Peter Solomon
Professor Peter Solomon
Lab Leader, Research School of Biology
Director, ARC Training Centre in Plant Biosecurity
BAppSc(Hons), PhD
email peter.solomon@anu.edu.au
call +61 2 6125 3952 (Office)
link ANU Researcher Portal profile

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About

I am Professor of Plant Pathology at The Australian National University and Director of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Training Centre in Plant Biosecurity. My research is centred on understanding how fungal pathogens infect plants, with a particular emphasis on diseases of wheat and their implications for global food security.

My work combines molecular biology, genomics, and host–pathogen interaction studies to uncover the mechanisms that underpin fungal virulence and plant susceptibility. A key aim is to translate fundamental discoveries into practical strategies for disease management, contributing to more resilient cropping systems both in Australia and globally.

I lead collaborative research programs spanning academia, government, and industry, with a strong focus on biosecurity preparedness and the mitigation of emerging plant disease threats. This includes strong engagement with industry partners such as the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), ensuring that research outcomes are closely aligned with industry priorities and deliver tangible benefits to Australian agriculture.

Through this work, I am particularly interested in how we can better predict, detect, and respond to pathogen incursions in a rapidly changing environment.

I have contributed to the field through publications in leading journals, supervision of emerging researchers, and engagement with national and international research initiatives. Further details of my publications and citations can be found on my Google Scholar profile.

In addition to my academic role, I am actively involved in strengthening Australia’s plant biosecurity capability and fostering interdisciplinary approaches to agricultural resilience.

Awards

Affiliations

villa Centre
domain Division
  Groups

Research interests

My research focuses on understanding the molecular and chemical basis of plant–pathogen interactions, with a particular emphasis on fungal diseases of crops and their impact on global food security. I am interested in how pathogens manipulate host biology, how plants perceive and respond to these attacks, and how this knowledge can be translated into durable disease control strategies.

A central theme of my work has been the discovery and functional characterisation of fungal effector molecules and phytotoxins that underpin pathogenicity in important cereal pathogens. Using a combination of molecular genetics, biochemistry, and systems-level approaches, my group has helped define how necrotrophic pathogens exploit host-selective toxins and protein effectors to drive disease. This work has contributed to a broader conceptual framework for understanding incompatible and compatible interactions in crop systems.

More recently, my research has expanded to explore plant immune signalling pathways and the molecular mechanisms that govern resistance. Current projects investigate novel immune regulators, including peptide-mediated signalling pathways, and how these intersect with pathogen virulence strategies. 

A defining feature of my program is the integration of fundamental discovery science with applied outcomes. Through long-standing partnerships with the Grains Research and Development Corporation and other stakeholders, we translate mechanistic insights into improved disease resistance in Australian wheat. This includes identifying genetic targets for breeding, developing molecular tools for pathogen surveillance, and informing crop protection strategies against prominent wheat diseases such as Septoria tritici blotch.

I currently lead and contribute to major national initiatives in plant biosecurity, including the ARC Training Centre in Plant Biosecurity, which aims to build interdisciplinary capability to detect, understand, and respond to plant disease threats in a rapidly changing environment. This work brings together molecular biology, genomics, chemistry, and data-driven approaches to strengthen Australia’s preparedness against invasive pathogens.

Overall, my research seeks to bridge molecular mechanisms with real-world impact—advancing our understanding of plant disease biology while delivering practical solutions for sustainable agriculture and biosecurity.

Projects

Teaching information

  • PhB ASC supervision
  • Lecturer in BIOL3177 and BIOL2142.
  • PhD and Honours students should note that as many of the projects in the Solomon lab are focussed solving problems within the Australian wheat industries, substantial scholarship top-ups are possible through the Grains Research and Development Corporation.
  • Our lab has multiple research projects available. Please contact Peter for more information.

