Harvard Medical School
Kolter Lab

ETCETERA

Erin Gontang: Cockroach Gut Microbiome

Erin Gontang
Investigations of natural lignocellulose-rich niches helps us determine how these systems accomplish the complex task of plant biomass conversion. I am currently using metagenomics to study a Panamanian cockroach species (genus Panchlora) that is apparently specialized to live in and consume the refuse dump material of the leaf-cutter ant, Atta colombica. I plan to characterize the microbial community present within the cockroach gut and determine whether these cockroaches utilize their own unique microflora to digest the lignocellulose-rich dump material.