Education

Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics, Department of Infectious Diseases, Imperial College London, 1999

Current position

Associate Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln
Nebraska Member, Redox Biology Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska

Publications

1. Marroquin-Guzman, M. and Wilson, R. A. (2015). GATA-Dependent Glutaminolysis Drives Appressorium Formation in Magnaporthe oryzae by Suppressing TOR Inhibition of cAMP/PKA Signaling. PLoS Pathog 11(4): e1004851.
   
2. Fernandez, J., Marroquin-Guzman, M., Nandakumar, R., Shijo, S., Cornwell, K. M., Li, G. and Wilson, R. A. (2014). Plant defence suppression is mediated by a fungal sirtuin during rice infection by Magnaporthe oryzae. Mol Microbiol 94(1): 70-88.
   
3. Fernandez, J., Marroquin-Guzman, M. and Wilson, R. A. (2014). Evidence for a transketolase-mediated metabolic checkpoint governing biotrophic growth in rice cells by the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. PLoS Pathog 10(9): e1004354.
   
4. Fernandez, J., Marroquin-Guzman, M. and Wilson, R. A. (2014). Mechanisms of nutrient acquisition and utilization during fungal infections of leaves. Annu Rev Phytopathol 52: 155-174.
   
5. Fernandez, J. and Wilson, R. A. (2014). Characterizing roles for the glutathione reductase, thioredoxin reductase and thioredoxin peroxidase-encoding genes of Magnaporthe oryzae during rice blast disease. PLoS One 9(1): e87300.
   
6. Donofrio, N. M. and Wilson, R. A. (2014). Redox and rice blast: new tools for dissecting molecular fungal-plant interactions. New Phytol 201(2): 367-369.
   
7. Badaruddin, M., Holcombe, L. J., Wilson, R. A., Wang, Z. Y., Kershaw, M. J. and Talbot, N. J. (2013). Glycogen metabolic genes are involved in trehalose-6-phosphate synthase-mediated regulation of pathogenicity by the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. PLoS Pathog 9(10): e1003604.
   
8. Fernandez, J. and Wilson, R. A. (2014). Cells in cells: morphogenetic and metabolic strategies conditioning rice infection by the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. Protoplasma 251(1): 37-47.
   
9. Fernandez, J., Yang, K. T., Cornwell, K. M., Wright, J. D. and Wilson, R. A. (2013). Growth in rice cells requires de novo purine biosynthesis by the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. Sci Rep 3: 2398.
   
10. Wilson, R. A., Fernandez, J., Quispe, C. F., Gradnigo, J., Seng, A., Moriyama, E. and Wright, J. D. (2012). Towards defining nutrient conditions encountered by the rice blast fungus during host infection. PLoS One 7(10): e47392.
    
11. Fernandez, J. and Wilson, R. A. (2012). Why no feeding frenzy? Mechanisms of nutrient acquisition and utilization during infection by the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. Mol Plant Microbe Interact 25(10): 1286-1293.
    
12. Fernandez, J., Wright, J. D., Hartline, D., Quispe, C. F., Madayiputhiya, N. and Wilson, R. A. (2012). Principles of carbon catabolite repression in the rice blast fungus: Tps1, Nmr1-3, and a MATE-family pump regulate glucose metabolism during infection. PLoS Genet 8(5): e1002673.
    
13. Franceschetti, M., Bueno, E., Wilson, R. A., Tucker, S. L., Gomez-Mena, C., Calder, G. and Sesma, A. (2011). Fungal virulence and development is regulated by alternative pre-mRNA 3'end processing in Magnaporthe oryzae. PLoS Pathog 7(12): e1002441.
    
14. Fernandez, J. and Wilson, R. A. (2011). The sugar sensor, trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (Tps1), regulates primary and secondary metabolism during infection by the rice blast fungus: Will Magnaporthe oryzae’s “sweet tooth” become its “Achilles’ heel”? Mycology 2: 46- 53.
    
15. Wilson, R. A., Gibson, R. P., Quispe, C. F., Littlechild, J. A. and Talbot, N. J. (2010). An NADPH-dependent genetic switch regulates plant infection by the rice blast fungus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107(50): 21902-21907.
    
16. Wilson, R. A. and Talbot, N. J. (2009). Fungal physiology - a future perspective. Microbiology 155(Pt 12): 3810-3815.
    
17. Brown, S. H., Scott, J. B., Bhaheetharan, J., Sharpee, W. C., Milde, L., Wilson, R. A. and Keller, N. P. (2009). Oxygenase coordination is required for morphological transition and the host-fungus interaction of Aspergillus flavus. Mol Plant Microbe Interact 22(7): 882-894.
    
18. Wilson, R. A. and Talbot, N. J. (2009). Under pressure: investigating the biology of plant infection by Magnaporthe oryzae. Nat Rev Microbiol 7(3): 185-195.
    
19. Wilson, R. A., Jenkinson, J. M., Gibson, R. P., Littlechild, J. A., Wang, Z. Y. and Talbot, N. J. (2007). Tps1 regulates the pentose phosphate pathway, nitrogen metabolism and fungal virulence. EMBO J 26(15): 3673-3685.
    
20. Maggio-Hall, L. A., Wilson, R. A. and Keller, N. P. (2005). Fundamental contribution of beta-oxidation to polyketide mycotoxin production in planta. Mol Plant Microbe Interact 18(8): 783-793.