Christopher Harper

Program: Plant and Microbial Biosciences

Current advisor: Joshua Blodgett, PhD

Undergraduate university: University of Missouri-St. Louis, 2016

Enrollment year: 2019

Research summary
Diversity and genetic regulation of biosynthetic gene clusters

Graduate publications
Harper CP, Day A, Tsingos M, Ding E, Zeng E, Stumpf SD, Qi Y, Robinson A, Greif J, Blodgett JAV. 2024 Critical analysis of polycyclic tetramate macrolactam biosynthetic gene cluster phylogeny and functional diversity. Appl Environ Microbiol, 90(6):e0060024. PMCID:

Lee CY, Harper CP, Lee SG, Qi Y, Clay T, Aoi Y, Jez JM, Kasahara H, Blodgett JAV, Kunkel BN. 2024 Investigating the biosynthesis and roles of the auxin phenylacetic acid during Pseudomonas syringae- Arabidopsis thaliana pathogenesis. Front Plant Sci, 15():1408833. PMCID: PMC11291249

Djami-Tchatchou AT, Harrison GA, Harper CP, Wang R, Prigge M, Estelle M, Kunkel BN. 2020 Dual Role of Auxin in Regulating Plant Defense and Bacterial Virulence Gene Expression During Pseudomonas syringae PtoDC3000 Pathogenesis. Mol Plant Microbe Interact, 33(8):1059-71. PMCID:

Kunkel BN, Harper CP. 2018 The roles of auxin during interactions between bacterial plant pathogens and their hosts. J Exp Bot, 69(2):245-54