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

Hossain, M.J., Rahman, K.S., Terhune, J.S., and Liles, M.R. An Outer Membrane Porin Protein Modulates Phage Susceptibility in Edwardsiella ictaluri. Accepted for publication in Microbiology.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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., 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.

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.

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. 

Walakira, J., Carrias, A., Hossain, M., Jones, E., Terhune, J.S., and Liles, M.R. (2008) Identification and characterization of bacteriophages specific to the catfish pathogen Edwardsiella ictaluri. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 105(6):2133-2142.

Srinivasiah, S., Bhavsar, J., Thapar, K., Liles, M.R., Shoenfeld, T., and Wommack, K.E. (2008) Phages across the biosphere: Contrasts of viruses in soil and aquatic environments. Research in Microbiology, 159:349-357.

Liles, M.R., Williamson, L. L., Rodbumrer, J., Torsvik, V., Goodman, R. M., and Handelsman, J. (2008) Recovery, purification, and cloning of high molecular weight genomic DNA from soil microorganisms. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 74:3302-3305.

Shi, J., Aono, S., Lu, W., Ouellette, A.J., Hu, X., Ji, Y., Wang, L., Lenz, S., Van Ginkel, F., Liles, M.R., Dykstra, C., Morrison, E.E., and Elson, C.O. (2007) A novel role for defensins in intestinal homeostasis: regulation of IL-1 secretion, Journal of Immunology, 179(2):1245-1253.

Sabree, Z.L., Bergendahl, V., Liles, M.R., Goodman, R.M., Handelsman, J., and Burgess, D. (2006) Identification and characterization of the Acidobacterium capsulatum major sigma factor. Gene, 376:144-151.

Liles, M.R., Williamson, L.L., Goodman, R.M., and Handelsman, J. (2004) Isolation of high molecular weight genomic DNA from soil bacteria for genomic library construction. In: Molecular Methods in Environmental Microbiology, Kowalchuk, G.A.; de Bruijn, F.J.; Head, I.M.; Akkermans, A.D.; van Elsas, J.D. (Eds.), pp. 839-852.

Liles, M.R., Manske, B.F., Bintrim, S.B., Handelsman, J., and Goodman, R.M. (2003). A census of rRNA genes and linked genomic sequences within a soil metagenomic library. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 69 (5):2684-2691.

Handelsman, J., Liles, M.R., Mann, D., Riesenfeld, C., and Goodman, R.M. (2002) Cloning the metagenome: Culture-independent access to the diversity and functions of the uncultivated microbial world. Methods in Microbiology, 33:241-255.

Gillespie, D.E., Brady, S.F., Bettermann, A.D., Cianciotto, N.P., Liles, M.R., Rondon, M.R., Clardy, J., Goodman, R.M., Handelsman, J. (2002). Isolation of antibiotics turbomycin A and B from a metagenomic library of soil microbial DNA. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 68:4301-4306.

Rondon, M.R., August, P.R., Bettermann, A.D., Brady, S.F., Grossman, T.H., Liles, M.R., Loiacono, K.A., Lynch, B.A., MacNeil, I.A., Minor, C., Tiong, C.L., Gilman, M., Osbourne, M.S., Clardy, J., Handelsman, J., and Goodman, R.M. (2000) Cloning the soil metagenome: A strategy for accessing the genetic and functional diversity of uncultured microorganisms. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 66 (6): 2541-2547.

Courses