333 Food Industry Complex
Lincoln, NE 68583-0919
E-Mail: jwalter2@unl.edu
Teaching and/or Extension Activities:
Food Microbiology, Microbial Ecology
Research Area:
My research concerns the microbial ecology of the gastrointestinal tract, and how it relates to human and animal health and performance. Areas of interest involve the study of the ecological role and evolution of gastrointestinal inhabitants of the genus Lactobacillus, and the identification and characterization of genetic and phenotypic traits of lactobacilli that facilitate colonization of the gastrointestinal tract. I am further interested in the application of cultivation independent molecular approaches (metagenomics, population fingerprinting) to reveal how symbiotic gut organisms interact with host metabolism and performance, and how dietary factors can be used to influence gut microbiota composition and functionality.
Five Selected Publications:
Walter, J., Heng, N. C. K., Hammes, W. P., Loach, D. M., Tannock, G. W., and Hertel, C. Identification of Lactobacillus reuteri genes specifically induced in the gastrointestinal tract of mice. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 69:2044-2051 (2003).
Walter, J., Mangold, M., and Tannock, G. W. Construction, analysis and beta-glucanase screen of a bacterial artificial chromosome library from the large bowel microbiota of mice. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 71:2347-2354 (2005).
Walter, J., Loach, D.M., Alqumber, M., Rockel, C., Hermann, C., Pfitzenmaier, M., and Tannock, G.W. D-alanyl ester depletion of teichoic acids in Lactobacillus reuteri 100-23 results in impaired colonization of the mouse gastrointestinal tract. Environmental Microbiology, 9:1750-1760 (2007).
MartÃnez, I., Wallace, G., Zhang, C., Legge, R., Benson, A.K., Carr, T.P., Moriyama, E.N., and Walter, J. Diet-induced metabolic improvements in a hamster model of hypercholesterolemia are strongly linked to alterations of the gut microbiota. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 75:4175-4184 (2009).
Oh, P.L., Benson, A.K., Peterson, D.A., Patil, P.B., Moriyama, E.N., Roos, S., and Walter, J. Diversification of the gut symbiont Lactobacillus reuteri as a result of host-driven evolution. ISME Journal. In Press.
