Caitilyn Allen (born 1957 in Göttingen, West Germany)^[1] is an American plant pathologist, specializing in phytobacteriology (i.e., bacterial diseases of plants). She is an internationally recognized expert on bacterial wilt^[2] and has received several awards for her work.^[3]

Education and career

Caitilyn Allen grew up in the US Midwest.^[2] She studied from 1975 to 1978 at Swarthmore College and then worked on a farm growing organic vegetables, but the venture was unprofitable.^[3] She studied for the academic year 1980–1981 at the University of Maine at Orono, where she graduated with a B.S. in botany. In 1987 she graduated with a Ph.D. in plant pathology from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.^[2] Her Ph.D. thesis is entitled Evolution of a gene for pathogenicity; endo-pectate lyase.^[4]

As a postdoc, Allen was from 1986 to 1988 a research associate in Lyon at the CNRS Laboratoire de génétique moléculaire microbienne. (She is fluent in French.)^[3] From 1988 to 1992 she held a postdoc position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), where she began research on bacterial wilt. Subsequently, she pursued such studies for next three decades.^[2] In 1992 she became a faculty member in UW-Madison's department of plant pathology. She began as an assistant professor, was promoted to associate professor, became a full professor, and is now the department's Ethel and O. N. Allen Professor.^[3] (She is unrelated to Ethel and O. N. Allen.)^[2][5]

Allen became in 1995 the founding director of UW-Madison's Women In Science and Engineering Residential Learning Community (called the WISE Dorm)^[2] and for her directorship received in 2001 the Women Engineers Professional/Academic Network National Women In Engineering Program Award.^[3] She has received several teaching awards. In 2008 she received from the French government the Palmes Académiques for her contribution to French education and culture. In 2009 she was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.^[3] In 2020 the American Society for Microbiology gave her the Alice C. Evans Award.^[6]

Selected publications

Articles

• Huang, Qi; Allen, Caitilyn (2000). "Polygalacturonases are required for rapid colonization and full virulence of Ralstonia solanacearum on tomato plants". Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology. 57 (2): 77–83. doi:10.1006/pmpp.2000.0283.
• Tans-Kersten, Julie; Huang, Huayu; Allen, Caitilyn (2001). "Ralstonia solanacearum Needs Motility for Invasive Virulence on Tomato". Journal of Bacteriology. 183 (12): 3597–3605. doi:10.1128/JB.183.12.3597-3605.2001. PMC 95236. PMID 11371523.
• Yao, Jian; Allen, Caitilyn (2006). "Chemotaxis is Required for Virulence and Competitive Fitness of the Bacterial Wilt Pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum". Journal of Bacteriology. 188 (10): 3697–3708. doi:10.1128/JB.188.10.3697-3708.2006. PMC 1482862. PMID 16672623.
• Swanson, Jill K.; Yao, Jian; Tans-Kersten, Julie; Allen, Caitilyn (2005). "Behavior of Ralstonia solanacearum Race 3 Biovar 2 During Latent and Active Infection of Geranium". Phytopathology. 95 (2): 136–143. doi:10.1094/PHYTO-95-0136. PMID 18943982.
• Yao, Jian; Allen, Caitilyn (2007). "The Plant Pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum Needs Aerotaxis for Normal Biofilm Formation and Interactions with Its Tomato Host". Journal of Bacteriology. 189 (17): 6415–6424. doi:10.1128/JB.00398-07. PMC 1951909. PMID 17601784.
• Champoiseau, Patrice G.; Jones, Jeffrey B.; Allen, Caitilyn (2009). "Ralstonia solanacearum Race 3 Biovar 2 Causes Tropical Losses and Temperate Anxieties". Plant Health Progress. 10. doi:10.1094/PHP-2009-0313-01-RV.
• Milling, Annett; Babujee, Lavanya; Allen, Caitilyn (2011). "Ralstonia solanacearum Extracellular Polysaccharide is a Specific Elicitor of Defense Responses in Wilt-Resistant Tomato Plants". PLOS ONE. 6 (1): e15853. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...615853M. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0015853. PMC 3017055. PMID 21253019.
• Jacobs, Jonathan M.; Babujee, Lavanya; Meng, Fanhong; Milling, Annett; Allen, Caitilyn (2012). "The In Planta Transcriptome of Ralstonia solanacearum: Conserved Physiological and Virulence Strategies during Bacterial Wilt of Tomato". mBio. 3 (4). doi:10.1128/mBio.00114-12. PMC 3413399. PMID 22807564.

Books

• Prior, Philippe; Allen, C.; Elphinstone, John G., eds. (1998). Bacterial Wilt Disease: Molecular and Ecological Aspects. Berlin: Springer Verlag; 447 pages{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link); Prior, Philippe; Allen, Caitilyn; Elphinstone, John (29 June 2013). 2013 pbk reprint of 1998 1st edition. ISBN 978-3-642-08361-7.
• Leong, Sally A.; Allen, C.; Triplett, Eric W., eds. (2002). Biology of Plant-Microbe Interactions. Vol. 3. St. Paul: APS Press. ISBN 978-0965462525; 360 pages{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
• Allen, C.; Prior, P.; Hayward, Alan Christopher, eds. (2005). Bacterial Wilt: The Disease and the Ralston solanacearum Species Complex. St. Paul: APS Press. ISBN 0-89054-329-1; 508 pages. (APS Press bestseller for 2005){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)

References

External links

• "Caitilyn Allen (homepage)". Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• "Caitilyn Allen". Center for Interdisciplinary French Studies, A French Center of Excellence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.