I did my MSc and PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany. My PhD focused on host-symbiont interaction and metabolism of sulphur-oxidising and methane-oxidising symbionts from deep-sea mussels. I am passionate about host-microbe interactions!

At the Quadram Institute, I am working on sulphate-reducing bacteria that reside in the GI tract of humans and animals and the role they play in the development of inflammatory conditions. I am currently developing molecular genetic tools to identify how the bacterium Bilophila wadsworthia colonises and maintains the association with other members of the gut microbiome. I am also interested in the impact of nitrogen fixation by Desulfovibrio diazotrophicus in the human gut microbiota.

Key Publications

Sayavedra, L., Li, T., Bueno Batista, M., Seah, B.K.B., Booth, C., Zhai, Q. et al. (2021) Desulfovibrio diazotrophicus  nov., a sulphate reducing bacterium from the human gut capable of nitrogen fixation. Environ Microbiol.

Hutchins, C.*, Sayavedra, L.*, Diaz, M., Gupta, P., Tissingh, E., Elumogo, C. et al. (2021) Genomic analysis of a rare recurrent Listeria monocytogenes prosthetic joint infection indicates a protected niche within biofilm on prosthetic materials. Sci Rep11: 1-11. *Equal contribution

Ansorge, R., Romano, S.*, Sayavedra, L.*, Porras, M.Á.G., Kupczok, A., Tegetmeyer, H.E. et al. (2019) Functional diversity enables multiple symbiont strains to coexist in deep-sea mussels. Nature microbiology 4: 2487-2497. *Equal contribution

Rubin-Blum M, Antony CP, Borowski C, Sayavedra L, Pape T, Sahling H, Bohrmann G, Dubilier N. Short-chain alkanes fuel the metabolism of symbiotic Cycloclasticus from deep-sea gas and petroleum seeps. Nature Microbiology. doi: 10.1038/nmicrobiol.2017.93

Ponnudurai RP, Kleiner M, Sayavedra L, Petersen J, Moche M, Otto A, et al. (2016). Metabolic and physiological interdependencies in the Bathymodiolus azoricus symbiosis. ISME. doi:10.1038/ismej.2016.124

Breusing C, Biastoc A, Drews A, Metaxas A, Jollivet D, Vrijenhoek RC, Bayer T, Melzner F, Sayavedra L., et al. (2016). Biophysical and population genetic models predict the presence of “phantom” stepping stones connecting Mid-Atlantic Ridge vent ecosystems. Current Biology. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.06.062

Sayavedra L, Kleiner M, Ponnudurai R, Wetzel S, Pelletier E, Barbe V, et al. (2015). Abundant toxin-related genes in the genomes of beneficial symbionts from deep-sea hydrothermal vent mussels. eLife 4. doi: 10.7554/eLife.07966