Academic Background

Tennessee State University , Biology, B.S., 1994
Tennessee State University , Biology, M.S., 1997
Kansas State University , Genetics, Ph.D., 2004

Research Interests and Current Efforts

Plant-pathogen interactions with a focus on the structure and evolution of disease resistance loci, understanding the biological processes for disease resistance and the genetic improvement of crop plants for disease resistance.

Recent Publications

Tian, P. and Smith, S. M. (2018). First report of leaf spot caused by Bipolaris victoriae on switchgrass in Georgia. Plant Disease, 102(3), 675. DOI 10.1094/PDIS-07-17-1010-PDN

Chavan, S., Gray, J. and Smith, S. M. (2015). Diversity and evolution of Rp1 rust resistance genes in four maize lines. Theor. Appl. Genet. DOI 10.1007/s00122-015-2484-2.

Chavan, S. and Smith, S.M. (2014). A rapid and efficient method for assessing pathogenicity of Ustilago maydis on maize and teosinte lines. Journal of Visual Experiments (Online;10.379/50712).

Zhu, Q., Bennetzen, J.L., and Smith, S. M. (2013) Isolation and diversity analysis of resistance gene homologues from switchgrass. Genes, Genomes, and Genetics (Online; doi:10.1534/g3.112.005447).

Zhu, Q., Smith, S.M., Ayele, M., Yang, L., Jogi, A., Chaluvadi, S. R., and Bennetzen, J.L. (2012). High throughput discovery of mutations in tef semi-dwarfing genes by next generation sequence analysis. Genetics 192:819-829.

Smith, S. M., Yuan, Y., Doust, A.N., and Bennetzen, J. L. (2012) Haplotype analysis and linkage disequilibrium at five loci in Eragrostis tef. Genes, Genomes, and Genetics 3:407-419. doe: 10.1534/g3.111.001511.

Smith, S. M., Steinau, M., Trick, H. and Hulbert, S. H. (2010). Recombinant Rp1 genes confer necrotic or nonspecific resistance phenotypes. Molecular Genetics and Genomics. 283: 591-602.

Bennetzen, J. L., S. M. Smith, Y. Yuan and D. Groth (2009). Comparative plant biology: Opening new avenues for the improvement of orphan crops in a time of rapid and potentially catastrophic change in worldwide agriculture. In: Z. Tadele, ed., New Approaches to Plant Breeding of Orphan Crops in Africa: Proceedings of an International Conference. Univ. Bern, Stampfli AG, Bern, pp. 11-20.

Smith, S. M. and Hulbert, S. H. (2005). Recombination events generating a novel Rp1 race specificity. Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions 18:220-228.

Zhao, B., Smith, S., Leach, J. and Hulbert, S. (2005). Resistance gene transfer between different cereal species. Proceedings of the WRRC 2004, 482-484.

Smith, S. M., Pryor, A. J. and Hulbert, S. H. (2004). Allelic and haplotypic diversity at the Rp1 rust resistance locus of maize. Genetics 167: 1939-1947.

Smith, S. M. and Hulbert, S. H. (2003). Evolution of disease resistance genes. In, genomics and genetic analysis of plant parasitism and defense. S. Tsuyuma, J. Leach, T. Shiraishi and T. Wolpert (eds.), APS Press.

Sun, Q., Collins, N. C., Alyiffe, M., Smith, S. M., Drake, J., Pryor, T. and Hulbert, S. H. (2001). Recombination between paralogues at the rp1 rust resistance locus in maize. Genetics 158: 423-438.

Hulbert, S.H., Webb, C. A., Smith, S. M., and Sun, Q. (2001). Resistance gene complexes: evolution and utilization. Ann. Rev. Phytopathol. 39:285-312.

Hulbert, SH, Webb, C. A. and Smith, S. M. (2001). A modified set of Rp differential lines. Maize Genet. Newsltr. 75: 40–41.

Hulbert S.H., Sun Q., Webb, C.A. and Smith, S. M. (1999). Fungal disease resistance genes in cereals. In, memorias simposium internacional la biotecnologia y el estres de las plantas, 40–48.