2) Why the interactions of specific strains of Sinorhizobium with particular ecotypes of host plant species more successful than others and how the productivity of these interactions are controlled at the molecular level; 3) At what level host plants control the flow of resources to productive symbionts at the expense of unproductive symbionts (cheaters). We also have collaborations with the Stroupe lab (FSU) on the diversity and structural differentiation of phages of rhizobial bacteria, and with the Gabriel lab (UF) on citrus greening disease/HLB

Selected Publications:

Donovan, M., C. S. Mackey, M. D. Lynch, G. N. Platt, A. N. Brown, B. K. Washburn, D. J. Trickey, J. T. Curtis, Y. Liu, T. C. Charles, Z. Wang, and K. M. Jones (2023) Limosilactobacillus reuteri administration alters the gut-brain- behavior axis in a sex-dependent manner in socially monogamous prairie voles. Frontiers in Microbiology 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1015666: 1-33.
(open access) 

Sather, L. M., M. Zamani, Z. Muhammed, J. V. Kearsley, G. T. Fisher, K. M. Jones, and T. M. Finan (2023) A broadly distributed predicted helicase/nuclease confers phage resistance via abortive infection. Cell Host and Microbe 31: 343-355.
(link) 

Jain, M., L. Cai, I. Black, P. Azadi, R. W. Carlson, K. M. Jones, and D. W. Gabriel (2022) Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus-Encoded BCP Peroxiredoxin Suppresses Lipopolysaccharide-Mediated Defense Signaling and Nitrosative Stress In Planta. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 35: 257-273.
(MPMI open access) 

Harris, J. M., K. M. Jones, D. Wang, and A. Zuccaro (2021) Focus on How Plants Engage With Beneficial Microorganisms While at the Same Time Restricting Pathogens. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions .
(https://doi.org/10.1094/MPMI-03-21-0060-FI) 

Bowerman, K. L., S. C. Knowles, J. E. Bradley, L. BaltrÅ«naitÄ—, M. D. Lynch, K. M. Jones, and P. Hugenholtz (2021) Effects of laboratory domestication on the rodent gut microbiome. ISME Communications 1: .
(https://doi.org/10.1038/s43705-021-00053-9) 

Maillet, F., J. Fournier, H. C. Mendis, M. Tadege, J. Wen, P. Ratet, K. S. Mysore, C. Gough, and K. M. Jones (2020) Sinorhizobium meliloti succinylated high molecular weight succinoglycan and the Medicago truncatula LysM receptor-like kinase MtLYK10 participate independently in symbiotic infection. The Plant Journal 102: 311-326.
(Plant Journal open access) 

Harris, J. M., P. Balint-Kurti , J. C. Bede, B. Day, S. Gold, E. M. Goss, L. J. Grenville-Briggs , K. M. Jones, A. Wang, Y. Wang, R. M. Mitra, and K. H. Sohn (2020) What are the Top 10 Unanswered Questions in Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions?. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions .
(open access editorial) 

Donovan, M., C. S. Mackey, G. N. Platt, J. Rounds, A. N. Brown, D. J. Trickey, Y. Liu, K. M. Jones, and Z. Wang (2020) Social isolation alters behavior, the gut-immune-brain axis, and neurochemical circuits in male and female prairie voles. Neurobiology of Stress accepted: .
(accepted article) 

Sena-Velez, M., S. D. Holland, M. Aggarwal, N. G. Cogan, M. Jain, D. W. Gabriel, and K. M. Jones (2019) Growth dynamics and survival of Liberibacter crescens BT-1, an important model organism for the citrus Huanglongbing pathogen Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 85: e01656-19.
(open access) 

Donovan, M., M. D. Lynch, C. S. Mackey, G. N. Platt, B. K. Washburn, D. L. Vera, D. L. Trickey, T. C. Charles, Z. Wang, and K. M. Jones (2019) Metagenome-Assembled Genome Sequences of five strains from the Microtus ochrogaster(prairie vole) fecal microbiome. Microbiology Resource Announcements 9: 01310-19.
(Open access) 

Jones, K. M. 2019 Features of Sinorhizobium meliloti exopolysaccharide succinoglycan required for successful invasion of Medicago truncatula nodules  In  The Model Legume Medicago truncatula. Editor: Frans J. de Bruijn. John Wiley and Sons 9.1.4; 571 
(preview) 

Brewer, T. E., B. K. Washburn, J. S. Lynn, and K. M. Jones (2018) Complete genome sequence of Sinorhizobium phage phiM6, the first terrestrial phage of a marine phage group.. Microbiology Resource Announcements 7: 7:e01143-18.
(Open access) 

Johnson, M. C., M. Sena-Velez, B. K. Washburn, G. N. Platt, S. Lu, T. E. Brewer, J. S. Lynn, M. Stroupe, and K. M. Jones (2017) Structure, proteome and genome of Sinorhizobium meliloti phage Φ M5: A virus with LUZ24-like morphology and a highly mosaic genome. Journal of Structural Biology 200: 343-359.
(pdf) (open access) 

Mendis, H. C., T. F. Madzima, C. Queiroux, and K. M. Jones (2016) Function of succinoglycan polysaccharide in Sinorhizobium meliloti host plant invasion depends on succinylation, not molecular weight. mBIO 7: e00606-16.
(Open-access) 

Johnson, M. C., K. B. Tatum, J. S. Lynn, T. E. Brewer, S. Lu, B. K. Washburn, M. E. Stroupe, and K. M. Jones (2015) Sinorhizobium meliloti phage ΦM9 defines a new group of T4-superfamily phages with unusual genomic features, but a common T=16 capsid. Journal of Virology 89: 10945–10958.
(open access) 

Brewer, T. E., M. E. Stroupe, and K. M. Jones(corresponding) (2014) The genome, proteome and phylogenetic analysis of Sinorhizobium meliloti phage ΦM12, the founder of a new group of T4-superfamily phages. Virology 450-451: 84-97.
(Open access) 

Stroupe (corresponding), M. E., T. E. Brewer, D. R. Sousa, and K. M. Jones (2014) The structure of Sinorhizobium meliloti phage ΦM12, which has a novel T=19l triangulation number and is the founder of a new group of T4-superfamily phages. Virology 450-451: 205-212.
(Article) 

Mendis, H. C., C. Queiroux, T. E. Brewer, O. M. Davis, B. K. Washburn, and K. M. Jones (2013) The succinoglycan endoglycanase encoded by exoK is required for efficient symbiosis of Sinorhizobium meliloti 1021 with the host plants Medicago truncatula and Medicago sativa (alfalfa). Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 26: 1089-1105.
(open access) (Abstract) 

Jones, K. M., H. C. Mendis, and C. Queiroux (2013) Single-plant, sterile microcosms for nodulation and growth of the legume plant Medicago truncatula with the rhizobial symbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti . JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments) Issue 80: .
(Jove link) 

Queiroux, C., B. K. Washburn, O. M. Davis, J. Stewart, T. E. Brewer, M. R. Lyons, and K. M. Jones (2012) A comparative genomics screen identifies a Sinorhizobium meliloti 1021 sodM-like gene strongly expressed within host plant nodules . BMC Microbiology 12: 15pp.
(open access) 

Jones, K. M. (2012) Increased production of the exopolysaccharide succinoglycan enhances Sinorhizobium meliloti 1021 symbiosis with the host plant Medicago truncatula. Journal of Bacteriology 194: 4322-4331.
(Journal of Bacteriology 194:4322-4331, open access)