Rodney Tollerson headshot
Rodney Tollerson
Department of Biological Sciences
Assistant Professor


Office: 328 Rouse Life Sciences Bldg.

Address: 101 Rouse Life Sciences Bldg.
Auburn University, AL 36849

Email: tollerson@auburn.edu


Education
Postdoc - California Institute of Technology
Ph.D. - The Ohio State University
B.S. - University of Arizona


Research and Teaching Interests

In my research program, I aim to understand how the regulation of protein production at a single- gene level can impact microbial community composition and metabolism. By utilizing large-scale approaches such as proteomics and ribosome profiling, I will interrogate how the function of specific genes and gene-families play a role in nutrient cycling and community dynamics in the host environment. This is especially important in understanding processes such as microbial methane metabolism and understanding how microbes will respond and adapt to environmental perturbations.


Selected Publications

Emerson J, Varner R, Wik M, Parks D, Neumann R, Johnson J, Singleton C, Woodcroft B, Tollerson R, Owusu-Dommey A, Binder M, Freitas N, Crill P, Saleska S, Tyson G, Rich V. (2021). Diverse sediment microbiota shape methane emission temperature sensitivity in Arctic lakes. Nat Commun. 5815. 

Tollerson R, Ibba M. (2020) Translational regulation of environmental adaptation in bacteria. J Biol Chem. Jul 24;295(30):10434-10445.

Witzky A, Tollerson R, Ibba M. (2019). Translational control of antibiotic resistance. Open Biol. 9, 190051.

Tollerson R, Witzky A, Ibba M. (2018). Elongation factor P is required to maintain proteome homeostasis at high growth rate. PNAS, 115(43), 11072-11077.

Witzky A, Hummels KR, Tollerson R, Rajkovic A, Jones LA, Kearns DB, Ibba M. (2018). EF-P posttranslational modification has variable impact on polyproline translation in Bacillus subtilis. mBio, 9(2), e00306-18.

Tollerson R, Witzky A, Ibba M. (2017). Elongation factor P interactions with the ribosome are independent of pausing. mBio, 8(4), e01056-17.

Hummels KR, Witzky A, Rajkovic A, Tollerson R, Jones LA, Ibba M, Kearns DB. (2017). Carbonyl reduction by YmfI in Bacillus subtilis prevents accumulation of an inhibitory EF-P modification state. Mol. Microbiol, 10.1111/mmi.13760

 

Google Scholar page


Courses
Undergraduate Graduate
Prokaryotic Molecular Genetics - BIOL5260


Prokaryotic Molecular Genetics - BIOL6260






Last updated: 02/21/2024