Douglas Cook

About

Douglas R. Cook is a Professor of Plant Pathology at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis. His research focuses on microbial community analysis in agricultural contexts, understanding the complex origins of plant disease, and exploring genomic diversity in crop wild relatives. His work includes genome-wide recombination studies, transcriptome divergence under drought stress, and population genomics of soil bacteria, contributing to advancements in plant pathology and agricultural innovation. Cook has authored numerous publications that investigate the genetic and microbial factors influencing plant health and disease, emphasizing the importance of genomics and microbial ecology in sustainable agriculture.

Research topics

• Biology
• Agronomy
• Computer Science
• Ecology
• Data science
• Agroforestry
• Engineering
• Genetics
• Biotechnology
• Business

Selected publications

• The INCREASE project: Intelligent Collections of food‐legume genetic resources for European agrofood systems

  The Plant Journal · 2021 · 58 citations

  SUMMARY Food legumes are crucial for all agriculture‐related societal challenges, including climate change mitigation, agrobiodiversity conservation, sustainable agriculture, food security and human health. The transition to plant‐based diets, largely based on food legumes, could present major opportunities for adaptation and mitigation, generating significant co‐benefits for human health. The characterization, maintenance and exploitation of food‐legume genetic resources, to date largely unexpl…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• From bits to bites: Advancement of the Germinate platform to support prebreeding informatics for crop wild relatives

  Crop Science · 2020 · 39 citations

  Abstract Management and distribution of experimental data from prebreeding projects is important to ensure uptake of germplasm into breeding and research programs. Being able to access and share this data in standard formats is essential. The adoption of a common informatics platform for crops that may have limited resources brings economies of scale, allowing common informatics components to be used across multiple species. The close integration of such a platform with commonly used breeding so…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Genomic Analysis of Vavilov’s Historic Chickpea Landraces Reveals Footprints of Environmental and Human Selection

  International Journal of Molecular Sciences · 2020-05-31 · 39 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  A defining challenge of the 21st century is meeting the nutritional demands of the growing human population, under a scenario of limited land and water resources and under the specter of climate change. The Vavilov seed bank contains numerous landraces collected nearly a hundred years ago, and thus may contain 'genetic gems' with the potential to enhance modern breeding efforts. Here, we analyze 407 landraces, sampled from major historic centers of chickpea cultivation and secondary diversificat…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Gene co‐expression analysis reveals transcriptome divergence between wild and cultivated chickpea under drought stress

  The Plant Journal · 2020 · 38 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Ancestral adaptations in crop wild relatives can provide a genetic reservoir for crop improvement. Here we document physiological changes to mild and severe drought stress, and the associated transcriptome dynamics in both wild and cultivated chickpea. Over 60% of transcriptional changes were related to metabolism, indicating that metabolic plasticity is a core and conserved drought response. In addition, changes in RNA processing and protein turnover were predominant in the data, suggestive of…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Hiding in plain sight: Genome-wide recombination and a dynamic accessory genome drive diversity in <i>Fusarium oxysporum</i> f.sp. <i>ciceris</i>

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2023-06-26 · 29 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  is among the most important of soil-borne pathogens, with a global distribution and an extensive host range. The pathogen is considered to be asexual, with horizontal transfer of chromosomes providing an analog of assortment by meiotic recombination. Here, we challenge those assumptions based on the results of population genomic analyses, describing the pathogen's diversity and inferring its origins and functional consequences in the context of a single, long-standing agricultural system. We ide…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• BREAD: Overcoming the Domestication Bottleneck for Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Legumes

  NSF · $1.8M · 2010–2014

• Deducing the Genomic Footprint and Functional Impact of Chickpea Domestication on Nitrogen Fixation

  NSF · $3.3M · 2013–2018

• Towards the Complete Gene Inventory and Function of the Medicago Truncatula Genome

  NSF · $6.8M · 2001–2006

Frequent coauthors

• R. Varma Penmetsa

  Plant (United States)

  107 shared

• Jean Dénarié

  Interactions Arbres-Microorganismes

  73 shared

• Giles Oldroyd

  University of Cambridge

  71 shared

• Sharon R. Long

  University of South China

  69 shared

• Noelia Carrasquilla‐Garcia

  University of California, Davis

  55 shared

• Charles Rosenberg

  54 shared

• G. B. Kiss

  54 shared

• Brendan K. Riely

  University of California, Davis

  53 shared

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