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Ulrich Melcher
Oklahoma State University
Robert Sirny Professor of Agricultural Biochemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Address: 246 Noble Research Center, OSU, Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: 405-744-6210 Fax: 405-744-7799
Email: umelcher@biochem.okstate.edu
URL: http://opbs.okstate.edu/~melcher/UM.html
http://opbs.okstate.edu/~melcher/homepage.html
Ph.D., Biochemistry, 1970, Michigan State University Lab Photo
Postdoctoral: Molecular Biology, 1970-1971, Aarhus University; Immunology, 1972, New York University;
Immunology, 1972-1975, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School
Research Emphasis: Evolution of viral and bacterial inhabitants of plants
Related Activities: Coordinator, Functional Genomics Consortium, OK-NSF-EPSCoR
Adjunct Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
 
Research Description:

Evolution is the result of selection acting on variation. Variation results from changes in the genomes of some individuals in a population. Changes can be small or large. Small changes result from nucleotide substitutions (the most frequent form of change) and small insertions and deletions. These changes can be used to trace the relationships among genes and genomes, relationships that may reflect their evolutionary history and to devise molecular tests that discriminate between related genes or genomes. Large changes result from major rearrangements of genetic information, such as homologous recombination, inversion, insertion and deletion. Selection describes the factors leading to more frequent and/or prolific reproduction and/or longer survival, terms collectively identified as "fitness".

As subjects for exploration of these issues the laboratory uses viruses and bacteria found in plants. Retroid viruses of plants, tobamoviruses, and movement proteins serve as models for the studies of viral evolution. The laboratory also uses variations in viral sequences to devise methods to enumerate the kinds of viruses present in environmental or clinical samples. In collaboration with the laboratory of Dr. Jacqueline Fletcher, the mollicute Spiroplasma citri is under investigation to discover novel mechanisms of bacterial evolution. In further collaboration with that laboratory, evolution-based approaches assist in elucidating the practical aspects of bacteria causing disease in cucurbits.
 
Recent Publications:

Comer J, Fletcher J, Davis RE, Melcher U (2006) Evolution of the Spiroplasma P58 multigene family. Biochem Genet, in press (expected Sept.)

Wren JD, Roossinck MJ, Nelson RS, Scheets K, Palmer MW, Melcher U (2006) Plant virus biodiversity and ecology. PLoS Biology 4(3): e80.

Fletcher J, Bender C, Budowle B, Cobb WT, Gold SE, Ishimaru CA, Luster D, Melcher U, Murch R, Scherm H, Seem RC, Sherwood JL, Sobral BW, Tolin SA (2006) Plant Pathogen Forensics: Capabilities, Needs and Recommendations. MMBR 70(2):450-71
 
Selected Additional Publications:

Wren J D, Hildebrand WH, Chandrasekaran S, Melcher U (2005) Markov Model Recognition and Classification of DNA/Protein Sequence Patterns Within Large Text Databases. Bioinformatics 21:4046-4053.

Zhang Q, Melcher U, Zhou L, Najar FZ, Roe BA, Fletcher J (2005) Genomic comparison of plant pathogenic and non-pathogenic Serratia marcescens strains using suppressive subtractive hybridization. Appl Environ Micro 71:7716-7723.

Te J, Melcher U, Howard A, Verchot-Lubicz J (2005) Soilborne wheat mosaic virus (SBWMV) 19K protein belongs to a class of cysteine rich proteins that suppress RNA silencing. Virology J. 2:18.

Fletcher J, Melcher U, Wayadande A (2005) The phytopathogenic spiroplasmas. In "The Prokaryotes" (ed. M. Dworkin).

Joshi BD, Berg M, Rogers J, Fletcher J, Melcher U (2005) Sequence comparison of plasmids pBJS-O of Spiroplasma citri and pSKU146 of S. kunkelii: implications for plasmid evolution. BMC Genomics 6:175.