Marty Dickman, Professor and Director
Education and Trainng
University of Hawaii, Hilo Horticulture B.S. 1979
University of Hawaii Plant Pathology M.S. 1982
University of Hawaii Plant Pathology Ph.D. 1987
Research and/or Professional Experience
2006-pres. Director, Institute for Plant Genomics and Biotechnology, Texas A&M University
2006-pres. Professor, Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Texas A&M University
2006-pres. Christine Richardson Professor of Agriculture, Texas A&M University
2003-2004 Charles Bessey Professor of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska
1997-2003 Professor, Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska
1993-1997 Associate Professor, Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska
1987-1993 Assistant Professor, Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska
1987-1988 Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Institute of Biological Chemistry,Washington State U.
Honors and Awards Received
1991 Junior Faculty Recognition for Excellence in Research Award University of Nebraska
2002 Distinguished Alumni Award- University of Hawaii-Hilo
2003-2005 Charles Bessey Professor of Plant Pathology- University of Nebraska
2003 Fellow, American Phytopathological Society
2006 Christine Richardson Professor of Agriculture-Texas A&M University
2011 E.C. Stakman Award for Research Excellence in Plant Pathology
2011 Fellow-American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2014 Fellow-American Academy for Microbiology (ASM)
Editor/Editorial Boards
1991-2000 Associate Editor, Applied and Environmental Microbiology
1996-2000 Associate Editor, Mycologia
1997-2013 Senior Editor, Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology
1996-1999 Senior Editor, Archives of Microbiology
2001-2005 American Phytopathological Society-Senior Editor-APS Press
2009- Senior Editor-GM Crops
2010- Review Editor-Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology
2010- Review Editor-Frontiers in Plant Biotechnology
2012- Editor-in-Chief Molecular Plant Pathology
2013- Academic Editor -Microbial Ce
Selected Professional Activities
1990 US-AID International Development Grant Program Grant Review Committee
1996 USDA-CSRS Competitive Grants - Panel Member Plant Pathology
1997-1999 USDA-CSRS Competitive Grants - Panel Member - Special Grants
2001-2002 BARD –PANEL MANAGER -Crop protection
2003 National Science Foundation-Microbial Genome and Sequencing Panel
2005 USDA-CSRS Comp Grants-PROGRAM MANAGER-Biology of Plant-Microbe
2006 Department of Energy- Energy Biosciences Panel Member
2007-2008 Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) Panel Member
2009 Bio-Protection Research Centre, External Advisory Committee-New Zealand
2007-2009 National Institute of Health (NIH) Development- Panel Member
2007 -2008 National Science Foundation (NSF) Symbiosis, Defense and Self-Recognition
2011- International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA-Panel Member-Mutation Breeding 2011- IITA Banana Improvement Program –Africa
2012-2014 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Binational Agriculture Research and Development Fund (BARD) –Israel/United States
2012- 2014 Wolf Foundation Award-Panel
2014 National Science Foundation (NSF) CDF/Signaling Panel
2014 Bio-Protection Research Centre --International Science Advisory Board Panel Member Christchurch, New Zealand
Selected Peer Reviewed Publications
Podilla, G., Dickman, M. B. and Kolattukudy, P. E. 1988. Transcriptional activation of a cutinase gene in isolated fungal nuclei by plant cutin monomers. Science 242:922-925.
Dickman, M. B., Podila, G. K. and Kolattukudy, P. G. 1989. Insertion of cutinase gene into a wound pathogen enables it to infect intact host. Nature 342:446-448.
Godoy, G., Steadman, J. R., Dickman, M. B. and Dam, R. 1990. Use of mutants to demonstrate the role of oxalic acid in pathogenicity of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum on Phaseolus vulgaris. Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology 37:179-191.
Dickman, M. B. and Leslie, J. F. 1992. Complementation of nnu mutant of Gibberella zeae (Fusarium graminearum) by the regulatory nit-2 gene of Neurospora crassa. Molecular and General Genetics 235:458-462.
Dickman, M. B. and Mitra, A. 1992. Arabidopsis as a model for studying resistance to Sclerotinia infection. Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology 41:255-263.
Huang, C., Dickman, M., Henderson, G. and Jones, C. 1995. Repression of protein kinase and stimulation of cyclic AMP response elements by fumonisin, a fungal encoded toxin which is a carcinogen. Cancer Research 55:1655-1659.
Xu, J. R., Yan, K., Dickman, M. B. and Leslie, J. R. 1995. Electrophoretic karyotypes distinguish the biological species of Gibberella fujikuroi. Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions 8:74-84.
Warwar, V. and Dickman, M. B. 1996. Calcium-calmodulin mediated appressorium development in Colletotrichum trifolii. Appl. Env.Microbiol. 62:74-79.
