Curriculum Vitae
In July 2008, I joined the faculty of the Department of Plant Pathology at UC Davis. My new e-mail address is jleveau(at)ucdavis.edu. However, I remain active for NIOO as a (co-)supervisor on a several research projects, and can be reached also at my NIOO e-mail address.
VISIT JOHAN LEVEAU'S WEBSITE AT UC DAVIS
http://plantpathology.ucdavis.edu/faculty/leveau
CV
July 2008 - present:
Assistant Professor University of California
Department of Plant Pathology
Davis, CA 95616, USA
http://www.ucdavis.edu
July 2008 - present: Research scientist (part-time)
March 2002 - July 2008: Research scientist (full-time)
Centre for Terrestrial Ecology
Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW)
Heteren, The Netherlands
http://www.nioo.knaw.nl
March 1998 - February 2002:
Postdoctoral fellow
University of California
Department of Plant & Microbial Biology
Berkeley, California, USA
http://plantbio.berkeley.edu
December 1992 - January 1998
PhD student
Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG)
Department of Microbiology
Dübendorf, Switzerland
http://www.eawag.ch
April 1997 - June 1997:
Visiting scientist
National Environmental Engineering Research Institute
Director's Research Division
Nagpur, India
http://www.neeri.nic.in
October 1991 - May 1992:
Research fellow
University of Texas, Health Science Center
Department of Microbiology
San Antonio, Texas, USA
http://www.uthscsa.edu/micro/uthscsa.htm
1987 - 1992:
Wageningen Agricultural University
Wageningen, The Netherlands
http://www.ftns.wau.nl/micr
1981 - 1987:
Scholengemeenschap St. Nicolaaslyceum
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
http://www.nicolaas.nl
Projects
From my current location at UC Davis, I am (co-)supervising the following NIOO-based projects:
1) The ecology of bacterial individuality
I obtained funding for this research project as a personal VIDI award from The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). It is a five-year project that began in January 2007 and involves one PhD student (Mitja Remus-Emsermann) and two postdocs (Katrin Meyer and, starting in April 2009, Robin Tecon).
Summary of the original research proposal
'As individuals, bacteria are greatly underappreciated. By tradition, they have been analyzed and understood as populations, without regard for the natural variation that exists among the individuals of a given population. This approach clashes with the central concept of individual-based ecology (IBE), which states that individual variation actually is a major driver of population structure and functioning. IBE offers a theoretical framework for explaining population- and ecosystem-level patterns in nature as a result of the interactions of individuals with each other and their environment. While microbial ecologists have yet to fully exploit the potential of IBE, there is a growing appreciation for the fact that little is known about how an individual bacterium perceives its habitat and how this perception ultimately influences its behavior and fate in a bacterial community. I propose to address this concept of bacterial individuality from an IBE perspective, using the phyllosphere, or plant leaf surface, as a model ecosystem. Habitat to highly diverse microbial communities, the phyllosphere offers many information-rich patterns in need of explanation, such as the aggregation of bacteria on the leaf surface and the leaf-to-leaf variability in bacterial abundances. To explain these patterns, I will make use of the phyllosphere’s unique amenability to experimental manipulation by applying novel and existing tools for the interrogation of individual bacteria as they colonize the leaf surface. In a parallel and complementary approach, I will use individual-based modeling, an essential tool in IBE, to simulate the colonization process, from immigration to aggregation. By combining both experimental and modeling approaches, this work will expose key properties of bacteria and leaf surfaces that underlie the observed patterns in bacterial behavior in the phyllosphere. Moreover, it will reinforce the status of the phyllosphere as an ecosystem with great service to the testing of universal theories and concepts in ecology.'
Information in Dutch
De bacterie als individu (zie download uit het KNAW jaarverslag 2006)
Op planeet Aarde leven zo’n quintiljoen (=1’000’000’000’000’000’000’000’000’000’000) bacteriën. Onduidelijk is hoe elk van deze bacteriën - een miljoen maal kleiner dan de mens - haar microscopisch kleine leefomgeving ervaart en erop reageert. Door het individuele gedrag van bacteriën te bestuderen hopen de onderzoekers bacteriële aantallen en activiteiten in de natuur beter te kunnen verklaren en voorspellen.
2) Exploitation of phyllosphere microbiology for the cleanup of environmental wastes
I lead this project as part of BACSIN, a EU-funded, large collaborative effort aiming to improve the rational use of bacterial catalytic activities, in particular for targeted pollution treatment and removal. Tanja Scheublin is the postdoc working on the project for NIOO.
The objectives of BACSIN are to generate a knowledge base of bacterial degradative activity under stress conditions (using selected model BACSIN strains and BACSIN compounds) and to translate that knowledge into environmental applications. NIOO’s main contribution to BACSIN is the exploration and exploitation of phyllosphere (plant leaf surface) microbiology for the cleanup of environmental wastes. Three keywords describe the main approaches that will be taken: phyllostress (i.e. focus on the phyllosphere as an experimental model environment for evoking and improving stress responses in BACSIN strains), phylloremediation (assess and exploit the occurrence and activity of bacterial degraders of BACSIN compounds in the phyllosphere) and phyllopriming (optimized formulation and application of BACSIN strains in the phyllosphere).
see also popular scientific article: less stress, less mess
3) Genomics of bacterial mycophagy
Bacterial mycophagy can be defined as the ability of some bacteria to grow at the expense of living fungi. Based on Collimonas fungivorans as a model system, this project takes a genomic approach to uncover the mechanisms that underlie this unique bacterial phenotype. It is funded as part of the Ecogenomics consortium. Together with Wietse de Boer, I co-supervise a PhD student on this project, Francesca Mela. I also collaborate on a spin-off project with Kathrin Fritsche, who is a scientist employed by BioDetection Systems, but stationed at the NIOO in Heteren.
