Mark Farman

Professional Profile

Professor


Focus

Research

The Farman lab uses genomic approaches to study mechanisms of pathogenesis in the fungal phytopathogen,Magnaporthe oryzae. Areas of special interest include

  • Fungal genome evolution and dynamics
  • The roles of telomeres in pathogenic variation
  • Methods for high throughput fungal protein localization during host infection.

 

Teaching

  • PPA 600: Critical Methods in Plant-Microbe Interactions
  • PPA 500: Physiology of Plant Health and Disease (guest lecturer)
  • PPA 784: Special Problems in Plant Pathology

Additional Information

Education

  • Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, 1990, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
  • B.S. in Biology, 1983, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom


Employment Highlights

  • Director of the University of Kentucky Advanced Genetic Technologies Center, 2012-present
  • Professor, University of Kentucky, 2009-present
  • Associate Professor, University of Kentucky, 2003-2009
  • Assistant Professor, University of Kentucky, 1997-2003
  • Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1990-1997


Awards, Recognition, Service

  • Basil O' Connor Starter Scholar, 1999


Recent Research Publications

(2017 to present; see Farman Lab pages for a more complete list)

2019

  • Wamucho A, Unrine JM, Kieran TJ, Glenn TC, Schultz CL, Farman M, Svendsen C, Spurgeon DJ, Tsyusko OV (2019) Genomic mutations are multigenerational exposure of Caenorhabditis elegans to pristine and sulfidized silver nanoparticles. Environmental Pollution 254: 113078. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2019.113078
  • Rahnama M, Novikova O, Starnes J, Chen L, Zhang S, Farman M. (2019) Transposon-mediated telomere destabilization: a driver of genome evolution in the blast fungus. bioRxiv 845669; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/845669
  • Peng Z, Oliveira-Garcia E, Lin G, Hu Y, Dalby M, Migeon P, Tang H, Farman M, Cook D, White FF, Valent B, Liu S (2019) Effector gene reshuffling involves dispensable mini-chromosomes in the wheat blast fungus. PLoS Genetics 15(9). e1008272. 
  • Yasuhara-Bell J, Pieck ML, Ruck A, Farman ML, Peterson GL, Stack JP, Valent B, Pedley KF. A Response to Gupta et al. (2019) Regarding the MoT3 Wheat Blast Diagnostic Assay. Phytopathology 109:509-511. doi: 10.1094/PHYTO-10-18-0397-LE. Epub 2019 Mar 20. PubMed PMID: 30565503.
  • Valent B, Farman M, Tosa Y, Begerow D, Fournier E, Gladieux P, Islam MT, Kamoun S, Kemler M, Kohn LM, Lebrun MH, Stajich JE, Talbot NJ, Terauchi R, Tharreau D, Zhang N. (2019) Pyricularia graminis-tritici is not the correct species name for the wheat blast fungus: response to Ceresini et al. (MPP 20:2). Mol Plant Pathol. 20:173-179. doi: 10.1111/mpp.12778. PubMed PMID: 30697917; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6637902.

2018

  • Yasuhara-Bell J, Pedley KF, Farman M, Valent B, Stack JP. (2018) Specific Detection of the Wheat Blast Pathogen (Magnaporthe oryzae Triticum) by Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification. Plant Dis. 102:2550-2559. doi: 10.1094/PDIS-03-18-0512-RE. Epub 2018 Oct 15. PubMed PMID: 30320534. 
  • Gladieux P, Condon B, Ravel S, Soanes D, Maciel JLN, Nhani A Jr, Chen L, Terauchi R, Lebrun MH, Tharreau D, Mitchell T, Pedley KF, Valent B, Talbot NJ, Farman M, Fournier E. (2018) Gene Flow between Divergent Cereal- and Grass-Specific Lineages of the Rice Blast Fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. mBio. 9(1). doi: 10.1128/mBio.01219-17. PubMed PMID: 29487238; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5829825.

2017

  • Inoue Y, Vy TTP, Yashida K, Asano H, Mitsuoka C, Asuke S, Anh VL, Cumagun CJR, Chuma I, Terauchi R, Kato K, Mitchell T, Valent B, Farman M, Tosa Y. (2017) Evolution of the wheat blast fungus through functional losses in a host specificity determinant, Science 357:80-83.
  • Jang C; Wang R; Wells J; Leon F; Farman M; Hammond J; Goodin M (accepted for publication) Genome sequence variation in the constricta strain dramatically alters the protein interaction and localization map of Potato Yellow Dwarf virus. J. Gen. Virol.
  • Elshahawi SI, Cao H, Shaaban KA, Ponomareva LV, Subramanian T, Farman ML, Spielmann HP, Phillips GN Jr, Thorson JS, Singh S. (2017) Structure and specificity of a permissive bacterial C-prenyltransferase. Nature Chem. Biol. oi: 10.1038/nchembio.2285.
  • Buiate E, Xavier X, Moore N, Farman M, Schardl, C, Vaillancourt L. (2017) A comparative genomic analysis of putative pathogenicity genes in the host-specific sibling species Colletotrichum graminicola and Colletotrichum sublineola. BMC Genomics 18: 67.
  • Farman M, Peterson G, Chen L, Valent B, Bachi P, Murdock L, Hershman D, Pedley K, Fernandes M, Bavaresco J. (2017) The Lolium pathotype of Magnaporthe oryzae recovered from a single blasted wheat plant in the United States. Plant Dis. http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-05-16-0700-RE
  • Pieck M, Farman M, Peterson G, Stack J, Valent B, Pedley K. (2017) Genomics-based marker discovery and diagnostic assay development for wheat blast. Plant Dis. 101: 103-109.