About

Russell F. Jones, M.D., is an Assistant Residency Director, Medical Student Clerkship Director, and Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UC Davis Health. His primary research interests include clinical education, particularly bedside teaching and the development of innovative Emergency Medicine curricula. Dr. Jones is actively involved in medical student and residency program oversight and participates in the administration and curricular oversight of the post-clerkship phase of medical education within the School of Medicine. His clinical expertise is focused on emergency medicine, and he has received multiple awards for his teaching, including the Clinical Teacher of the Year Award from UC Davis Department of Emergency Medicine in 2017, the Medical Student Outstanding Clinical Educator Award from the University of Michigan Department of Emergency Medicine in 2011, and the Senior Resident Teaching Award from the University of Michigan Emergency Medicine Residency in 2010.

Research topics

• Biology
• Geography
• Medicine
• Virology
• Evolutionary biology
• Genetics
• Agronomy
• Agroforestry
• Ecology
• Environmental health

Selected publications

• Global Plant Virus Disease Pandemics and Epidemics

  Plants · 2021 · 410 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Virology
  • Biology
  • Geography

  The world's staple food crops, and other food crops that optimize human nutrition, suffer from global virus disease pandemics and epidemics that greatly diminish their yields and/or produce quality. This situation is becoming increasingly serious because of the human population's growing food requirements and increasing difficulties in managing virus diseases effectively arising from global warming. This review provides historical and recent information about virus disease pandemics and major epidemics that originated within different world regions, spread to other continents, and now have very wide distributions. Because they threaten food security, all are cause for considerable concern for humanity. The pandemic disease examples described are six (maize lethal necrosis, rice tungro, sweet potato virus, banana bunchy top, citrus tristeza, plum pox). The major epidemic disease examples described are seven (wheat yellow dwarf, wheat streak mosaic, potato tuber necrotic ringspot, faba bean necrotic yellows, pepino mosaic, tomato brown rugose fruit, and cucumber green mottle mosaic). Most examples involve long-distance virus dispersal, albeit inadvertent, by international trade in seed or planting material. With every example, the factors responsible for its development, geographical distribution and global importance are explained. Finally, an overall explanation is given of how to manage global virus disease pandemics and epidemics effectively.

  DOI

• Disease Pandemics and Major Epidemics Arising from New Encounters between Indigenous Viruses and Introduced Crops

  Viruses · 2020 · 85 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Biology
  • Geography
  • Agroforestry

  Virus disease pandemics and epidemics that occur in the world's staple food crops pose a major threat to global food security, especially in developing countries with tropical or subtropical climates. Moreover, this threat is escalating rapidly due to increasing difficulties in controlling virus diseases as climate change accelerates and the need to feed the burgeoning global population escalates. One of the main causes of these pandemics and epidemics is the introduction to a new continent of food crops domesticated elsewhere, and their subsequent invasion by damaging virus diseases they never encountered before. This review focusses on providing historical and up-to-date information about pandemics and major epidemics initiated by spillover of indigenous viruses from infected alternative hosts into introduced crops. This spillover requires new encounters at the managed and natural vegetation interface. The principal virus disease pandemic examples described are two (cassava mosaic, cassava brown streak) that threaten food security in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and one (tomato yellow leaf curl) doing so globally. A further example describes a virus disease pandemic threatening a major plantation crop producing a vital food export for West Africa (cacao swollen shoot). Also described are two examples of major virus disease epidemics that threaten SSA's food security (rice yellow mottle, groundnut rosette). In addition, brief accounts are provided of two major maize virus disease epidemics (maize streak in SSA, maize rough dwarf in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions), a major rice disease epidemic (rice hoja blanca in the Americas), and damaging tomato tospovirus and begomovirus disease epidemics of tomato that impair food security in different world regions. For each pandemic or major epidemic, the factors involved in driving its initial emergence, and its subsequent increase in importance and geographical distribution, are explained. Finally, clarification is provided over what needs to be done globally to achieve effective management of severe virus disease pandemics and epidemics initiated by spillover events.

  DOI

• The Potyviruses: An Evolutionary Synthesis Is Emerging

  Viruses · 2020 · 129 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Biology
  • Genetics
  • Virology

  In this review, encouraged by the dictum of Theodosius Dobzhansky that "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution", we outline the likely evolutionary pathways that have resulted in the observed similarities and differences of the extant molecules, biology, distribution, etc. of the potyvirids and, especially, its largest genus, the potyviruses. The potyvirids are a family of plant-infecting RNA-genome viruses. They had a single polyphyletic origin, and all share at least three of their genes (i.e., the helicase region of their CI protein, the RdRp region of their NIb protein and their coat protein) with other viruses which are otherwise unrelated. Potyvirids fall into 11 genera of which the potyviruses, the largest, include more than 150 distinct viruses found worldwide. The first potyvirus probably originated 15,000-30,000 years ago, in a Eurasian grass host, by acquiring crucial changes to its coat protein and HC-Pro protein, which enabled it to be transmitted by migrating host-seeking aphids. All potyviruses are aphid-borne and, in nature, infect discreet sets of monocotyledonous or eudicotyledonous angiosperms. All potyvirus genomes are under negative selection; the HC-Pro, CP, Nia, and NIb genes are most strongly selected, and the PIPO gene least, but there are overriding virus specific differences; for example, all turnip mosaic virus genes are more strongly conserved than those of potato virus Y. Estimates of dN/dS (ω) indicate whether potyvirus populations have been evolving as one or more subpopulations and could be used to help define species boundaries. Recombinants are common in many potyvirus populations (20%-64% in five examined), but recombination seems to be an uncommon speciation mechanism as, of 149 distinct potyviruses, only two were clear recombinants. Human activities, especially trade and farming, have fostered and spread both potyviruses and their aphid vectors throughout the world, especially over the past five centuries. The world distribution of potyviruses, especially those found on islands, indicates that potyviruses may be more frequently or effectively transmitted by seed than experimental tests suggest. Only two meta-genomic potyviruses have been recorded from animal samples, and both are probably contaminants.

  DOI

Frequent coauthors

• Owain R. Edwards

  222 shared

• Solomon Maina

  New South Wales Department of Primary Industries

  211 shared

• B. A. Coutts

  Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

  202 shared

• Abel Ximenes

  116 shared

• Alan H. Cowley

  The University of Texas at Austin

  96 shared

• Monica Kehoe

  93 shared

• Martin J. Barbetti

  University of Western Australia

  91 shared

• Luís de Almeida

  Universidade do Porto

  74 shared

Labs

• Emergency Medicine, UC Davis HealthPI

Awards & honors

• Clinical Teacher of the Year Award, UC Davis Department of E…
• Golden Apple Teaching Award Nomination, UM/SJMH Resident Edu…
• Medical Student Outstanding Clinical Educator Award, Univers…
• Senior Resident Teaching Award, University of Michigan Emerg…
• Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, 2006

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