Dr Mark McMullan

Biography

I am an evolutionary biologist studying how microbial pathogens adapt, emerge, and invade agricultural systems. My work focuses on host–pathogen co-evolution in the context of crop domestication, using population genomics, evolutionary modelling, molecular dating, and analyses of recombination and genome structure.

A central theme of my research is that, in agriculture, microbial evolution is often asymmetric: pathogens continue to evolve rapidly, while crops are genetically constrained. By contrast, wild plant populations represent diverse microbial landscapes in which hosts and pathogens are still co-adapting. I use these contrasts to develop general evolutionary frameworks for understanding microbial invasion, persistence, and host response across agricultural systems.

I develop these ideas in two systems: wheat take-all, a globally important root disease, where collaborative work has delivered a UK pangenome for the fungal pathogen and revealed links between repetitive DNA and virulence; and sugar beet rust, where I study both host resistance evolution and pathogen diversity across wild and agricultural hosts. My aim is to identify the evolutionary features that underpin microbial adaptation, invasion, and long-term success.