Caitilyn Allen

About

Caitilyn Allen is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She holds a Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Plant Pathology. Her research focuses on the interactions between the plant pathogenic bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum and its many plant hosts. R. solanacearum causes bacterial wilt, a soilborne disease found in tropical and warm temperate regions worldwide, and is considered one of the most harmful bacterial plant pathogens due to its broad host range and wide geographical distribution. Her work aims to identify traits that enable R. solanacearum to cause wilt disease in the nutrient-poor and microaerobic environment of the plant xylem. She studies how the bacterium uses inorganic nitrogen for pathogenesis, its mechanisms for surviving at low oxygen levels, and the role of nitric oxide in virulence. Additionally, her research investigates intrastrain competition among R. solanacearum strains, focusing on bacteriocins and their role in microbial competition and pathogen exclusion. She also explores the contribution of extracellular nucleases (NucA and NucB) to bacterial virulence, biofilm formation, and nutrient acquisition during infection. Allen's research extends to understanding the interactions between R. solanacearum and bioterrorism concerns, particularly regarding the Race 3 Biovar 2 strain, which is listed as a potential bioterrorism agent in the United States. Her work…

Research topics

• Botany
• Biology
• Evolutionary biology
• Immunology
• Ecology
• Genetics

Selected publications

• Repeated gain and loss of a single gene modulates the evolution of vascular plant pathogen lifestyles

  Science Advances · 2020 · 84 citations

  was lost in multiple nonvascular lineages and more recently gained by some vascular subgroups, suggesting that vascular pathogenesis is ancestral. Our results overall demonstrate how the gain and loss of single loci can facilitate the evolution of complex ecological traits.

  DOI

• The Immune Receptor Roq1 Confers Resistance to the Bacterial Pathogens Xanthomonas, Pseudomonas syringae, and Ralstonia in Tomato

  Frontiers in Plant Science · 2020-04-23 · 54 citations

  articleOpen access

  Xanthomonas species, Pseudomonas syringae and Ralstonia solanacearum are bacterial plant pathogens that cause significant yield loss in many crop species. Generating disease-resistant crop varieties provides a more durable, sustainable solution to control yield loss in place of current chemical methods that are becoming ineffective. Plant immune receptors encoded by nucleotide‐binding, leucine‐rich repeat (NLR) genes typically confer resistance to pathogens that produce a cognate elicitor, often…

  PublisherDOI

• <i>Ralstonia solanacearum</i> Depends on Catabolism of Myo-Inositol, Sucrose, and Trehalose for Virulence in an Infection Stage–Dependent Manner

  Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions · 2021-01-24 · 52 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The soilborne pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum causes a lethal bacterial wilt disease of tomato and many other crops by infecting host roots, then colonizing the water-transporting xylem vessels. Tomato xylem sap is nutritionally limiting but it does contain some carbon sources, including sucrose, trehalose, and myo-inositol. Transcriptomic analyses revealed that R. solanacearum expresses distinct catabolic pathways at low cell density (LCD) and high cell density (HCD). To investigate the links b…

  PublisherDOI

• <i>Ralstonia solanacearum</i> pandemic lineage strain <scp>UW551</scp> overcomes inhibitory xylem chemistry to break tomato bacterial wilt resistance

  Molecular Plant Pathology · 2023-10-17 · 19 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Plant-pathogenic Ralstonia strains cause bacterial wilt disease by colonizing xylem vessels of many crops, including tomato. Host resistance is the best control for bacterial wilt, but resistance mechanisms of the widely used Hawaii 7996 tomato breeding line (H7996) are unknown. Using growth in ex vivo xylem sap as a proxy for host xylem, we found that Ralstonia strain GMI1000 grows in sap from both healthy plants and Ralstonia-infected susceptible plants. However, sap from Ralstonia-infected H7…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Plant-Pathogenic <i>Ralstonia</i> Phylotypes Evolved Divergent Respiratory Strategies and Behaviors To Thrive in Xylem

  mBio · 2023-02-06 · 15 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  species. These complete denitrifiers form thicker biofilms in culture and in tomato xylem, suggesting they are better adapted to hypoxic niches. Strains with partial denitrification physiology form less biofilm and are more often planktonic. They are nonetheless highly virulent. Thus, these closely related bacteria have adapted their core metabolic functions to exploit distinct microniches in the same habitat.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Extracellular DNA: in Defense of Plant Cells

  NSF · $152k · 2015–2018

• Metabolic multitasking: How Ralstonia solanacearum uses nitrate for plant pathogenesis

  NSF · $508k · 2013–2017

Frequent coauthors

• Philippe Prior

  Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement

  41 shared

• Jonathan M. Jacobs

  The Ohio State University

  26 shared

• Tiffany M. Lowe‐Power

  25 shared

• Florent Ailloud

  Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

  23 shared

• Beth L. Dalsing

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  13 shared

• Connor G. Hendrich

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  12 shared

• Taca Vancheva

  Agropolis International

  11 shared

• April M. MacIntyre

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  11 shared

Education

• Ph.D. Plant Pathology

  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

  1987

• B.S. Botany

  University of Maine

  1980

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