Perlin Lab

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About 

We investigate the evolution of host/pathogen interactions, primarily at the molecular genetic and biochemical levels.

Team 

Michael Perlin, Professor

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Our Work

  • Smut fungi: Anther smuts and Smuts of Maize/corn 
  • Host specificity 
  • Fungal effectors 
  • Comparative Genomics and Comparate Population Genomics of Anther Smut Species 
  • Nitrogen assimilation in Smut Fungi and Connections to Cell Morphology 
  • Control of mitochondrial inheritance in Smut Fungi 
  • Characterization of Host Immunity responses to infection by Microbotryum fungal parasites 
  • Identification and global analysis of fungal/host plant protein interactions during infection 
  • Investigation of RNA Editing throughout the lifecycles of Microbotryum species 
  • Dissecting the roles of ammonium transporters and a mating-type locus in Ustilago maydis corn smut 
  • Comparing strategies for control of mitochondrial inheritance in two smut species of maize 
  • Perlin, MH, J Amselem, E Fontanillas, SS Toh, Z Chen, J Goldberg, S Duplessis, B Henrissat, S Young, Q Zeng, G Aguileta, E Petit, H Badouin, J Andrews, D Razeeq, T Gabaldón, H Quesneville, T Giraud, ME. Hood, DJ Schultz, CA Cuomo. 2015. Sex and Parasites: Genomic and transcriptomic analysis of Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae, the biotrophic and plant-castrating anther smut fungus. BMC Genomics 16:461 
  • Badouin, H, ME Hood, J Gouzy, G Aguileta, S Siguenza, MHPerlin, CA Cuomo, C Fairhead, A Branca, T Giraud. 2015. Chaos of rearrangements in fungal mating-type chromosomes. Genetics 200:1275-1284.  Recommended in F1000Prime as being of special significance in its field by F1000 Faculty Members Kaustav Sanyal and Vikas Yaday. 
  • Toh, S.S. and M.H. Perlin. 2015.Size Does Matter: Staging of Silene latifolia Floral Buds for Transcriptome Studies. Int. J. Mol. Sci.2015, 16(9), 22027-22045; DOI:10.3390/ijms160922027 
  • Toh, S.S. and M.H.Perlin. 2016. Resurgence of less-studied smut fungi as models of phytopathogenesis in the –omics era. Phytopathology 106(11):1244-1254.  (Invited Review) http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-02-16-0075-RVW 
  • Toh, S.S., D.S. Treves, M.T. Barati, and M.H.Perlin. 2016. Reliable transformation system for Microbotryum lychnidis‑dioicae informed by genome and transcriptome project. Arch. Microbiol. 198(8): 813–825 1-13. DOI: 10.1007/s00203-016-1244-2 
  • Toh, S.S., Chen, Z. Schultz, D.J., Cuomo, C.A., and Perlin, M.H. 2017. Transcriptional analysis of mating and pre-infection stages of the anther smut, Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae. Microbiology 163: 410-420, DOI: 10.1099/mic.0.000421 
  • Toh, S.S., Z. Chen, E.C. Rouchka, D.J. Schultz, C.A. Cuomo, and M.H. Perlin. 2017. Pas de deux: An intricate dance of anther smut and its host.  G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics: 8:2 505-518; https://doi.org/10.1534/g3.117.300318 
  • Kuppireddy, V.S., V.N. Uversky, S. Toh, M.-C. Tsai, W. C. Beckerson, C. Cahill, B. Carman, and M. H.Perlin. 2017. Identification and initial characterization of effectors of an anther smut fungus and potential host target proteins. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 18, 2489; DOI:10.3390/ijms18112489 
  • Schirawski, J. and M.Perlin. 2018. Plant Microbe Interaction 2017 – The Good, the Bad and the Diverse. (Editorial, peer-reviewed) Int. J. Mol. Sci. 19, 1374; DOI:10.3390/ijms19051374 
  • Wallen, R.M. and M.H.Perlin. 2018.An overview of the function and maintenance of sexual reproduction in dikaryotic fungi. Front. Microbiol., 21 March 2018 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.00503 
  • Paul, J.A., R.M. Wallen, C. Zhao, T. Shi, and M.H.Perlin. 2018. Coordinate Regulation of Ustilago maydis Ammonium Transporters and Genes Involved in Mating and Pathogenicity. Fungal Biol. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funbio.2018.03.011 