Location

Rm 3.096, Level 3, Linnaeus Building (134)

Publications

Selected publications (since 2015)

  • Bucknell A, Wilson HM, Gonçalves dos Santos KC, Simpfendorfer S, Milgate A, Germain H, Solomon PS, Bentham A &McDonald MC (2025) Sanctuary: a Starship transposon facilitating the movement of the virulence factor ToxA in fungal wheat pathogens. mBio 16, e01371-25.
  • Nguyen HT, Sbaraini N, Bracegirdle J, Smithers L, Moggach SA, Vuong D, Lacey E, Solomon PS, Haywood J, Piggott AM & Chooi Y-H (2025) Heterologous expression of an in planta-upregulated gene cluster in the wheat pathogen Parastagonospora nodorum establishes the biosynthesis of methylene-bridged depsides. Chemical Science 16, 21852-21861. 
  • Darma R, Shang Z, Bracegirdle J, Moggach S, McDonald MC, Piggott AM, Solomon PS1 & Chooi Y-H1 (2025) Transcriptomics-Driven Discovery of New Meroterpenoid Rhynchospenes Involved in the Virulence of the Barley Pathogen Rhynchosporium commune. ACS Chemical Biology  20, 421-431 (1Co-corresponding authors)
  • Darma R, Yu DS, Outram MA, Ovenden B, Sung Y-C, Hill EH, Croll D, Williams SJ, Zhang X, Milgate A, Solomon PS1 & McDonald MC1 (2025) Revisiting the Evolution and Function of NIP2 Paralogues in the Rhynchosporium Spp. Complex. Plant Pathology 74, 1622-1640. (1Co-corresponding authors)
  • Kariyawasam GK, Nelson AC, Williams SJ, Solomon PS, Faris JD & Friesen TL (2023) The necrotrophic pathogen Parastagonospora nodorum is a master manipulator of wheat defense. Molecular Microbe-Plant Interactions 36, 764-773
  • Aboukhaddour R, Hafez M, McDonald MC, Moffat CS, Navathe S, Friesen TL, Strelkov SE, Oliver RP, Tan K-C, Liu Z, Moolhuijzen PM, Phan H, Theen See P, Solomon PS (2023) A revised nomenclature for ToxA haplotypes across multiple fungal species. Phytopathology 113, 1180-1184.
  • Feurtey A, Lorrain C, McDonald MC, Milgate A, Solomon PS, Warren R, Puccetti G, Scalliet G, Torriani SFF, Gout L, Marcel TC, Suffert F, Alassimone J, Lipzen A, Yoshinaga Y, Daum C, Barry K, Grigoriev IV, Goodwin SB, Genissel A, Seidl MF, Stukenbrock EH, Lebrun M-H, Kema GHJ, McDonald BA & Croll D (2023) A thousand-genome panel retraces the global spread and adaptation of a major fungal crop pathogen. Nature Communications 14, 1059
  • McDonald MC, Williams SJ & Solomon PS (2023) The role of Tox effector proteins in the Parastagonospora nodorum – wheat interaction. Plant Relationships: Fungal-Plant Interactions, 53-63
  • Yang N, Ovenden B, Baxter B, McDonald MC, Solomon PS & Milgate A (2023) Multi-stage resistance to Zymoseptoria tritici revealed by GWAS in an Australian bread wheat diversity panel. Frontiers in Plant Science 13, 990915
  • McCombe CL, Greenwood JR, Solomon PS* & Williams SJ* (2023) Molecular plant immunity against biotrophic, hemibiotrophic, and necrotrophic fungi. Essays in Biochemistry 66, 581-5593 (*co-corresponding)
  • Dagvadorj B, Outram M, Williams SJ & Solomon PS (2022) The necrotrophic effector ToxA from Parastagonospora nodorum interacts with wheat NHL proteins to facilitate Tsn1-mediated necrosis. The Plant Journal 110, 407-418.
  • Yu DS, Outram MA, Crean E, Smith A, Sung Y-C, Darma R, Sun X, Ma L, Jones DA, Solomon PS & Williams SJ (2022) Optimised production of disulfide-bonded fungal effectors in E. coli using CyDisCo and FunCyDisCo co-expression approaches. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 35, 109-118
  • Kanyuka K, Igna A, Solomon PS & Oliver PS (2022) The rise of necrotrophic effectors. New Phytologist 233, 11-14 
  • Outram M, Solomon PS & Williams SJ (2021) Pro-domain processing of fungal effectors proteins from plant pathogens. PLoS Pathogens 17(10), e1010000 
  • Dagvadorj B & Solomon PS (2021) Simple and efficient heterologous expression of necrosis-inducing effectors using the model plant Nicotiana benthamiana. Plant Direct 5(8), e341 
