Timothy W. McNellis, Ph.D.
- Associate Professor
307 Buckhout Lab (lab)
University Park, PA 16802
- Email twm4@psu.edu
- Office 814-863-7646
- Fax 814-863-7217
Areas of Expertise
- Fire blight resistance in apple trees
- Biologically-based approaches to fire blight disease control
- Development of citrus greening-resistant citrus varieties
- Molecular genetics of Erwinia amylovora pathogenicity
- Development of tomatoes resistant to bacterial canker disease
- Understanding rootstock-scion interactions in grafted apple trees
Education
- B.A., Biology, Johns Hopkins University, 1989
- Ph.D., Biology, Yale University, 1995
Areas of Interest
Molecular basis of plant responses to phytopathogenic bacteria
Molecular mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis in plants
Fire blight disease of apples
Program Interests
My research group studies the interaction of plants with bacterial pathogens at the molecular level. The overall goal of our research is to improve our understanding of how plants resist bacterial pathogens and how bacterial pathogens cause disease in plants. We primarily study the disease of apples and pears called fire blight, which is caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora. Other current research topics include citrus greening disease and bacterial canker of tomatoes.
Recent Publications
Klee, S.M., Mostafa, I., Chen, S., Dufresne, C., Lehman, B.L., Sinn, J.P., Peter, K.A., and McNellis, T.W. (2018) An Erwinia amylovora yjeK mutant exhibits reduced virulence, increased chemical sensitivity and numerous environmentally dependent proteomic alterations. Molecular Plant Pathology 19:1667-1678
Ramos, L. S., Sinn, J. P., Lehman, B. L., Pfeufer, E. E., Peter, K. A., and McNellis, T. W. (2015). Erwinia amylovora pyrC mutant is virulent despite pyrimidine auxotrophy. Letters in Applied Microbiology 60:572-279, DOI:10.1111/lam.12417
Kaja, E., Szczesniak, M. W., Jensen, P. J., Axtell, M. J., McNellis, T. W., and Makalowska, I. (2015) Identification of apple miRNAs and their potential role in fire blight resistance. Tree Genetics & Genomes 11:812, DOI 10.1007/s11295-014-0812-3
Ramos, L. S., Lehman, B. L., Peter, K. A., and McNellis, T. W. (2014) Mutation of the Erwinia amylovora argD gene causes arginine auxotrophy, nonpathogenicity in apples, and reduced virulence in pears. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 80:6739-6749
Jensen, P. J., Fazio, G., Altman, N., Praul, C., and McNellis, T. W. (2014) Mapping in an apple (Malus x domestica) F1 segregating population based on physical clustering of differentially expressed genes. BMC Genomics 15:261
Ramos, L. S., Lehman, B. L., Sinn, J. P., Pfeufer, E. E., Halbrendt, N. O., and McNellis, T. W. (2013) The fire blight pathogen Erwinia amylovora requires the rpoN gene for pathogenicity in apple. Molecular Plant Pathology 14:838-843
Singh, D. K, Laremore, T. N., Smith, P. B., Maximova, S. N., and McNellis, T. W. (2012) Knockdown of FIBRILLIN4 gene expression in apple decreases plastoglobule plastoquinone content. PLoS One 7:e47547
Jensen, P. J., Halbrendt, N., Fazio, G., Makalowska, I., Altman, N., Praul, C., Maximova, S. N., Ngugi, H. K., Crassweller, R. M., Travis, J. W., and McNellis, T. W. (2012). Rootstock-regulated gene expression patterns associated with fire blight resistance in apple. BMC Genomics 13:9
Singh, D. K., and McNellis, T. W. (2011). Fibrillin protein function: the tip of the iceberg? Trends in Plant Science 16:432-441
Publications
Arabidopsis Wall-Associated Kinase 3 is required for harpin-activated immune responses
New Phytologist, Held, Jeremy B., Rowles, Taran, Schulz, William, McNellis, Timothy W., 2024
Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase is required for fire blight disease establishment in apple fruitlets
Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology, Schultes, Neil P., Sinn, Judith P., McNellis, Timothy W., 2023
The Antiterminator: How Erwinia amylovora avoids premature transcription termination of long operons to maintain virulence
Phytopathology, McNellis, Timothy, 2022
Putative transcription antiterminator RfaH contributes to Erwinia amylovora virulence
Molecular Plant Pathology, Klee, Sara, Sinn, Judith P., Held, Jeremy, Vosburg, Chad, Vosburg, J, Holmes, Aleah, Lehman, Brian, Peter, K, McNellis, Timothy, 2022
Flowering locus T chimeric protein induces floral precocity in edible citrus.
