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Ulrich Melcher
| Research Area | Selected Publications | Lab Members |
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Area | Regents Professor and Robert J. Sirny Professor of Agricultural Biochemistry |
| Office | 354A NRC | |
| Phone | 405-744-6210 | |
| ulrich.melcher@okstate.edu | ||
| Degree | Ph.D. Biochemistry. 1970. Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI | |
| Website |
Summer Undergraduate Research Program
Viral evolution, biodiversity and ecology
The molecular evolution of viruses is fascinating, relevant to the evolution of living organisms, a determinant in pathogenesis by viruses, and amenable to detailed study in the laboratory. Evolution is the product of variation and selection. Genetic recombination is a major source of variation for evolutionary selection. The mission of the lab is to explore the importance for evolution of interactions of viruses with one another and with genomes of their hosts. Among the topics being explored are: understanding the role of recombination in the origin and evolution of viruses; documenting interaction between viral genomes such as recombination, competition and synergy; determining the effect of viral recombination on viral pathogenicity; understanding the role of viruses in ecosystems; and development of methods to determine the diversity of extant viruses and their distribution.
Fletcher, J., Luster, D.G., Melcher, U., & Sherwood, J.L. (2010) Microbial forensics and plant pathogens: attribution of agricultural crime. In Wiley Handbook of Science and Technology for Homeland Security, J. Voeller, Ed., Wiley & Sons, NY, in press.
Mello, A.F.S., Yokomi, R.K., Melcher, U., Chen, J.C. and Fletcher, J. (2010). Citrus stubborn severity is associated with Spiroplasma citri titer but not with bacterial genotype. Plant Dis. 94, 75-82.
Hackett, J., Muthukumar, V., Wiley, G.B., Roe, B.A. and Melcher, U. (2009) Viruses in Oklahoma Euphorbia marginata (Pursh). Proc. Okla. Acad. Sci., in press.
Grover, V., Pierce, M.L., Hoyt, P., Zhang, F., and Melcher, U. (2010). Oligonucleotide-based microarray for detection of plant viruses employing sequence-independent amplification of targets. J. Virol. Methods, 163, 57-67.
Mello, A.F.S., Yokomi, R.K., Melcher, U., Chen, J.C., Civerolo, E., Wayadande, A.C. and Fletcher, J. (2010). New perspectives on the epidemiology of citrus stubborn disease in California orchards. Plant Health Progress.
Allen, M. S., R. G. Hamilton, U. Melcher, and M. W. Palmer (2009). Lessons from the Prairie: Research at The Nature Conservancy's Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. Oklahoma Academy of Science, Edmond OK.
Melcher, U. (2010). Assessing constancy of substitution rates in viruses over evolutionary time. BMC Bioinformatics 11, S3.
Wu, B., Melcher, U., Guo, X., Wang, X., Fan, L. and Zhou, G. 2008.. Assessment of codivergence of mastreviruses with their plant hosts. BMC Evolutionary Biology 8:335.
Melcher, U., Muthukumar, V., Wiley, G.B., Min, B.E., Palmer, M. W., Verchot-Lubicz, J., Nelson R.S., Roe, B.A., Ali, A., Thapa, V., & Pierce, M.L. 2008. Evidence for novel viruses by analysis of nucleic acids in virus-like particle fractions from Ambrosia psilostachya. J. Virol. Methods 152: 49-55.
Mello, A.F.S., Yokomi, R.K., Melcher, U., Chen, J.C., Wayadande, A.C. & Fletcher, J. 2008.. Genetic diversity of Spiroplasma citri strains from different regions, hosts, and isolation dates. Phytopathology, 98: 960-968.
Comer, J., Fletcher, J., Davis, R.E., & Melcher, U. (2007) Evolution of the Spiroplasma P58 multigene family. Biochem. Genet., 45 (1):25-32.
Fletcher, J., Melcher, U., & Wayadande, A. (2007) The phytopathogenic spiroplasmas. In "The Prokaryotes" (ed. M. Dworkin).
Fletcher, J., C. Bender, B. Budowle, W. T. Cobb, S. E. Gold, C. A. Ishimaru, D. Luster, U. Melcher, R. Murch; H. Scherm, R. C. Seem, J. L. Sherwood, B. W. Sobral, & S.A. Tolin (2006) Plant Pathogen Forensics: Capabilities, Needs and Recommendations. MMBR 70(2):450-471
Wren, J. D., Roossinck, M. J., Nelson, R. S., Scheets, K., Palmer, M. W. & Melcher, U. (2006). Plant virus biodiversity and ecology. PLoS Biology 4(3): e80.
Joshi, B. D., Berg, M., Rogers, J. Fletcher, J., & Melcher, U. (2005). Sequence comparison of plasmids pBJS-O of Spiroplasma citri and pSKU146 of S. kunkelii: implications for plasmid evolution. BMC Genomics 6:175.
Te, J., U. Melcher, A. Howard, & J. Verchot-Lubicz. (2005). Soilborne wheat mosaic virus (SBWMV) 19K protein belongs to a class of cysteine rich proteins that suppress RNA silencing. Virology J. 2:18.
Zhang, Q., U. Melcher, L. Zhou, F. Z. Najar, B.A. Roe, & J. Fletcher. (2005) Genomic comparison of plant pathogenic and non-pathogenic Serratia marcescens strains using suppressive subtractive hybridization. Appl. Environ. Micro. 71:7716-7723.
Wren, J. D., W. H. Hildebrand, S. Chandrasekaran, U. Melcher (2005) Markov Model Recognition and Classification of DNA/Protein Sequence Patterns Within Large Text Databases. Bioinformatics 21:4046-4053.
Pair, S.D., Bruton, B. D., Mitchell, F., Fletcher J., Wayadande, A. & Melcher, U. (2004) Overwintering squash bugs harbor and transmit the causal agent of cucurbit yellow vine disease. J. Econ. Entomol. 97(1): 74-78.
Onodera K. and Melcher, U. (2004) Selection for 3' End Triplets for Polymerase Chain Reaction Primers . Molecular and Cellular Probes18, 369-372.
Bruton, B. D., Mitchell, F., Fletcher, J., Pair, S. D., Wayadande, A., Melcher, U., Brady, J., Bextine, B and Popham, T. H. (2003) Serratia Marcescens, a Phloem-colonizing, Squash Bug-transmitted Bacterium: Causal Agent of Cucurbit Yellow Vine Disease. Plant Disease 87(8), 937-944.
Zhang, Q., Weyant, R., Melcher, U., Bruton, B. D., Pair, S. D., Mitchell, F. and Fletcher, J. (2003) Genotyping of Serratia Marcescens Strains Associated with Cucurbit Yellow Vine Disease. Phytopathology 3(10), 1240-1246.
