Education & Employment

2011 - current Auburn University, Associate Professor
2005 - 2011 Auburn University, Assistant Professor
1998 - 2005 University of Wisconsin-Madison, NIH Postdoctoral Fellow
1992 - 1998 Northwestern University, Ph.D. in Microbiology, NIH Predoctoral Fellow
1991 - 1992 Touro Infirmary, New Orleans, Research Technician
1987 - 1991 Tulane University, New Orleans, B.S. in Biology

Research & Teaching Interests

Environmental microbiology. Community genomics of microbial assemblages, with an emphasis on antibiotic biosynthetic pathways and mobile genetic elements that can confer virulence or antibiotic resistance. Also studying biological control agents for disease prevention in agriculture and aquaculture. See lab website for more detailed information.

Recent Publications

Wang, L., Nasrin, S., Liles, M.R., and Yu, Z. The use of bacterial artificial chromosomes in metagenomic studies. In: The Encyclopedia of Metagenomics, in press.

Wang, X., Liles, M.R., and Son, Ahjeong. (2013) Quantification of E. coli O157:H7 in soils using an inhibitor-resistant NanoGene assay.  Soil Biology and Biochemistry, doi: 10.1016/j.soilbio.2012.11.016

Zhou, Z., Yao, B., Waines, P., Ringø, E., Emery, M., Liles, M.R., and Merrifield, D.L. Methodological approaches to assess microbial communities.  In: Probiotics, Prebiotics and Gut Health in Aquaculture Nutrition, Merrifield, D. L.; Ringø, E. (Eds.). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley-Blackwell, in press.

Ran, C., Carrias, A., Williams, M.A., Capps, N., Dan, B.C.T, Newton, J.C., Kloepper, J.W., Ooi, E.L.,  Browdy, C.L., Terhune, J.S., and Liles, M.R. (2012) Identification of Bacillus strains for biological control of catfish pathogens. PLoS ONE 7(9):e45793. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0045793.

Morrow, K.M., Ritson-Williams, R., Ross, C., Liles, M.R., and Paul, V. (2012) Allelochemicals produced by Caribbean macroalgae alter coral-bacterial communities and tissue stress responses in situ. PLoS ONE 7(9):e44859. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0044859.

Morrow, K.M., Moss, A., Chadwick, N.E., and Liles, M.R. (2012) Bacterial assemblages of two Caribbean coral species reveal species-specific distribution and geographic variability.  Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 78(18):6438-6449.

Carrias, A., Ran, C., Terhune, J., and Liles, M.R. (2012) Biological agents for control of disease in aquaculture, pp. 353-393. In: Infectious Diseases in Aquaculture, S. Austin (Ed.). London: Woodhead Publishing.

Hossain, M.J., Rahman, K.S., Terhune, J.S., and Liles, M.R. (2012) An Outer Membrane Porin Protein Modulates Phage Susceptibility in Edwardsiella ictaluri.  Microbiology, 158:488-497.

Parsley, L.C., Goode, A.M., Becklund, K., George, I., Linneman, J., Lopanik, N.B., Goodman, R.M., and Liles, M.R. (2011) Polyketide synthase pathways identified from a metagenomic library are derived from soil Acidobacteria.  FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 78(1):176-187.

Kakirde, K.S., Wild, J., Godiska, R., Mead, D., Wiggins, A.G., Szybalski, W., and Liles, M.R. (2011) Gram-negative shuttle BAC vector for heterologous expression of metagenomic libraries. Gene, 475(2):57-62.

Carrias, A., Welch, T.J., Waldbieser, G.C., Mead, D.A., Terhune, J.S., and Liles, M.R.  (2011) Comparative genomic analysis of bacteriophages specific to the channel catfish pathogen Edwardsiella ictaluri.  Virology Journal 8:6, doi:10.1186/1743-422X-8-6.