  • Stephens C, Olmez F, Blyth H, McDonald MC, Bansal A, Turgay AV, Hahn F, Saintenac C, Nekrasov V, Solomon PS, Milgate A, Fraaije B, Kanyuka K (2021) Remarkable recent changes in genetic diversity of the avirulence gene AvrStb6 in global populations of the wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici. Molecular Plant Pathology 22, 1121-1133. 
  • Outram M, Sung Y-C, Yu D, Dagvadorj B, Rima S, Jones D, Ericsson D, Sperschneider J, Solomon PS, Kobe B, Williams SJ (2021) The crystal structure of SnTox3 from the necrotrophic fungus Parastagonospora nodorum reveals a unique effector fold and provides insight into Snn3 recognition and pro-domain protease processing of fungal effectors. New Phytologist 231, 2282-2296
  • Wang C, Milgate AM, Solomon PS*, McDonald MC* (2021) The identification of a transposon affecting the asexual reproduction of the wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici. Molecular Plant Pathology 22, 800-816 (*Co-corresponding authors) 
  • Sung Y-C*, Outram MA*, Breen S, Wang C, Dagvadorj B, Winterberg B, Kobe B, Williams SJ# & Solomon PS# (2021) PR1-mediated defence via C-terminal peptide release is targeted by a fungal pathogen effector. New Phytologist 229, 3467-3480 (* Co-first authors; # Co-corresponding authors) 
  • Kessler SC, Zhang X, McDonald MC, Gilchrist CLM, Lin Z, Rightmyer A, Solomon PS, Turgeon GB & Chooi, Y-H (2020) Victorin, the host-selective cyclic peptide toxin from the oat pathogen Cochliobolus victoriae, is ribosomally encoded. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 117, 24243-24250 
  • Hill EH & Solomon PS (2020) Extracellular vesicles from the apoplastic fungal wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici. Fungal Biology and Biotechnology 7, Article number: 13
  • Yesmin N, Jenny F, Abdullah HM, Hossain MM, Kader MA, Solomon PS, Bhuiyan MAHB (2020) A review on South Asian wheat blast: the present status and future perspective. Plant Pathology 69, 1618-1629 
  • Khan H, McDonald MC, Williams SJ & Solomon PS (2020) Assessing the efficacy of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in the wheat pathogen Parastagonspora nodorum. Fungal Biology and Biotechnology 7, Article number 4
  • Muria Gonzalez MJ, Yeng Y, Breen S, Mead O, Wang C, Chooi Y-H, Barrow RA & Solomon PS (2020) Volatile molecules secreted by the wheat pathogen Parastagonospora nodorum are involved in development and phytotoxicity. Frontiers in Microbiology 11, Article 466 
  • Green K, Berry D, Feussner K,Eaton C, Ram A, Mesarich C, Solomon PS, Feussner I & Scott B (2020) Lolium perenne apoplast metabolomics for identification of novel metabolites produced by the symbiotic fungus Epichloë festuca. New Phytologist 227, 559-571 
  • Li H*, Wei H*, Hu J, Lacey E, Sobolev A, Stubbs K, Solomon PS# & Chooi Y-H# (2020) Genomics-driven discovery of phytotoxic cytochalasans involved in the virulence of the wheat pathogen Parastagonospora nodorum. ACS Chemical Biology 15, 226-233
  • Jones DAB, John E, Rybak K, Phan HTT, Singh KB, Lin S-Y, Solomon PS, Oliver RP & Tan K-C (2019) A specific fungal transcription factor controls effector gene expression and orchestrates the establishment of the necrotrophic pathogen lifestyle on wheat. Scientific Reports 9, 15884 
  • Li H, Hu J, Wei H, Solomon PS, Stubbs KA & Chooi Y-H (2019) Biosynthesis of a tricyclo[6.2.2.02,7]dodecane system by a berberine bridge enzyme-like intramolecular aldolase. Chemistry - A European Journal 25, 15062-15066
  • McDonald MC, Taranto A, Hill E, Schwessinger B, Liu Z, Simpfendorfer S, Milgate A & Solomon PS (2019) Transposon mediated horizontal transfer of the host-specific virulence protein ToxA between three fungal wheat pathogens. mBio 10, e01515-e01519
  • Phan C-S, Li H, Kessler S, Solomon PS, Piggott AM & Chooi Y-H (2019) New sesquiterpenoids from the fungal plant pathogen Bipolaris sorokiniana. Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry 15, 2020-2028