Plant Biotechnology Journal, Sinn, Judith, Held, Jeremy, Vosburg, Chad, Orbovic, Vladimir, Taylor, Earl, Gottwald, Tim, Stover, Ed, Moore, Gloria, McNellis, Timothy, 2021
Virulence genetics of an erwinia amylovora putative polysaccharide transporter family member
Journal of Bacteriology, Klee, Sara, Sinn, Judith P., Christian, Elena, Holmes, Aleah, Zhao, Kaixi, Lehman, Brian, Peter, Kari A., Rosa, Cristina, McNellis, Timothy, 2020
Flowering Locus T chimeric protein induces floral precocity in edible citrus
Plant Biotechnology Journal, Sinn, Judith P., Held, Jeremy B., Vosburg, Chad, Klee, Sara M., Orbovic, Vladimir, Taylor, Earl L., Gottwald, Tim R., Stover, Ed, Moore, Gloria A., McNellis, Timothy W., 2020
Extragenic suppression of elongation factor P gene mutant phenotypes in erwinia amylovora
Journal of Bacteriology, Klee, Sara, Sinn, Judith P., Holmes, Aleah, Lehman, Brian, Krawczyk, Teresa, Kraczyk, Teresa, Peter, Kari A., McNellis, Timothy W., 2019
Erwinia amylovora auxotrophic mutant exometabolomics and virulence on apples
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Klee, Sara, Sara, Klee, Sinn, Judith, Finley, Melissa, Allman, Erik, Smith, Philip B., Aimufua, Osaretin, Sitther, Viji, Lehman, Brian, Kraczyk, Teresa, Krawczyk, Teresa, Peter, Kari A., McNellis, Timothy, 2019
The apple fruitlet model system for fire blight disease, Klee, Sara, Sinn, Judith, McNellis, Timothy, 2019
EXPLORING THE VIRULENCE GENETICS OF ERWINIA TRACHEIPHILA ON ‘AMBROSIA’ MELON, McKen, Shaveen, Klee, Sara, Sinn, J, Sitther, Viji, McNellis, Timothy, 2018
Teaching Koch’s Postulates Hands-on in a Safe, Easy, and Fun Way with Plant Pathogens., McNellis, Timothy, Klee, Sara, 2018
An Erwinia amylovora yjeK mutant exhibits reduced virulence, increased chemical sensitivity and numerous environmentally dependent proteomic alterations
Molecular Plant Pathology, Klee, Sara M., Mostafa, Islam, Chen, Sixue, Dufresne, Craig, Lehman, brian L., Sinn, Judith P., Peter, Kari A., McNellis, Timothy W., 2018
New Insights into Elongation Factor P and Erwinia Amylovora Virulence., Klee, Sara, Mostafa, Islam, Sinn, Judith, Chen, Sixue, McNellis, Timothy, 2018
Identification of apple miRNAs and their potential role in fire blight resistance
Tree Genetics and Genomes, Kaja, Elżbieta, Szcześniak, Michał W., Jensen, Philip J., Axtell, Michael J., McNellis, Timothy, Makałowska, Izabela, 2015
Erwinia amylovora pyrC mutant causes fire blight despite pyrimidine auxotrophy
Letters in Applied Microbiology, Ramos, L. S., Sinn, J. P., Lehman, B. L., Pfeufer, E. E., Peter, K. A., McNellis, T. W., 2015
Mapping in an apple (Malus x domestica) F1 segregating population based on physical clustering of differentially expressed genes
BMC Genomics, Jensen, Philip J., Fazio, Gennaro, Altman, Naomi, Praul, Craig, McNellis, Timothy W., 2014
Mutation of the Erwinia amylovora argD gene causes arginine auxotrophy, nonpathogenicity in apples, and reduced virulence in pears
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Ramos, Laura S., Lehman, Brian L., Peter, Kari A., McNellis, Timothy W., 2014
