Speare Lab
Marine Microbial Ecology
2026
Speare, L., Rosales, S. M., Peterson, A.‡. Halobacteriovorax sp. GFR8 growth and aquarium inoculation protocol. protocols.io (2026). https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.n2bvjexk5gk5/v1
Speare, L.*, Klinges, J. G., Duke, W. C., Muller, E. M., Vega Thurber, R. L. Evaluating Candidatus Aquirickettsia rohweri gene expression upon nutrient enrichment in disease-susceptible Acropora cervicornis. Frontiers in Microbiology (2026) https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1754183
Speare, L.*, Coppinger, M. N‡., Fierros-Romero, G., & Williams, H. N. (2026). Draft genome sequences of two Halobacteriovorax strains isolated from Apalachicola Bay, Florida. Microbiology Resource Announcements, e00851-25, e0085125. https://doi.org/10.1128/mra.00851-25
2025
Speare, L.*, Manley, C.‡, Patton, S., Fuques, E., Coppinger‡, M. N., & Vega Thurber, R. L. (2025). Halobacteriovorax halts disease progression in endangered Caribbean corals. The ISME Journal, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1093/ismejo/wraf270
Speare, L., Pavelsky, M., Jackson, A., & Septer, A. N.* (2025). H-NS is a conserved repressor of the type VI secretion system in Vibrio fischeri. In bioRxiv (p. 2025.01. 30.634523). bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.30.634523
Vega Thurber, R. L.*, Silva, D., Speare, L., Croquer, A., Veglia, A. J., Alvarez-Filip, L., Zaneveld, J. R., Muller, E. M., & Correa, A. M. S. (2025). Coral disease: Direct and indirect agents, mechanisms of disease, and innovations for increasing resistance and resilience. Annual Review of Marine Science, 17. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-011123-102337
2024
Zarate, D., Isenberg, R. Y., Pavelsky, M., Speare, L., Jackson, A., Mandel, M. J., & Septer, A. N.* (2024). The conserved global regulator H-NS has a strain-specific impact on biofilm formation in Vibrio fischeri symbionts. In bioRxivorg. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629378
Speare, L., Zhao, L., Pavelsky, M. N., Jackson, A., Smith, S., Tyagi, B., Sharpe, G. C., Woo, M., Satkowiak, L., Bolton, T., Gifford, S. M., & Septer, A. N.* (2024). Flagella are required to coordinately activate competition and host colonization factors in response to a mechanical signal. bioRxiv : The Preprint Server for Biology. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.12.31.573711
Speare publications prior to Georgia Tech appointment
Speare, L.*, & Distel, D. L. (2022). Cultivation and Fluorescent in situ hybridization suggest that some shipworm species acquire endosymbiotic bacteria through indirect horizontal transmission. bioRxiv. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.13.516348.abstract
Speare, L., Jackson, A., & Septer, A. N.* (2022). Calcium Promotes T6SS-Mediated Killing and Aggregation between Competing Symbionts. Microbiology Spectrum, 10(6), e0139722. https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.01397-22
Suria, A. M., Smith, S., Speare, L., Chen, Y., Chien, I., Clark, E. G., Krueger, M., Warwick, A. M., Wilkins, H., & Septer, A. N.* (2022). Prevalence and diversity of type VI secretion systems in a model beneficial symbiosis. Frontiers in Microbiology, 13, 988044. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.988044
Speare, L., Woo, M., Dunn, A. K., & Septer, A. N.* (2022). A Putative Lipoprotein Mediates Cell-Cell Contact for Type VI Secretion System-Dependent Killing of Specific Competitors. mBio, 13(2), e0308521. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.03085-21
Dial, C. N., Speare, L., Sharpe, G. C., Gifford, S. M., Septer, A. N., & Visick, K. L*. (2021). Para-Aminobenzoic Acid, Calcium, and c-di-GMP Induce Formation of Cohesive, Syp-Polysaccharide-Dependent Biofilms in Vibrio fischeri. mBio, 12(5), e0203421. https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02034-21
Speare, L., Woo, M., Bultman, K. M., Mandel, M. J., Wollenberg, M. S., & Septer, A. N.* (2021). Host-Like Conditions Are Required for T6SS-Mediated Competition among Vibrio fischeri Light Organ Symbionts. mSphere, 6(4), e0128820. https://doi.org/10.1128/mSphere.01288-20
Speare, L., Smith, S., Salvato, F., Kleiner, M., & Septer, A. N.* (2020). Environmental Viscosity Modulates Interbacterial Killing during Habitat Transition. mBio, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.03060-19
Speare, L.*, Davies, S. W., & Balmonte, J. P. (2020). Patterns of environmental variability influence coral‐associated bacterial and algal communities on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. Molecular. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mec.15497
Septer, A. N.*, Speare, L., Coleman, C. K., Smith, S., Dorsey, C., Wilson, T., & Gifford, S. M. (2020). Draft Genome Sequence of a Harveyi Clade Bacterium Isolated from Lolliguncula brevis Squid. Microbiology Resource Announcements, 9(8). https://doi.org/10.1128/MRA.00078-20
Speare, L., & Septer, A. N.* (2019). Coincubation Assay for Quantifying Competitive Interactions between Vibrio fischeri Isolates. Journal of Visualized Experiments: JoVE, 149. https://doi.org/10.3791/59759
Speare, L., Cecere, A. G., Guckes, K. R., Smith, S., Wollenberg, M. S., Mandel, M. J., Miyashiro, T.*, & Septer, A. N.* (2018). Bacterial symbionts use a type VI secretion system to eliminate competitors in their natural host. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(36), E8528–E8537. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1808302115