Kasuga, Takao

Research Molecular Geneticist, USDA-ARS
367 Hutchison Hall
Department of Plant Pathology
University of California, Davis, CA 95616
Office Phone: 530-752-4721
E-Mail: tkasuga@ucdavis.edu

Biography

B. Engineering 1989, Industrial Chemistry, Waseda University, Japan
M. Engineering 1991, Catalytic Chemistry, Waseda University, Japan
Ph.D. 1995, Genetics, University of Aberdeen, Scotland

Area of Specialization

Genetics of fungal pathogens, fungal development and evolution.

Research

Our research is focused on the molecular genetic of Phytophthora ramorum, the causal agent of Sudden Oak Death. We use comparative genomics and transcriptomics to decipher the mechanism of plant-P. ramorum interactions in order to facilitate management of the pathogen.

Selected Publications:

T. Kasuga and N. L. Glass (2008). Dissecting colony development of Neurospora crassa using mRNA profiling and comparative genomics approaches. Eukaryotic Cell in press.

C. Tian, T. Kasuga, M. S. Sachs, and N. L. Glass (2007). Transcriptional profiling of cross pathway control in Neurospora crassa and comparative analysis of the Gcn4 and CPC1 regulons. Eukaryotic Cell 6:1018-1029.

H. Johannesson, T. Kasuga, R. A. Schaller, B. Good, M. J. Gardner, G. T. Cole, J. W. Taylor, and J. P. Townsend (2006). Phase-specific gene expression underlying morphological adaptations of the dimorphic human pathogenic fungus, Coccidioides posadasii. Fungal Genetics and Biology 43:545-559.

T. Kasuga, J. P. Townsend, C. G. Tian, L. B. Gilbert, G. Mannhaupt, J. W. Taylor and N. L. Glass (2005). Long-oligomer microarray profiling in Neurospora crassa reveals the transcriptional program underlying biochemical and physiological events of conidial germination. Nucleic Acids Research 33:6469-6485.

T. Kasuga, T. J. White, G. Koenig, J. McEwen, A. Restrepo, E. Castaneda, C. S. Lacaz, E. M. Heins-Vaccari, R. S. De Freitas, R. M. Zancope-Oliveira, Z. Qin, R. Negroni, D. A. Carter, Y. Mikami, M. Tamura, M. L. Taylor, G. F. Miller, N. Poonwan, J. W. Taylor (2003). Phylogeography of the fungal pathogen Histoplasma capsulatum. Molecular Ecology. Molecular Ecology 12:3383-3401

T. Kasuga, T. J. White and J. W. Taylor (2002). Estimation of Nucleotide Substitution Rates in Eurotiomycete Fungi. Molecular Biology and Evolution 19:2318-2324.

T. Kasuga and K. R. Mitchelson (2000). Intersterility group differentiation in Heterobasidion annosum using ribosomal IGS1 region polymorphism. Forest Pathology 30:329-344.

T. Kasuga, J. W. Taylor and T. J. White (1999). Phylogenetic relationships of varieties and geographical groups of the human pathogenic fungus, Histoplasma capsulatum Darling. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 37.

T. Kasuga, S. Salimath, J. Shi, M. Gijzen, R. Buzzell and M. Bhattacharyya (1997). High resolution genetic and physical mapping of molecular markers linked to the Phytophthora resistance gene Rps1-k in soybean. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 10:1035-1044.