  • Thynne E, Mead O, Chooi YH, McDonald MC* & Solomon PS* (2018) Acquisition and loss of secondary metabolite clusters shaped the evolutionary path of three recently emerged phytopathogens of wheat. Genome Biology and Evolution 11, 890-905
  • McDonald MC, Renkin M, Spackman M, Orchard B, Croll D, Solomon PS & Milgate A (2019) Rapid parallel evolution of azole fungicide resistance in Australian populations of the wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 85, e01908-e01918
  • Newman T, Lee J, Williams S, Choi S, Halane M, Zhou J, Solomon PS, Kobe B, Jones J, Segonzac C, Sohn KH (2019) Autoimmunity and effector recognition in Arabidopsis thaliana can be uncoupled by mutations in the RRS1-R immune receptor. New Phytologist 222, 954-965
  • Li H, Hu J, Wei H, Solomon PS, Vuong D, Lacey E, Stubbs K, Piggott A & Choi Y-H (2018) Chemical ecogenomics-guided discovery of phytotoxic α-pyrones from the fungal wheat pathogen Parastagonospora nodorum. Organic Letters 20, 6148-6152 
  • Yang N, McDonald MC, Solomon PS & Milgate A (2018) Genetic mapping of Stb19, a novel resistance gene to Zymoseptoria tritici in wheat. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 131, 2765-2773 
  • Figueroa M, Hammond-Kosack KE & Solomon, PS (2018) A review of wheat diseases - a field perspective. Molecular Plant Pathology 19, 1523-1536 (doi: 10.1111/mpp.12618)
  • Lin, S.Y., Chooi, Y.H. and Solomon, P.S. (2018) The global regulator of pathogenesis PnCon7 positively regulates Tox3 effector gene expression through direct interaction in the wheat pathogen Parastagonospora nodorum. Molecular Microbiology 109, 79-90
  • McDonald, M.C. and Solomon, P.S. (2018) Just the surface: advances in the discovery and characterization of necrotrophic wheat effectors. Curr. Opin. Microbiol., 46, 14-18.
  • McDonald, M.C., Ahren, D., Simpfendorfer, S., Milgate, A. and Solomon, P.S. (2018) The discovery of the virulence gene ToxA in the wheat and barley pathogen Bipolaris sorokiniana. Mol. Plant Pathol., 19, 432-439.
  • Zhang, X., Nguyen, N., Breen, S., Outram, M.A., Dodds, P.N., Kobe, B., Solomon, P.S. and Williams, S.J. (2017) Production of small cysteine-rich effector proteins in Escherichia coli for structural and functional studies. Mol. Plant Pathol., 18, 141-151.
  • Yap, H.Y.Y., Muria-Gonzalez, M.J., Kong, B.H., Stubbs, K.A., Tan, C.S., Ng, S.T., Tan, N.H., Solomon, P.S., Fung, S.Y. and Chooi, Y.H. (2017) Heterologous expression of cytotoxic sesquiterpenoids from the medicinal mushroom Lignosus rhinocerotis in yeast. Microbial Cell Factories, 16.
  • Thynne, E., Saur, I.M.L., Simbaqueba, J., Ogilvie, H.A., Gonzalez-Cendales, Y., Mead, O., Taranto, A., Catanzariti, A.M., McDonald, M.C., Schwessinger, B., Jones, D.A., Rathjen, J.P. and Solomon, P.S. (2017) Fungal phytopathogens encode functional homologues of plant rapid alkalinization factor (RALF) peptides. Mol. Plant Pathol., 18, 811-824.
  • Thynne, E., McDonald, M.C. and Solomon, P.S. (2017) Transition from heterothallism to homothallism is hypothesised to have facilitated speciation among emerging Botryosphaeriaceae wheat-pathogens. Fungal Genet Biol, 109, 36-45.
  • Solomon, P.S. (2017) Have we finally opened the door to understanding Septoria tritici blotch disease in wheat? New Phytol., 214, 493-495.
  • Chooi, Y.H., Zhang, G., Hu, J., Muria-Gonzalez, M.J., Tran, P.N., Pettitt, A., Maier, A.G., Barrow, R.A. and Solomon, P.S. (2017) Functional genomics-guided discovery of a light-activated phytotoxin in the wheat pathogen Parastagonospora nodorum via pathway activation. Environ. Microbiol., 19, 1975-1986.
  • Breen, S., Williams, S.J., Outram, M., Kobe, B. and Solomon, P.S. (2017) Emerging Insights into the Functions of Pathogenesis-Related Protein 1. Trends Plant Sci., 22, 871-879.