4) Mechanisms, distribution, and significance of bacterial mycophagy
This project delt with the ecology of bacterial mycophagy, in particular Collimonas species. I co-supervised the PhD student on this project, Sachie Höppener-Ogawa, together with Wietse de Boer. The date for Sachie's thesis defense is 15 December 2008 and it will take place in Leiden.
Sachie is currently working as a postdoc under the shared supervision of myself and Nicole van Dam on a project entitled 'The role of indole 3-acetic acid in the interactions between plants, nematodes, and bacteria'.
Selected Publications
This is a shortened version of my publication list. For a complete overview with PubMed links, please visit my UC Davis website.
K. Fritsche, W. de Boer, S. Gerards, M. van den Berg, J.A. van Veen, and J.H.J. Leveau 2008
Identification and characterization of genes underlying chitinolysis in Collimonas fungivorans Ter331
FEMS Microbiology Ecology 66: 123-135
Abstract
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl
F. Mela, K. Fritsche, H. Boersma, J.D. van Elsas, D. Bartels, F. Meyer, W. de Boer, J.A. van Veen and J.H.J. Leveau 2008
Comparative genomics of the pIPO2/pSB102 family of environmental plasmids: sequence, evolution, and ecology of pTer331 isolated from Collimonas fungivorans Ter331
FEMS Microbiology Ecology: 66: 45-62
Abstract
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl
J.H.J. Leveau and S. Gerards 2008
Discovery of a bacterial gene cluster for catabolism of the plant hormone indole 3-acetic acid
FEMS Microbiology Ecology 65: 238-250
Abstract
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl
J.H.J. Leveau and G.M. Preston 2008
Bacterial mycophagy: definition and diagnosis of a unique bacterial-fungal interaction
New Phytologist 177: 859-876
Abstract
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl
S. Höppener-Ogawa, W. de Boer, J.H.J. Leveau, J.A. van Veen, E. de Brandt, E. Vanlaere, H. Sutton, D.J. Dare, and P. Vandamme 2008
Collimonas arenae sp. nov. and Collimonas pratensis sp. nov., isolated from (semi-) natural grassland soils
International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 58: 414-419
Abstract
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl
J.H.J. Leveau 2007
The magic and menace of metagenomics: prospects for the study of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria
European Journal of Plant Pathology 119: 279-300
Abstract
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl
B.J.J. Lugtenberg, J.H.J. Leveau 2007
Biocontrol of plant pathogens: principles, promises, and pitfalls
The Rhizosphere: biochemistry and organic substances at the soil-plant interface, second edition 267-296
No abstract available
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl
J.H.J. Leveau 2007
Fun with genomes: the Mycomuncher DNA Puzzle
Science in School 5: 28-31
Click here for a PDF version of the article.
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl
J.H.J. Leveau, J.E. Loper, and S.E. Lindow 2007
Reporter gene systems useful in evaluating in situ gene expression by soil- and plant-associated bacteria
Manual of Environmental Microbiology, third edition 734-747
No abstract available
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl
S. Höppener-Ogawa, J.H.J. Leveau, W. Smant, J.A. van Veen, and W. de Boer 2007
Specific detection and real-time PCR quantification of potentially mycophagous bacteria belonging to the genus Collimonas in different soil ecosystems
Applied and Environmental Microbiology 73: 4191-4197
Abstract
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl
F. Kamilova, J.H.J. Leveau, and B.J.J. Lugtenberg 2007
Collimonas fungivorans, an unpredicted in vitro but efficient in vivo biocontrol agent for the suppression of tomato foot and root rot
Environmental Microbiology 9: 1597-1603
Abstract
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl
J.H.J. Leveau 2006
Microbial communities in the phyllosphere
In: Biology of the Plant Cuticle (edited by M. Riederer and C. Mueller), pages 334-367
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK
No abstract available
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl
J.H.J. Leveau, S. Gerards, K. Fritsche, G. Zondag, and J.A. van Veen 2006
Genomic flank-sequencing of plasposon insertion sites for rapid identification of functional genes
Journal of Microbiological Methods 66: 276-285
Abstract
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl
J.H.J. Leveau and S.E. Lindow 2005
Utilization of the plant hormone indole-3-acetic acid for growth by Pseudomonas putida strain 1290
Applied and Environmental Microbiology 71: 2365-2371
Abstract
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl
J.H.J. Leveau, S. Gerards, W. de Boer, and J.A. van Veen 2004
Phylogeny–function analysis of (meta)genomic libraries: screening for expression of ribosomal RNA genes by large-insert library fluorescent in situ hybridization (LIL-FISH)
Environmental Microbiology 6: 990-998
Abstract
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl
W. de Boer, J.H.J. Leveau, G.A. Kowalchuk, P.J.A. Klein Gunnewiek, E.C.A. Abeln, M.J. Figge, K.Sjollema, J.D. Janse, and J.A. van Veen 2004
Collimonas fungivorans gen. nov., sp. nov., a chitinolytic soil bacterium with the ability to grow on living fungal hyphae
International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 54: 857-864
Abstract
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl
J.H.J. Leveau 2004
Leaf surface sugars
Encyclopedia of Plant and Crop Science (Marcel Dekker, Inc.), pages 642 - 645
No abstract available
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl
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