  • Vijayakrishnapillai, LMK, JS Desmarais, MN Groeschen, and MHPerlin. 2018. Deletion of ptn1, a PTEN/TEP1 Orthologue, in Ustilago maydis Reduces Pathogenicity and Teliospore Development. J. Fungi 2019, 5, 1; doi:10.3390/jof5010001 
  • Saville, B. J. and M.H.Perlin. 2019. When worlds collide and smuts converge: Tales from the 1st International Ustilago/Smut Convergence. Fungal Genet. Biol.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fgb.2019.103260 
  • Beckerson, W.C., R. C. Rodríguez de la Vega, F. E. Hartmann, M. Duhamel, T. Giraud, M. H. Perlin. 2019. Cause and Effectors: whole genome comparisons reveal shared but rapidly evolving effector sets among host-specific plant-castrating fungi. mBio 10 (6): e02391-19; DOI: 10.1128/mBio.02391-19 
  • Mendoza, H., M.H. Perlin, and J. Schirawski. 2020. Mitochondrial inheritance in phytopathogenic fungi- everything is known, or is it? Int J Mol Sci 21, 3883; doi:10.3390/ijms21113883 
  • Wallen, R.M., K. Richardson, M. Furnish, H. Mendoza, A. Dentinger, S. Khanal, M. Perlin. 2021. Hungry for Sex: Differential Roles for Ustilago maydis b Locus Components in Haploid Cells vis-à-vis Nutritional Availability. J. Fungi, 7(2), 135; https://doi.org/10.3390/jof7020135  
  • Khanal, S., Schroeder, L., Nava-Mercado, O.A., Mendoza, H. and Perlin, M.H. 2021. Role for nitrate assimilatory genes in virulence of Ustilago maydis. Fungal Biol. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funbio.2021.04.010 
  • Schirawski, J., M. Perlin, and B. Saville. 2021. Smuts to the power of three: Biotechnology, Biotrophy, and Basic Biology. J. Fungi  7, 660. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof7080660 
  • Wu, J,  D Danko, E Afshinnekoo, D Bezdan, M Bhattacharyya, E Castro-Nallar, A Chmielarczyk, N Hazrin-Chong, Y Deng, E Dias-Neto, A Frolova, G Mason-Buck, G Iraola, S Jang, P Łabaj, P K H Lee, M Nieto-Caballero, O O Osuolale, C A Ouzounis, M H Perlin, B Prithiviraj, N Rascovan, A Rozanska , L M Schriml, T Semmler, H Suzuki, J A Ugalde, B Young, J Werner, M M Zambrano, Y Zhao, C Mason, T Shi, MetaSUB Consortium. 2021. Annotating unknown species of urban microorganisms on a global scale unveils novel functional diversity and local environment association. Environ Res Oct 9;112183. PMID: 34637759  doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112183. Online ahead of print. 
  • Mendoza, H., C. D. Culver, E. A. Lamb, L. A. Schroeder, S. Khanal, C. Müller, J. Schirawski  and M. H. Perlin. 2022. Identification and Functional Characterization of a Putative Alternative Oxidase (Aox) in Sporisorium reilianum f. sp. zeae. J. Fungi 8, 148. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof8020148  (selected to highlight, as cover art, for Volume 8 of the journal) 
  • Carpentier, F., R. C. Rodríguez de la Vega, P. Jay, M. Duhamel, J. A. Shykoff, M. H. Perlin, R. M. Wallen, M. E. Hood, T. Giraud. 2022. Tempo of degeneration across independently evolved non-recombining regions. Mol Biol Evol 39(4):msac060. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msac060. PMID: 35325190 
  • Christian N, Perlin MH. Plant-endophyte communication: Scaling from molecular mechanisms to ecological outcomes. Mycologia. 2024 Mar-Apr;116(2):227-250. doi: 10.1080/00275514.2023.2299658. Epub 2024 Feb 21. PMID: 38380970. 
  • Tsai, M.-C., C.; Barati, M.T.; Kuppireddy, V.S.; Beckerson,W.C.; Long, G.; Perlin, M.H. Characterization of Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae Secreted Effector Proteins, Their Potential Host Targets, and Localization in a Heterologous Host Plant. J. Fungi 2024, 10, 262. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof10040262 
  • Mendoza H, Lamb EA, Thomas J, Tavares DG, Schroeder LA, Müller C, Agrawal N, Schirawski J and Perlin MH (2024) Comparative mitogenomic analysis of Sporisorium reilianum f. sp. zeae suggests recombination events during its evolutionary history. Front. Physiol. 15:1264359. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1264359 

Perlin Lab

A&S Department of Biology

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502-852-5944

Location

Life Sciences Building Room LL14 and LL18

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