Frank N. Martin

Bio: Frank N. Martin is an academic researcher from Agricultural Research Service. The author has contributed to research in topics: Phytophthora & Pythium. The author has an hindex of 33, co-authored 87 publications receiving 4358 citations. Previous affiliations of Frank N. Martin include United States Department of Agriculture.

Genome sequence of the necrotrophic plant pathogen Pythium ultimum reveals original pathogenicity mechanisms and effector repertoire

Abstract: Background Pythium ultimum is a ubiquitous oomycete plant pathogen responsible for a variety of diseases on a broad range of crop and ornamental species.

Soilborne plant diseases caused by pythium spp: ecology, epidemiology, and prospects for biological control

Abstract: Soilborne root diseases caused by plant pathogenic Pythium species cause serious losses in a number of agricultural production systems, which has led to a considerable effort devoted to the development of biological agents for disease control. In this article we review information on the ecology and biological control of these pathogens with the premise that a clear understanding of the ecology of the pathogen will assist in the development of efficacious biocontrol agents. The lifecycles of the pathogens and etiology of host infection also are reviewed, as are epidemiological concepts of inoculum-disease relationships and the influence of environmental factors on pathogen aggressiveness and host susceptibility. A number of fungal and bacterial biocontrol agents are discussed and parallels between their ecology and that of the target pathogens highlighted. The mechanisms by which these microbial agents suppress diseases caused by Pythium spp., such as interference with pathogen survival, disruption of the...

The rise and fall of the Phytophthora infestans lineage that triggered the Irish potato famine.

Abstract: Phytophthora infestans, the cause of potato late blight, is infamous for having triggered the Irish Great Famine in the 1840s. Until the late 1970s, P. infestans diversity outside of its Mexican center of origin was low, and one scenario held that a single strain, US-1, had dominated the global population for 150 years; this was later challenged based on DNA analysis of historical herbarium specimens. We have compared the genomes of 11 herbarium and 15 modern strains. We conclude that the 19th century epidemic was caused by a unique genotype, HERB-1, that persisted for over 50 years. HERB-1 is distinct from all examined modern strains, but it is a close relative of US-1, which replaced it outside of Mexico in the 20th century. We propose that HERB-1 and US-1 emerged from a metapopulation that was established in the early 1800s outside of the species' center of diversity. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00731.001

Development of alternative strategies for management of soilborne pathogens currently controlled with methyl bromide.

Abstract: The current standard treatment for management of soilborne pests in some high-value crop production systems is preplant fumigation with mixtures of methyl bromide and chloropicrin. With the impending phase-out of methyl bromide, the agricultural industries that rely on soil fumigation face the need for development of alternative pest management strategies. To maintain farm productivity, immediate term research has focused on evaluation of alternative fumigants, modification of current crop production practices to accommodate their use, and improvement of application technologies to reduce the environmental effects of fumigant applications. Longer-term research goals have focused on developing a more integrated approach for pest management that incorporates the use of cultural practices to reduce pathogen pressure, host resistance to disease, and biological approaches for stimulating plant growth and control of root diseases.

Phylogenetic relationships among Phytophthora species inferred from sequence analysis of mitochondrially encoded cytochrome oxidase I and II genes

Abstract: The phylogenetic relationships of 51 iso- lates representing 27 species of Phytophthora were as- sessed by sequence alignment of 568 bp of the mi- tochondrially encoded cytochrome oxidase II gene. A total of 1299 bp of the cytochrome oxidase I gene also were examined for a subset of 13 species. The cox II gene trees constructed by a heuristic search, based on maximum parsimony for a bootstrap 50% majority-rule consensus tree, revealed 18 species grouping into seven clades and nine species unaffil- iated with a specific clade. The phylogenetic relation- ships among species observed on cox II gene trees did not exhibit consistent similarities in groupings for morphology, pathogenicity, host range or tem- perature optima. The topology of cox I gene trees, constructed by a heuristic search based on maximum parsimony for a bootstrap 50% majority-rule consen- sus tree for 13 species of Phytophthora, revealed 10 species grouping into three clades and three species unaffiliated with a specific clade. The groupings in general agreed with what was observed in the cox II tree. Species relationships observed for the cox II gene tree were in agreement with those based on ITS regions, with several notable exceptions. Some of these differences were noted in species in which the same isolates were used for both ITS and cox II anal- ysis, suggesting either a differential rate of evolution- ary divergence for these two regions or incorrect as- sumptions about alignment of ITS sequences. Anal- ysis of combined data sets of ITS and cox II sequences generated a tree that did not differ substantially from analysis of ITS data alone, however, the results of a partition homogeneity test suggest that combining data sets may not be valid.

