Richard Jones: Vegetable Laboratory (VL), Beltsville Argricultural Research Center (BARC)

Richard Jones

Research Plant Pathologist

Research in Dr Jones' laboratory is focused on the design and implementation of plant-based strategies for control of late blight and other diseases of potato. Current research includes assessing the molecular basis for broad tolerance to late blight found in certain potato lines and developing novel methods for expressing antimicrobial peptides. Investigations include a pursuit of the molecular basis of pathogenicity in the late blight organism Phytophthora infestans. The long range goals of this research are to provide environmentally compatible methods for preventing plant diseases using methods that can be rapidly changed to address changes in the microbes which cause the diseases.

Learn more about potatoes here.

Learn more about late blight here.

Left: A diseased potato plant, photo by Dr. Deahl. Above: Late blight zoospores. (A) A normal zoospore and (B) a zoospore with an antimicrobial peptide added, images by Dr. Jones.

Current Projects

Project Number: 1275-21000-142-00

Genetic Enhancement Of Quality Constituents And Disease Resistance In Solanaceous Vegetables

E-mail
jonesr@ba.ars.usda.gov

Other information

Education

Post-Graduate Employment

Publications

Education

University of California at Berkeley, Ph.D. Plant Pathology

Texas A&M, M.S. Plant Pathology

State University of New York at Stony Brook, B.S. Biology

Post-Graduate Employment

USDA-ARS, Research Plant Pathologist, August 1998 to present. Research focus on development of transgenic potato for control of late blight and other diseases.

Purdue University, Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology 1991-1998. Research focus on control of the soilborne fungus Macrophomina phaseolina through development of transgenic soybeans expressing antibody genes.

University of California at Berkeley, Post-doctoral Research Associate, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, 1988 to 1991. Research focus on mechanisms of plant virus infection and replication.

Publications

1999 - Present

More information on these journal articles can be found using AGRICOLA at the National Agriculture Library web site. Many abstracts of the articles are online.

Ospina-Giraldo, M.D. and R.W. Jones. 200x. Characterization of the glucose-6-phosphate isomerase gene in Phytophthora infestans reveals the presence of multiple alleles.(submitted)

Prusky, D., R. Saftner, J.L. McEvoy, W.S. Conway and R.W. Jones. 200X. Local acidification of host tissue by Penicillium expansum as a mechanism to increase virulence.(submitted)

Jones, R.W. and D. Prusky. 2002. Expression of an antifungal peptide in Saccharomyces: a new approach for biocontrol of postharvest diseases caused by Colletotrichum coccodes Phytopathology 92:33-37.

Deahl, K.L., L.R. Cooke, L.L. Black, T.C. Wang, F.M. Perez, B.C. Moravec, M.Quinn and R.W. Jones. 2002. Population changes in Phytophthora infestans in Taiwan associated with the appearance of resistance to metalaxyl. Pest Management Science 58:951-958.

Golan-Goldhirsh, A., R.W. Jones, and L.J. Rowland. 2001. AFLP markers for sex determination in an Ilex species. Acta Horticulturae 546:591-595.

Deahl, K. and R.W. Jones. 2000. The Occurrence of Late Blight in North America. Proceedings of The Global Initiative on Late Blight: A Threat to Global Food Security. Quito, Ecuador, Pg. 15-17.

Scholthof, K.B.G., Jones, R.W., and A.O. Jackson. 1999. Biology and Structure of Plant Satellite Viruses Activated by Icosahedral Helper Viruses. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology. 239:123-143.

Wang, H. and R.W. Jones. 1999. Properties and Macrophomina phaseolina Endoglucanase (EGL 1) Gene Product in Bacterial and Yeast Expression Systems. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology. 81: 153-160.