Wang, H., Jones, C., Ciacci-Zanella, J., Holt, T., Gilchrist, D. G. and Dickman, M. B. 1996. Fumonisins and AAL toxins: sphinganine analog mycotoxins induce apoptosis in monkey kidney cells. Proc Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93:3461-3465.
Truesdell, G. M. and Dickman, M. B. 1996. Isolation of pathogen/stress-inducible cDNAs from alfalfa by mRNA differential display. Plant Molecular Biology 33:737-743.
Rollins, J.A and Dickman, M.B. 1998. Increase in endogenous and exogenous cyclic AMP levels inhibits sclerotial development in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Appl. Env. Microbiol. 64:2539-2544.
Yang, Z. and Dickman, M. B. 1999. Colletotrichum trifolii mutants disrupted in the catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase are non-pathogenic. Mol. Plant Microbe Interactions 12:430-439.
Dickman, M. B. and Yarden, O. 1999. Serine-theonine kinases and phosphatases in filamentous fungi. Fungal Genetics and Biology 26:99-117.
Zhang, Y., Dickman, M. B. and Jones, C. 1999. The mycotoxin fumonisin B1 transcriptionally activates the p21 promoter through a cis acting element containing two Sp1 binding sites. Journal of Biological Chemistry 272:12367-12371.
Truesdell, G. M., Jones, C., Holt, T., Henderson, G. and Dickman, M. B. 1999. Defects in hyphal growth polarity and mammalian tumors induced by Ras from a phytopathogenic fungus. Mol. Gen. Genet. 262:46-54.
Everett, N. and Dickman, M.B. 1999. Capitalizing on the future of agriculture biotechnology. Trends in Biotechnology 17:425-426. (Invited peer reviewed review.)
Cessna, S.G., Sears, V.E., Dickman, M.B., and Low, P.S. 2000. Oxalic acid, a pathogenicity factor for Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, suppresses the host plant oxidative burst. The Plant Cell 2:2191-2199.
Rollins, J.A. and Dickman, M.B. 2001. pH signaling in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum: Identification of a pacC/RIMI homolog. Appl. Env. Microbiol. 67:75-81.
Jones, C., Ciacci-Zanella, J.R., Zhang, Y., Henderson, G., and Dickman, M.B. 2001. Analysis of fumonisin induced apoptosis. Environmental Health Perspectives 109:1-7.
Dickman, M.B., Park, Y.K., Oltersdorf, T., Li, W., Clemente, T., and French, R. 2001. Abrogation of disease development in plants expressing animal anti-apoptotic genes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 98: 6957-6962.
Memmott, S.D., Ha, Y-S., and Dickman, M.B. 2002. Proline reverses the abnormal phenotypes of Colletotrichum trifolii associated with expression of endogenous constitutively active Ras. Appl. Env. Microbiol. 68: 1647-1651.
Abramovitch, R.B., Kim, Y-K., Chen, S., Dickman, M. B. and Martin, G.B. 2003. Pseudomonas type III effector AvrPtoB induces plant disease susceptibility by inhibition of programmed cell death. EMBO J. 22: 60-69.
Dickman, M.B. Ha, Y.S.,Yang, Z., Adams, B., and Huang, C. 2003. A protein kinase from Colletotrichum trifolii is induced by plant cutin and is required for appressorium formation. Mol. Plant-Microbe Inter. 16:411-421.
Chen, S., Dunigan, D.D. and Dickman, M.B. 2003. Bcl-2 family members inhibit oxidative stress-induced programmed cell death in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Free Radical Biology in Medicine 34: 1315-1325.
Jae, H-J., Chen S., Ke, N., Godzik, A., Dickman, M.B., and Reed, J.C. 2004. Evolutionarily conserved cytprotection provided by Bax inhibitor-1(BI-1) homologs from animals, plants and yeast. Gene 323: 101-113.
Chen, C., and Dickman, M.B. 2004. Dominant active Rac and dominant negative Rac revert the dominant active Ras phenotype in Colletotrichum trifolii by distinct signaling pathways. Mol. Microbiol. 51: 1493-1507.
Jamir, Y., Guo, M., Oh, H-S., Petnicki-Ocvwieja, T., Chen S., Tang, X., Dickman, M.B., Collmer, A., and Alfano, J.R. 2004. Identification of Pseudomonas syringae type III effectors that suppress programmed cell death in eukaryotes. The Plant Journal 37:554-565
Chen, C., Harel, A., Gorovits, R., Yarden, O., and Dickman, M.B. 2004. Regulation of sclerotial development in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is linked with pH and cAMP sensing. Mol. Plant Microbe Interact. 17: 404-413.
Chen, S. Zarir., Li, W., Asard, H., and Dickman, M.B. 2004. Tomato phospholipid hydoperoxide glutathione peroxidase inhibits cell death induced by Bax and oxidative stresses in yeast and plants. Plant Physiol. 135: 163-1641,
Chen, C. and Dickman, M.B. 2005. cAMP blocks MAPK activation and sclerotial development via Rap-1 in a PKA-independent manner in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Mol. Micrbiol. 55: 299-311.