Integrative Genomics Viewer

Abstract: Rapid improvements in sequencing and array-based platforms are resulting in a flood of diverse genome-wide data, including data from exome and whole-genome sequencing, epigenetic surveys, expression profiling of coding and noncoding RNAs, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and copy number profiling, and functional assays. Analysis of these large, diverse data sets holds the promise of a more comprehensive understanding of the genome and its relation to human disease. Experienced and knowledgeable human review is an essential component of this process, complementing computational approaches. This calls for efficient and intuitive visualization tools able to scale to very large data sets and to flexibly integrate multiple data types, including clinical data. However, the sheer volume and scope of data pose a significant challenge to the development of such tools.

Microbial populations responsible for specific soil suppressiveness to plant pathogens.

Abstract: ▪ Abstract Agricultural soils suppressive to soilborne plant pathogens occur worldwide, and for several of these soils the biological basis of suppressiveness has been described. Two classical types of suppressiveness are known. General suppression owes its activity to the total microbial biomass in soil and is not transferable between soils. Specific suppression owes its activity to the effects of individual or select groups of microorganisms and is transferable. The microbial basis of specific suppression to four diseases, Fusarium wilts, potato scab, apple replant disease, and take-all, is discussed. One of the best-described examples occurs in take-all decline soils. In Washington State, take-all decline results from the buildup of fluorescent Pseudomonas spp. that produce the antifungal metabolite 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol. Producers of this metabolite may have a broader role in disease-suppressive soils worldwide. By coupling molecular technologies with traditional approaches used in plant patholog...

MAKER2: an annotation pipeline and genome-database management tool for second-generation genome projects.

Abstract: Second-generation sequencing technologies are precipitating major shifts with regards to what kinds of genomes are being sequenced and how they are annotated. While the first generation of genome projects focused on well-studied model organisms, many of today's projects involve exotic organisms whose genomes are largely terra incognita. This complicates their annotation, because unlike first-generation projects, there are no pre-existing 'gold-standard' gene-models with which to train gene-finders. Improvements in genome assembly and the wide availability of mRNA-seq data are also creating opportunities to update and re-annotate previously published genome annotations. Today's genome projects are thus in need of new genome annotation tools that can meet the challenges and opportunities presented by second-generation sequencing technologies. We present MAKER2, a genome annotation and data management tool designed for second-generation genome projects. MAKER2 is a multi-threaded, parallelized application that can process second-generation datasets of virtually any size. We show that MAKER2 can produce accurate annotations for novel genomes where training-data are limited, of low quality or even non-existent. MAKER2 also provides an easy means to use mRNA-seq data to improve annotation quality; and it can use these data to update legacy annotations, significantly improving their quality. We also show that MAKER2 can evaluate the quality of genome annotations, and identify and prioritize problematic annotations for manual review. MAKER2 is the first annotation engine specifically designed for second-generation genome projects. MAKER2 scales to datasets of any size, requires little in the way of training data, and can use mRNA-seq data to improve annotation quality. It can also update and manage legacy genome annotation datasets.

Microbial diversity in soil: Selection of microbial populations by plant and soil type and implications for disease suppressiveness

Abstract: An increasing interest has emerged with respect to the importance of microbial diversity in soil habitats The extent of the diversity of microorganisms in soil is seen to be critical to the maintenance of soil health and quality, as a wide range of microorganisms is involved in important soil functions This review focuses on recent data relating how plant type, soil type, and soil management regime affect the microbial diversity of soil and the implication for the soil's disease suppressiveness The two main drivers of soil microbial community structure, ie, plant type and soil type, are thought to exert their function in a complex manner We propose that the fact that in some situations the soil and in others the plant type is the key factor determining soil microbial diversity is related to the complexity of the microbial interactions in soil, including interactions between microorganisms and soil and microorganisms and plants A conceptual framework, based on the relative strengths of the shaping forces exerted by plant and soil versus the ecological behavior of microorganisms, is proposed