  • Vincent, D., Plummer, K.M., Solomon, P.S., Lebrun, M.H., Job, D. and Rafiqi, M. (2016) Editorial: How can secretomics help unravel the secrets of plant-microbe interactions? Frontiers in Plant Science, 7.
  • Phan, H.T.T., Rybak, K., Furuki, E., Breen, S., Solomon, P.S., Oliver, R.P. and Tan, K.C. (2016) Differential effector gene expression underpins epistasis in a plant fungal disease. Plant J., 87, 343-354.
  • McDonald, M.C., McGinness, L., Hane, J.K., Williams, A.H., Milgate, A. and Solomon, P.S. (2016) Utilizing gene tree variation to identify candidate effector genes in Zymoseptoria tritici. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, 6, 779-791.
  • Breen, S., Williams, S.J., Winterberg, B., Kobe, B. and Solomon, P.S. (2016) Wheat PR-1 proteins are targeted by necrotrophic pathogen effector proteins. Plant J., 88, 13-25.
  • Thynne, E., McDonald, M.C. and Solomon, P.S. (2015) Phytopathogen emergence in the genomics era. Trends Plant Sci., 20, 246-255.
  • Thynne, E., McDonald, M.C., Evans, M., Wallwork, H., Neate, S. and Solomon, P.S. (2015) Re-classification of the causal agent of white grain disorder on wheat as three separate species of Eutiarosporella. Austral. Plant Pathol., 44, 527-539.
  • Tan, K.C., Phan, H.T.T., Rybak, K., John, E., Chooi, Y.H., Solomon, P.S. and Oliver, R.P. (2015) Functional redundancy of necrotrophic effectors – consequences for exploitation for breeding. Frontiers in Plant Science, 6.
  • Sánchez-Vallet, A., McDonald, M.C., Solomon, P.S. and McDonald, B.A. (2015) Is Zymoseptoria tritici a hemibiotroph? Fungal Genet Biol, 79, 29-32.
  • Pascovici, D., Song, X., Solomon, P.S., Winterberg, B., Mirzaei, M., Goodchild, A., Stanley, W.C., Liu, J. and Molloy, M.P. (2015) Combining protein ratio p -values as a pragmatic approach to the analysis of multirun iTRAQ experiments. Journal of Proteome Research, 14, 738-746.
  • Muria-Gonzalez, M.J., Chooi, Y.H., Breen, S. and Solomon, P.S. (2015) The past, present and future of secondary metabolite research in the Dothideomycetes. Mol. Plant Pathol., 16, 92-107.
  • McDonald, M.C., Williams, A.H., Milgate, A., Pattemore, J.A., Solomon, P.S. and Hane, J.K. (2015) Next-generation re-sequencing as a tool for rapid bioinformatic screening of presence and absence of genes and accessory chromosomes across isolates of Zymoseptoria tritici. Fungal Genet Biol, 79, 71-75.
  • McDonald, M.C., McDonald, B.A. and Solomon, P.S. (2015) Recent advances in the Zymoseptoria tritici–wheat interaction: Insights from pathogenomics. Frontiers in Plant Science, 6.
  • Eaton, C.J., Dupont, P.Y., Solomon, P., Clayton, W., Scott, B. and Cox, M.P. (2015) A core gene set describes the molecular basis of Mutualism and Antagonism in Epichloë spp. Mol. Plant-Microbe Interact., 28, 218-231.
  • Dupont, P.Y., Eaton, C.J., Wargent, J.J., Fechtner, S., Solomon, P.S., Schmid, J., Day, R.C., Scott, B. and Cox, M.P. (2015) Fungal endophyte infection of ryegrass reprograms host metabolism and alters development. New Phytol., 208, 1227-1240.
  • Chooi, Y.H., Muria-Gonzalez, M.J., Mead, O.L. and Solomon, P.S. (2015) SnPKS19 encodes the polyketide synthase for alternariol mycotoxin biosynthesis in the wheat pathogen Parastagonospora nodorum. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 81, 5309-5317.
  • Chooi, Y.H., Krill, C., Barrow, R.A., Chen, S., Trengove, R., Oliver, R.P. and Solomon, P.S. (2015) An in planta-expressed polyketide synthase produces (R)-mellein in the wheat pathogen Parastagonospora nodorum. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 81, 177-186.
  • Breen, S., Solomon, P.S., Bedon, F. and Vincent, D. (2015) Surveying the potential of secreted antimicrobial peptides to enhance plant disease resistance. Frontiers in Plant Science, 6.

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