Plant Pathology: Personnel

Timothy P. Denny

Professor
3303 Miller Plant Science Bldg.
Athens, GA 30602-7274
Phone: (706) 542-1282
TDenny@uga.edu

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

Ph.D. in Plant Pathology, Cornell University, 1983
B.S. in Botany, Duke University, 1975

RESEARCH INTERESTS AND CURRENT EFFORTS

I am primarily interested in the genetic and biochemical mechanisms that determine the outcome of plant-pathogen interactions. My primary research effort concentrates on Ralstonia solanacearum (previously called Pseudomonas solanacearum), one of the world's most important phytopathogenic bacteria. This pathogen causes a lethal wilting disease of several hundred species in over 40 plant families; hosts include not only agronomic plants like peanut, potato, tomato, tobacco, and banana, but also some economically important trees and shrubs (e.g., mulberry, olive, cassava). My overall goal is to better understand the processes used by R. solanacearum to colonize host plants and elicit wilt symptoms, including how the bacterium regulates its virulence determinants in response to environmental signals. We hope that insight into these basic processes will lead to the design of novel strategies to control wilt diseases.
Appointment: 79% Research, 21% Instruction

COURSES TAUGHT IN 2007:

(FDST) (PATH) 2030 - Marvelous and Malevolent Microbes (2 credit hours, Fall Semester).

MIBO 4900L - Directed Research (4 credit hours; Spring Semester). I supervised the research of Ms. Nicole Lynch in my lab.

ACADEMIC ADVISING:

Major Professor:
   Kan Bao, Ph.D. (2011)
   Hsien-Tzer Tseng, M.S. (2010)

On Student's Committee:
   Kameka Johnson, Ph. D. (2009)
   Lyla Lipscomb, Ph.D., Microbiology (2008)

CURRENT MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL & HONORARY SOCIETIES

American Phytopathological Society
American Society for Microbiology
Georgia Association of Plant Pathologists

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Gabriel, D. W., C. Allen, M. A. Schell, T. P. Denny, J. T. Greenberg, Y. P. Duan, Z. Flores-Cruz, Q. Huang, J. M. Clifford, G. Presting, E. T. González, J. Reddy, J. Elphinstone, J. Swanson, J. Yao, V. Mulholland, L. Liu, W. Farmerie, M. Patnaikuni, B. Balogh, D. Norman, A. Alvarez, J. A. Castillo, J. Jones, G. Saddler, T. Walunas, A. Zhukov, and N. Mikhailova. 2006. Identification of open reading frames unique to a Select Agent: Ralstonia solanacearum race 3 biovar 2. Mol. Plant-Microbe Interact. 19:69-79.

Denny, T. P. 2006. Plant pathogenic Ralstonia species, p. 573-644. In S. S. Gnanamanickam (ed.), Plant-Associated Bacteria. Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.

Denny, T. P. 2005. A short history of the biochemical and genetic research on Ralstonia solanacearum pathogenesis., p. 323-334. In: C. Allen, P. Prior, and A. C. Hayward (eds.), Bacterial Wilt Disease and the Ralstonia solanacearum Species Complex. APS Press, St. Paul, MN.

Genin, S., B. Brito, T. P. Denny, and C. Boucher. 2005. Control of the Ralstonia solanacearum type III secretion system (Hrp) genes by the global virulence regulator PhcA. FEBS Lett. 579:2077-2081.

Liu, H., S. Zhang, M. A. Schell, and T. P. Denny. 2005. Pyramiding unmarked mutations in Ralstonia solanacearum shows that secreted proteins in addition to plant cell wall degrading enzymes contribute to virulence. Mol. Plant-Microbe Interact. 18:1296-1305.

Robertson, A. E., B. A. Fortnum, W. P. Wechter, T. P. Denny, and D. A. Kluepfel. 2005. Insertions in the avirulence gene avrA alter the virulence of Ralstonia solanacearum on Nicotiana tabacum, p. 359-363. In: C. Allen, P. Prior, and A. C. Hayward (eds.), Bacterial Wilt Disease and the Ralstonia solanacearum Species Complex. APS Press, St. Paul, MN.

Kang, Y., H. Liu, S. Genin, M. A. Schell, and T. P. Denny. 2005. Ralstonia solanacearum requires type-4 pili for twitching motility, adherence, natural transformation and virulence, p. 365-370. In: C. Allen, P. Prior, and A. C. Hayward (eds.), Bacterial Wilt Disease and the Ralstonia solanacearum Species Complex. APS Press, St. Paul, MN.