Chen, C., and Dickman, M.B. 2005. Proline suppresses apoptosis in the fungal pathogen Colletotrichum trifolii. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102: 3459-3464. (Includes Commentary)
Chen, C., Wanduragala S., Becker D.F., and Dickman, M.B. 2006. A Tomato QM-like protein protects Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells against oxidative stress by regulating intracellular proline levels. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72: 4001-4006.
72. Xu. J.R. Dickman, M. B. and Sharon, A. 2006. The dawn of fungal pathogen genomics. Annual Review of Phytopathology 44: 337-366.
73. Doukhanina, E.V., Chen, S., van der Zalm, E. Godzik, A., Reed, J. and Dickman, M.B. 2006. Identification and functional characterization of the BAG protein family in Arabidopsis thaliana. Journal of Biological Chemistry 281:18793-18801.
Khanna, H.K., Paul, J.Y., Harding, R.M., Dickman, M.B., and Dale, J.L. 2007. Inhibition of Agrobacterium-Induced Cell Death by Antiapoptotic Gene expression Leads to Very High Transformation Efficiency in Banana. Mol. Plant-Microbe Inter.20: 1048-1054.
Krishnan, N., Dickman, M.B. and Becker, D.F. 2008. Proline modulates the intracellular redox environment and protects mammalian cells against oxidative stress. Free Radical Biology and Medicine 44:671-681.
Kim. K.Y., Min, J-Y., and Dickman, M.B. 2008. Oxalic acid is an elicitor of plant programmed cell death during Sclerotinia sclerotiorum disease development. Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions 21:605-612.
Williams, B., and Dickman, M.B. 2008. Plant programmed cell death: can’t live with it; can’t live without it. Molecular Plant Pathology 9: 531-544.
Williams, B., Kabbage, M., Britt, R., and Dickman, M.B. 2010. AtBAG7, a unique endoplasmic reticulum-localized Bcl-2 associated athanogene is involved in stress responses in Arabidopsis. Proc. Natl.Acad. Sci. 107: 6088-6093.
Kabbage, M., Li,W., Chen, S. and Dickman, M.B. 2010. The E3 ubiquitin ligase activity of an insect anti-apoptotic gene (Sf-IAP) is required for plant stress tolerance. Physiol. Mol.Plant Path 74:351-362.
Ye, C., Dickman, M.B., Whitham, S. A. and Verchot 2011. The Unfolded Protein Response is Triggered by a Plant Viral Movement Protein. Plant Physiology 156:741-755
Williams, B., Kabbage, M., Kim, H-J., Britt, R. and Dickman, M.B. 2011. Tipping the balance: Sclerotinia sclerotiorum secreted oxalic acid suppresses host defenses by manipulating the host redox environment. PLoS Pathogens 7:1-10.
Jean-Yves Paul, Douglas K. Becker. Martin B. Dickman, Robert M. Harding, Harjeet K. Khanna and James L. Dale. 2011. Apoptosis-related genes confer resistance to Fusarium wilt in transgenic Lady finger bananas. Plant Biotechnology 9:1141-1148.
Amselem, J., Cuomo. C., van Kan Kan, J….…………..and Dickman, M.B.2011. Genomic analysis of the necrotrophic fungal pathogens Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Botrytis cinerea. PLoS Genetics 7: e1002230.
Dickman, M.B. and de Figuerido, P. 2011. Comparative pathobiology of fungal pathogens of plants and animals. PLoS Pathogens. 7: e1002324
Bar-Dror, T., Dermastia, M., Kladnik, A., Znidaric., M.T., Novak, M.P., Meir, S., Burd,S., Philosoph-Hadas,S., Ori,N., Sonego,L., Dickman, M.B. and Lers, A. 2011. Programmed cell death occurs in an asymmetric manner during abscission. Plant Cell 23:4146-4163
O’Connell, R., et al., 2012. Life-style transitions in plant pathogenic Colletotrichum fungi deciphered by genome and transcriptome analyses. Nature Genetics 44, 1060-1065.
Kabbage, M; Williams, B., Dickman, MB. 2013. Cell death control: The interplay of apoptosis and autophagy in the pathogenicity of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. PLoS Pathogens 9: e1003287
102. Dickman, M.B. and Fluhr, R. 2013. Centrality of host cell death in plant-microbe interactions. Annu. Rev. Phytopathol. 51: 25.1-25.28.
Dickman, M.B. and de Figueiredo, P. 2013. Death be not proud—cell death control in host fungal interactions. PLoS Pathogens 9: e1003542
Xinwen Liang Martin B. Dickman, and Donald F. Becker. 2014. Proline protects against endoplasmic reticulum stress in Sacchromyses cerevisiae Journal of Biological Chemistry (In press)
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