Dr. Tobin L. Peever

Tobin Peever

509-335-3754
tpeever@wsu.edu
Professor, Plant Pathology

Tobin Peever

Research Specialty and Interests

My research program is focused on the biology, epidemiology and control of diseases affecting small fruit (berries) in the Pacific Northwest.  Current research efforts in my lab are focused on the biology and epidemiology of Botrytis cinerea infecting raspberry, population and evolutionary biology of fungicide resistance in B. cinerea, and the epidemiology of mummyberry of blueberry caused by Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi. Other research interests include the role of host specificity in fungal speciation and speciation processes in asexual fungi using Ascochyta and Alternaria fungi as model systems. Other recent projects in the lab include the molecular epidemiology of eucalypt rust in Brazil and worldwide and the systematics and ecology of Morchella spp. (black morels) in the Pacific Northwest. I collaborate extensively with WSU researchers as well with numerous others around the globe.

Education

  • 1994 Ph.D. Cornell University
  • 1987 M.Sc. University of Toronto
  • 1985 B.Sc. University of Guelph

Professional Experience

  • 2005-present, Associate Professor Plant Pathology, WSU
  • 1998-2005, Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology, WSU
  • 1996-1998, Visiting Assistant in Plant Pathology, University of Florida
  • 1994-1996, Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Cornell University

Awards/Honors/Memberships

  • WSU Graduate and Professional Student Association’s Faculty Advisor Excellence Award (2011)
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellow (2000)
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Graduate Scholarships (1985-1990)
  • American Phytopathological Society
  • Mycological Society of America

Selected Representative Publications

  • Stewart, J.E, L.M. Timmer, C.B. Lawrence, B.M. Pryor and T.L. Peever. 2014. Discord between morphological and phylogenetic species boundaries: Incomplete lineage sorting and recombination results in fuzzy species boundaries in an asexual fungal pathogen. BMC Evolutionary Biology 14: 38.
  • Graça, R.N., Ross-Davis, N.B. Klopfenstein, M.-S. Kim, T.L. Peever, P.G. Cannon, C.P. Aun, E.S.G. Mizubuti and A.C. Alfenas. 2013. Rust disease of eucalypts, caused by Puccinia psidii, did not originate via host jump from guava in Brazil. Molecular Ecology 22: 5963-6197.
  • Stewart, J.E., K.A. Thomas, C.B. Lawrence, H. Dang, B.M. Pryor, L.M. Timmer and T.L. Peever. 2013. Signatures of recombination in clonal lineages of the citrus brown spot pathogen, Alternaria alternata sensu lato. Phytopathology 103: 741-749.
  • Lawrence, D.P., P.B. Gannibal, T.L. Peever and B.M. Pryor. 2013. The Sections of Alternaria: Formalizing species-group concepts. Mycologia 105: 530-546.
  • Akamatsu, H.O., M.I. Chilvers, W.J. Kaiser and T.L. Peever. 2012. Karyotype polymorphisms in the phytopathogenic fungus Ascochyta rabiei and chromosomal rearrangement during meiosis. Fungal Biology 116: 1119-1133.
  • Izumi, Y., E. Kamei, Y. Miyamoto, K. Ohtani, A. Masunaka, T. Fukumoto, K. Gomi, Y. Tada, K. Ichimura, T. L. Peever, and K. Akimitsu. 2012. Role of the pathotype-specific ACRTS1 gene encoding a hydroxylase involved in the biosynthesis of host-selective ACR-toxin in the rough lemon pathotype of Alternaria alternata. Phytopathology 102:741-748.
  • Hu, J., C. Chen, T.L. Peever, H. Dang, C. Lawrence and T. Mitchell. 2012. Genomic characterization of the conditionally dispensable chromosome in Alternaria arborescens provides evidence for horizontal gene transfer. BMC Genomics 13:171 (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/13/171)
  • Peever, T.L., W. Chen , Z. Abdo  and W.J. Kaiser. 2012. Genetics of virulence in Ascochyta rabiei. Plant Pathology 61: 754-760.
  • Stewart, J.E., M. Kawabe, Z. Abdo, T. Arie and T.L. Peever. 2011. Purifying selection and biased codon usage at the mating locus in asexual Alternaria species. PLoS ONE 6(5): e20083. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020083
  • Pagliaccia, D., G.W. Douhan, L. Douhan, T.L. Peever, L.M. Carris, J.L. Kerrigan. 2011.Development of molecular markers and preliminary investigation of the population structure and mating system of the black morel (Morchella elata) group in the Pacific Northwestern USA. Mycologia 103: 969-982.
  • Akamatsu, H.O., M.I. Chilvers, J.E. Stewart and T.L. Peever. 2010. Identification and function of a polyketide synthase gene responsible for 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene-melanin pigment biosynthesis in Ascochyta rabiei. Current Genetics 56: 349-360.
  • Frenkel, O., T.L. Peever, M.I. Chilvers, H. Özkilinc, C. Can, S. Abbo, D. Shtienberg, and A. Sherman. 2010. Ecological divergence of the fungal pathogen Didymella rabiei on sympatric wild and domesticated chickpea. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 76: 30-39.
  • Andrew, M., T.L. Peever and B.M. Pryor. 2009. An expanded multilocus phylogeny does not resolve species among the small-spored Alternaria species complex. Mycologia 101: 95-109.
  • Peever, T.L. 2007. Role of Host Specificity in the Speciation of Ascochyta Pathogens of Cool Season Food Legumes. European Journal of Plant Pathology 119: 119-126.