Click for RRes home page
About us
Resources
Research
Into practice
For the public
Careers

Dr. Martin Urban

Project Leader

 Image of Martin Urban
martin.urban@rothamsted.ac.uk

Curriculum Vitae

Research Publications  

Research

Fusarium ear blight disease: Fusarium species can invade cereals when they are flowering. The grain produced will then be of poor quality and may also contain mycotoxins, chemicals that are released by the fungus and which are toxic to both animals and humans. Objectives of my research include:

The experimental approaches include fungal gene knockout techniques, microarrays, metabolomic studies and bioinformatic analysis of the Fusarium graminearum genome. Particularly I am interested in understanding fungal genes controlling and modulating plant infection and deoxynivalenol (DON) mycotoxin synthesis. This knowledge will assist in the development of a range of environmentally benign management practices to control this globally important disease.

Publications

Baldwin TK, Urban M, Brown N, and Hammond-Kosack KE (2010) A role for topoisomerase I in Fusarium graminearum and F. culmorum pathogenesis and sporulation. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 23, 566-577.

Cuzick A, Urban M, and Hammond-Kosack KE (2008) Fusarium graminearum gene deletion mutants map1 and tri5 reveal similarities and differences in the pathogenicity requirements to cause disease on Arabidopsis and wheat floral tissue. New Phytologist 177, 990-1000.

Winnenburg R, Urban M, Beacham A, Baldwin TK, Holland S, Lindeberg M, Hansen H, Rawlings C, Hammond-Kosack KE, and Köhler J (2008) PHI-base update: Additions to the Pathogen Host Interaction Database. Nucleic Acids Research 36 (Database issue), D572-D576.

Cuomo CA, Gueldener U, Xu JR, Trail F, Turgeon BG, Di Pietro A, Walton JD, Ma LJ, Baker SE, Rep M, Adam G, Antoniw J, Baldwin T, Calvo S, Chang YL, DeCaprio D, Gale LR, Gnerre S, Goswami RS, Hammond-Kosack K, Harris LJ, Hilburn K, Kennell JC, Kroken S, Magnuson JK, Mannhaupt G, Mauceli E, Mewes HW, Mitterbauer R, Muehlbauer G, Munsterkotter M, Nelson D, O'Donnell K, Ouellet T, Qi WH, Quesneville H, Roncero MIG, Seong KY, Tetko IV, Urban M, Waalwijk C, Ward TJ, Yao JQ, Birren BW, and Kistler HC (2007) The Fusarium graminearum genome reveals a link between localized polymorphism and pathogen specialization. Science 317, 1400-1402.

Baldwin TK, Winnenburg R, Urban M, Rawlings C, Koehler J, and Hammond-Kosack KE (2006) The pathogen-host interactions database (PHI-base) provides insights into generic and novel themes of pathogenicity. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 19, 1451-1462.

Winnenburg R, Baldwin TK, Urban M, Rawlings C, Kohler J, and Hammond-Kosack KE (2006) PHI-base: a new database for pathogen host interactions. Nucleic Acids Research 34, D459-D464, Sp. Iss. SI.

Eckert M, Maguire K, Urban M, Foster S, Fitt B, Lucas J, and Hammond-Kosack K (2005) Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of Leptosphaeria spp. and Oculimacula spp. with the reef coral gene DsRed and the jellyfish gene gfp. FEMS Microbiology Letters 253, 67-74.

Hammond-Kosack K, Urban M, Baldwin T, Daudi A, Rudd J, Keon J, Lucas J, Maguire K, Kornyukhin D, Jing H, Bass C, and Antoniw J. (2004) Plant pathogens: how can molecular genetic information on plant pathogens assist in breeding disease resistant crops. Online http://www.cropscience.org.au/icsc2004/symposia/3/1/2138_hammond-kosack.htm.

Urban M, Mott E, Farley T, and Hammond-Kosack, KE (2003) The Fusarium graminearum MAP1 gene is essential for pathogenicity and perithecia formation. Molecular Plant Pathology 4, 347-360.

Urban M, Daniels S, Mott E, and Hammond-Kosack, KE (2002) Arabidopsis is susceptible to the cereal head blight fungal pathogens Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium culmorum. The Plant Journal 32 ,961-973.

Urban M, Bhargava T, and Hamer JE (1999) The ABC1 transporter of M. grisea is a novel pathogenicity factor in rice blast disease. The EMBO Journal 18, 512-521.

Hamer JE, Xu JR, Urban M, Adachi K, Lau G, Tenjo F, and Bhargava T(1998) Signal transduction and gene expression during early stages of fungal phytopathogenesis in the rice blast fungus. K. Kohmoto and O.C. Yoder (eds.), Molecular Genetics of Host-Specific Toxins in Plant Disease, 225-244, Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Xu JR, Urban M, Sweigard JA, and Hamer JE (1997) The cpkA gene of Magnaporthe grisea is essential for appressorial penetration. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 10, 187-194.

Urban M, Kahmann R, and Bölker M (1996) The biallelic a mating type locus of Ustilago maydis: Remnants of an additional pheromone gene indicate evolution from a multiallelic ancestor. Molecular and General Genetics 250, 414-420.

Urban M, Kahmann R, and Bölker M (1996) Identification of the pheromone responsive element in Ustilago maydis. Molecular and General Genetics 251, 31 -37.

Spellig T, Regenfelder E, Reichmann M, Schauwecker F, Bohlmann R, Urban M, Bölker M, Kämper J, and Kahmann R (1994) Control of mating and development in Ustilago maydis. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 65, 191-197.

Bölker M, Urban M, Lauenstein S, Lurz R, and Kahmann R (1992) Genetical and functional organization of the a mating type locus of Ustilago maydis. In: Advances in Molecular Genetics of Plant-Microbe Interactions, Vol. 2, E.W. Nester and D.P.S. Verma eds. ( Dordrecht : Kluwer Acad. Publ.), pp 335-339.

Bölker M, Urban M, and Kahmann R (1992) The a mating type locus of U. maydis specifies cell signaling components. Cell 68, 441-450.