Research Interests:
     The focus of my research is to understand how plants surrender themselves to pathogens and how pathogens manipulate host signaling pathways to cause disease.  My research is mainly focused on soil-borne and foliar fungal pathogens of crop and bioenergy crops and the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato. My long-term research objective is elucidation of the key physiological signals responsible for the regulation of plant stress response(s) utilizing both traditional and novel functional genomic tools. These projects should have far-reaching implications for engineering plants to be resistant to a broad range of pathogens.  

Ongoing Research Projects:

Genetic and genomic approaches to cotton root rot resistance in alfalfa and cotton:
     Phymatotrichum root rot (PRR), caused by Phymatotrichopsis omnivora (Duggar) Hennebert, is one of the most destructive diseases of cotton and alfalfa (Medicago sativa).  No consistently effective control measures or resistant germplasm is available for PRR. A model legume plant M. truncatula is closely related to alfalfa, and in this study we developed a M. truncatula- P. omnivora model pathosystem to study PRR.

Functional role of coronatine in bacterial speck disease development:
     Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (Pst), produces a virulence factor, coronatine (COR), a structural and functional analogue of methyl jasmonic acid (MeJA). One objective of my project is to investigate the biological function and the role of COR in the bacterial speck disease development. I am also interested in understanding the role of ROS and phytohormone-mediated signaling in bacterial speck disease development in tomato.

Use of virus-induced gene silencing and surrogate model Nicotiana benthamiana for studying Pseudomonas syrinage pv. tomato-induced chlorosis and cell death:
     Little is known about how coronatine and jasmonic acid are perceived by the plant cells. Jasmonic acid targets an ubiquitation proteosome complex and mediates the signaling of JA-responsive genes. Taking advantage of a chlorotic phenotype elicited by COR on N. benthamiana leaves and high throughput virus-induced silencing as a rapid (reverse and/or fast-forward genetic) screening tool for identification of plant genes involved in coronatine-mediated signaling associated with disease development. 

Patents:
     Cotton root rot resistant plants. Uppalapati, S.R., Wensheng, L, Sumner, L.W., Dixon, R.A., and Mysore, K.S. (Pending)

Research publications (Last 5 years):
     1.     Uppalapati, S. R., Marek, S.M., Hee-Kyung, L., Nakashima, J., Tang, Y., Sledge, M.K., Dixon, R.A. and Mysore, K.S. 2008.In the interaction of Medicago truncatula with Phymatotrichopsis omnivora, global gene expression profiling reveals a role for jasmonic acid, ethylene and the flavonoid pathway. Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions. (Submitted)

     2.     Ishiga,Y., Uppalapati, S. R.*, Ishiga, T. and Bender, C.L. Coronatine-induces light dependent reactive species in tomato seedlings. New Phytologist (accepted, *Corresponding author).

     3.     Kang, L., Wang, Y-S., Uppalapati, S.R., Wang, K., Tnag, Y., Vadapalli, V., Venables, B.J., Chapman, K.D., Blancaflor, E.B. and Mysore, K.S. 2008. Overexpression of a fatty acid amide hydrolase compromises innate immunity in Arabidopsis. The Plant Journal. In press. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-313X.2008.03603.x

     4.     Uppalapati, S. R.*, Ishiga, Y., Wangdi, T., Wochniak, E-W., Ishiga, T., Mysore, K.S., and Bender, C.L. 2008. Pathogenicity of Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato on tomato seedlings: Phenotypic and gene expression analysis of the virulence function of coronatine. Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions 21, 383-395. (*Corresponding author).  

     5.       Anand, A., Uppalapati, S.R., Ryu, C-H., Allen, S.A., Kang, L., Tang, Y., Mysore, K.S. 2008. Salicylic acid inhibits Agrobacterium vir gene induction and attenuates crown gall disease in plants. Plant Physiology, 146, 703-715.

     6.     Uppalapati, S.R., Ishiga, Y., Wangdi, T., Kunkel, B.N., Anand, A., Mysore, K.S. and Bender, C.L. 2006. The phytotoxin coronatine is required for pathogen fitness and suppression of salicylic acid accumulation in tomato inoculated with Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000. Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions, 8, 955-965.

     7.     Uppalapati, S.R., Patricia, A., Weng, H., P., Palmer, D.A., Mitchell, R.E., Jones, W. and Bender, C.L. 2005. The phytotoxin coronatine and methyl jasmonate impacts multiple phytohormone pathways in tomato. The Plant Journal, 42, 201-217.

     8.     Uppalapati S.R.*, Yasuhiro, I., Toyoda, K., Ichinose Y. and Shiraishi, T. 2004. Differential regulation of MBP kinases by a glycoprotein elicitor and a polypeptide suppressor from Mycosphaerella pinodes in pea. Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology, 64, 17-25. (*Corresponding author)

     9.     Chaturvedi, R., Uppalapati, S.R., Alamsjah, M.A. and Fujita, Y. 2004. Isolation of quizalofop-resistant mutants of Nannochloropsis oculata (Eustigmatophyceae) with high eicosapentaenoic acid following N-methyl-N-nitrosourea-induced random mutagenesis. Journal of Applied Phycology, 16, 135-144.

   10.    Keith, R.C., Keith, L.M., Hernandez-Guzman, G., Uppalapati, S.R. and Bender, C.L. 2003. Alginate gene expression by Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 in host and non-host plants. Microbiology, 49, 1127-1138.

Reviewer for Journals:
     Plant Disease, 2003.
     Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology, 2003-2008.
     Molecular Plant-Microbe interactions, 2003, 2006-2008.
     Journal of Applied Phycology, 2004-2005.
     Environmental Microbiology, 2004.                                              
     Molecular Plant Pathology, 2008.

Professional Activities:
     Plant Disease Losses Committee, American Phytopathological Society, 2004.
     Soilborne pathogens Committee, APS, 2006-2008.
     Molecular and Cellular Phytopathology, APS, 2006-2008.
     Panel Member, Porphyra Biology, Natural History Museum, Chiba city, Japan, 1996.