We use a range of comparative, evolutionary and functional genomic approaches to study the evolution of host specificity and virulence in pathogenic bacteria. We are specifically interested in identifying the genetic determinants of host specificity, and determining what factors determine if a bacterial-host interaction is benign or results in disease. Our work will lead to a better understanding of where the genetic potential for virulence originates, and how is it maintained in bacterial populations. We work with the agriculturally important plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae, and the opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Selected Publications

Lewis, JD, R Wu, DS Guttman† & D Desveaux†,  2010.  Allele-specific virulence attenuation of the Pseudomonas syringae HopZ1a type III effector via tha Arabidopsis ZAR1 resistance protein. PLoS Genetics 6(4): e1000894.  (†equal contribution)

Lewis, JD, DS Guttman† & D Desveaux†, 2009  The targeting of plant cellular systems by injected type III effectors. Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology.  in press  (†equal contribution)

Ma, W & DS Guttman  2008.  Evolution of prokaryotic and eukaryotic virulence effectors. Current Opinion in Plant Biology.  11:412-419.

Tan J, DD Pitout & DS Guttman.  2008. Rapid and sensitive assessment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa metallo beta-lactamase resistance to imipenem.  Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 46: 1870-1872.

Lewis, JD, W Abada, W Ma, DS Guttman† & D Desveaux†, 2008. The HopZ family of Pseudomonas syringae type III effectors require myristoylation for virulence and avirulence functions in Arabidopsis. Journal of Bacteriology, 190:2880-2891.  (†equal contribution)

Stavrinides, J, HC McCAnn & DS Guttman, 2008. Host-pathogen interplay and the evolution of bacterial effectors.  Cellular Microbiology 10(2):285-92.

McCann, HC & DS Guttman, 2008. The evolution of the type III secretion system in plant-microbe interactions.  New Phytologist 177(1):33-47.

Wang, PW, M Scortichini, RL Morgan & DS Guttman,  2007.  Convergent evolution of phytopathogenic Pseudomonads to a common host.  Microbiology 153: 2067-2073.

Ma, W, F Dong, J Stavrinides & DS Guttman, 2006. Type III effector diversification via both pathoadaptation and horizontal transfer in response to a coevolutionary arms race. PLoS Genetics, 2(12): e209.

Stavrinides, J, W Ma & DS Guttman, 2006. Terminal reassortment drives the quantum evolution of type III effectors in bacterial pathogens. PLoS Pathogens 2(10): e104.

Guttman, DS, SJ Gropp, RL Morgan & PW Wang, 2006. Diversifying Selection Drives the Evolution of the Type III Secretion System Pilus of Pseudomonas syringae. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 23(12): 2342-2354.

Sarkar, SF, JS Gordon, GB Martin & DS Guttman, 2006. The comparative genomics of host-specific virulence in Pseudomonas syringae. Genetics, 174: 1041-1056.

Hwang, MSH., RL Morgan, SF Sarkar, PW Wang & DS Guttman, 2005. Phylogenetic characterization of virulence and resistance phenotypes in Pseudomonas syringae. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 71(9): 5182-5191. 

Lindeberg, M, J Stavrinides, JH Chang, JR Alfano, A Collmer, JL Dangl, JT Greenberg, JW Mansfield & DS Guttman, 2005. Unified nomenclature and phylogenetic analysis of extracellular proteins delivered by the type III secretion system of the plant pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 18(5): 275-282. 

Stavrinides J & DS Guttman, 2004. Nucleotide sequence and evolution of the five-plasmid complement of the phytopathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. maculicola ES4326. Journal of Bacteriology 186(15): 5101-5115. 

Sarkar SF & DS Guttman. 2004. The evolution of the core genome of Pseudomonas syringae, a highly clonal, endemic plant pathogen. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 70(4): 1999-2012. 

Gropp SJ & DS Guttman, 2004. The PCR amplification and characterization of entire Pseudomonas syringae hrp/hrc clusters. Molecular Plant Pathology 5(2): 137-140 

Guttman DS, 2004. Plants as models for the study of human pathogenesis. Biotechnology Advances 22: 363-382.

Wang PW, L Chu & DS Guttman, 2004. Complete sequence and evolutionary genomic analysis of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa transposable bacteriophage D3112. Journal of Bacteriology 186(2): 400-410.

Stavrinides J & DS Guttman, 2004. Mosaic evolution of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus. Journal of Virology 78(1): 76-82.

Guttman DS, B Vinatzer, SF Sarkar, MV Ranall, G Kettler & JT Greenberg, 2002. A functional screen for the type III (Hrp) secretome of the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. Science 295: 1722-1726. 

Guttman DS & JT Greenberg, 2000. Functional analysis of type III effectors of Pseudomonas syringae using a single copy genomic integration system. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 14(2): 145-155.