Parsley, L.C., Wu, C., Mead, D., Goodman, R.M., and Liles, M.R.  (2011) Soil Microbial DNA Purification Strategies for Multiple Metagenomic Applications.  In: Handbook of Molecular Microbial Ecology, F. J. de Bruijn (Ed.).  Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

George, I.F., Hartmann, M., Liles, M.R., and Agathos, S.N. (2011) Recovery of as-yet-uncultured soil Acidobacteria on dilute solid media. Applied & Environmental Microbiology, 77(22):8184-8188.

Sudini, H., Arias, C., Liles, M.R., Bowen, K., and Huettel, R. (2011) Exploring soil bacterial communities in different peanut cropping sequences using multiple molecular approaches.  Phytopathology, 101(7):819-827.

Zhou, P., Hussain, S.K., Liles, M.R., Arias, C.R., Backert, S., Kieninger, J., and Oyarzabal, O.A. (2011) Simplified Enrichment Protocol for the Isolation of Campylobacter spp. from Retail Broiler Meat.  BMC Microbiology, 11:175.

Morrow, K.M., Paul, V.J., Liles, M.R., and Chadwick, N.E (2011) Allelochemicals produced by Caribbean macroalgae and cyanobacteria have species-specific effects on reef coral microorganisms. Coral Reefs, 30(2):309-320.

Aakvik, T., Lale, R., Liles, M.R., and Valla, S. (2011) Metagenomic libraries for functional screening. In: Handbook of Molecular Microbial Ecology, F. J. de Bruijn (Ed.).  Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Wommack, K.E., Srinivasiah, S., Liles, M.R., Bhavsar, J., Bench, S., and Polson, S. (2011) Phages across the biosphere: Contrasts of viruses in soil and aquatic environments.   In: Handbook of Molecular Microbial Ecology, F. J. de Bruijn (Ed.).  Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Kakirde, K.S., Parsley, L.C., and Liles, M.R. (2010) Size Does Matter: Application-driven Approaches for Soil Metagenomics. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 42(11):1911-1923.

Parsley, L.C., Consuegra, E.J., Kakirde, K.S., Land, A.M., Harper, W.F., and Liles, M.R. (2010) Identification of diverse antimicrobial resistance determinants encoded on bacterial, plasmid, and bacteriophage metagenomes from an activated sludge microbial community. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 76:3753-3757.

Parsley, L.C., Consuegra, E.J., Thomas, S.J., Bhavsar, J., Land, A.M., Bhuiyan, N.N., Mazher, M.A., Waters, R.J., Wommack, K.E., Harper, W.F., and Liles, M.R. (2010) A census of the viral metagenome within an activated sludge microbial assemblage. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 76(8):2673-2677.

Parsley, L.C., Newman, M. and Liles, M.R. (2010) Fluorescence in situ hybridization of bacterial cell suspensions.  Cold Spring Harbor Protocols, doi: 10.1101/pdb.prot5493.

Newman, M.M., Feminella, J.W., and Liles, M.R. (2010) Purification of genomic DNA from environmental sources for use in a polymerase chain reaction.  Cold Spring Harbor Protocols, doi:10.1101/pdb.prot5383.

Liles, M.R., Turkmen, O., Manske, B.F., Zhang, M., Rouillard, J.M., George, I.F., Balser, T., Billor, N., and Goodman, R.M. (2010) A phylogenetic microarray targeting 16S rRNA genes from the bacterial division Acidobacteria reveals a lineage-specific distribution in a soil clay fraction. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 42(5):739-747.

Schoenfeld, T., Liles, M.R., Wommack, K.E., Polson, S.W., Godiska, R., and Mead, D. (2009) Viral metagenomics and the next generation of molecular tools. Trends in Microbiology, 18(1):20-29.

Liles, M.R., Williamson, L.L., Rodbumrer, J., Parsley, L., Torsvik, V., Goodman, R.M., and Handelsman, J. (2009) Isolation and cloning of high molecular weight metagenomic DNA from soil microorganisms. Cold Spring Harbor Protocols, doi:10.1101/pdb.prot5271.

George, I.F., Liles, M.R., Hartmann, M., Ludwig, W., Goodman, R.M., and Agathos, S.N. (2009) Changes in soil Acidobacteria communities after 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene contamination. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 296:159-166.

Courses