Dr. Robert Miller
Regents Professor, Head of Department

Phone: (405)744-6243 and
E-mail: bob.miller@okstate.edu

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PhD Regents Professor of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics

Director, Native Americans in Biological Sciences

• BA in Microbiology with a minor in Studio Art, University of California Davis, 1967
• MS in Microbiology with a minor in Biochemistry, University of Illinois Urbana 1969
• PhD in Microbiology with a minor in Biochemistry, University of Illinois Urbana 1972
• Durnham Post-Doctoral Fellow of the American Cancer Society, University of California Berkeley 1972-1974

Research Interests

I am interested in the molecular genetics and molecular biology of the processes of horizontal gene transfer (HGT), DNA repair, and antibiotic resistance in the environment. My interests also extend to the molecular genetics and molecular biology of bacteriophages. We are particularly interested in how environmental stressors such as ultra-violet sunlight and desiccation of these processes affect the survivability and evolution of prokaryotes. We have studied microorganisms in extreme environments including the psycrothermic Antarctic, the hypersaline Great Salt Plains of Oklahoma, the hyperthermic environment of the Deep Gold Mines of South Africa, and the unique environments of the Carlsbad Caverns. Our findings have helped to define the discipline of Molecular Ecology and were groundbreaking in the understanding of HGT and the effects of ozone depletion on bacterioplankton of the Southern Ocean.    

The Salt Plains Microbial Observatory

We are studying the effects of desiccation and solar UV light on DNA repair in the bacteria of the Great Salt Plains. We are also interested in horizontal gene transfer in the extreme environment and how that affects microbial evolution.

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Representative Publication: Wilson, Catherine, Todd M. Caton, Julie A. Buchheim, Mark A. Buchheim, Mark A. Schneegurt, and Robert V. Miller . 2004. DNA-repair potential of Halomonas spp. from the Salt Plains Microbial Observatory of Oklahoma. Microbial Ecology. 48 :541-549. (PDF)

The Southern Sea of Antarctica

We are studying the effects of Ozone Depletion on the ability of microorganisms to survive and carry out DNA repair as the Ozone Hole of the Antarctic opens and closed each year. We are also interested in the levels and distribution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria from this region. This is of interested for two reasons. First, it is the one area in the world where antibiotic use has been restricted and therefore can act as a benchmark for natural levels of antibiotic resistance. Second, the study of antibiotic resistance in areas of relative human intervention and non-intervention is useful as a measure of the effects of human invasiveness in this last stronghold of pristine nature on planet Earth.

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Representative Publication: Booth, Melissa G., LeAnna Hutchinson, Margaret Brumsted, Peter Aas, Richard B. Coffin, Roswell C. Downer, Jr, Cheryl A. Kelley, M. Maille Lyons, J. Dean Pakulski, Sonya L. Holder Sandvik , Wade H. Jeffrey, and Robert V. Miller. 2001. Quantification of recA Gene Expression as an Indicator of Repair Potential in Marine Bacterioplankton Communities of Antarctica. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 24 :51-59. (PDF)

Gene transfer in the environment

 

We are interested in how bacteria exchange genetic information horizontally from one individual to another (HGT) in the environment. Our work has been ground-breaking in showing the virus-mediated (transduction) is a major diver of bacterial evolution.

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Representative Publication: Miller, Robert V. 1998. Bacterial gene swapping in nature. Scientific American 278(1): 66-71.

Other Publications Since 1998.

Miller, Robert V. , and Martin J. Day. 2004. Evolution of the Bacterial Genome: Gene Establishment, Survival, and Exchange . ASM Press, Washington, D.C. (374 pages)

Miller, Robert V. , Catherine Gammon, John M. Fry, and Martin J. Day. Influence of Human Intervention on the Antibiotic Resistance Among Bacterioplankton from the Southern Sea Near Palmer Station. Science (Submitted).

Heizer Jr., Esley M., Douglas W. Raiford , Michael L. Raymer, Travis E. Doom, Robert V. Miller , and Dan E. Krane * . Amino Acid Cost and Codon Usage Biases in Six Prokaryotic Genomes: A Whole Genome Analysis. Molecular Evolution (Submitted).

Booth, Melissa G., Jason Crull, Steven Schaefer, and Robert V. Miller. Is the response of RecA to solar UVR wavelength dependent? : RecA as a potential repair indicator for microbial communities? Photochemistry and Photobiology ( In Preparation)

Grant Severson, Julie A. Buchheim, Mark A. Buchheim, and Robert V. Miller. Phylogeny of deep subsurface bacteria at a shale-sandstone interface. Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. (In preparation).

Miller, Robert V . 2005. Marine phages. In R. Calendar (ed.), The Bacteriophages, 2 nd Edition . Oxford University Press, Oxford . (in press).

Wilson, Catherine, Todd M. Caton, Julie A. Buchheim, Mark A. Buchheim, Mark A. Schneegurt, and Robert V. Miller . 2004. DNA-repair potential of Halomonas spp. from the Salt Plains Microbial Observatory of Oklahoma. Microbial Ecology. 48 :541-549. (PDF)

Miller, Robert V. 2004. Bacteriophage-mediated transduction: An engine for change and evolution, 144-157. In R. V. Miller and M. J. Day (eds.), Evolution of the Bacterial Genome: Gene Establishment, Survival, and Exchange . ASM Press, Washington, D.C.

Day, Martin J., and Robert V. Miller . 2004. Generating intracellular processes, p. 102-107. In R. V. Miller and M. J. Day (eds.), Evolution of the Bacterial Genome: Gene Establishment, Survival, and Exchange . ASM Press, Washington, D.C.

Miller, Robert V., and Maratin J. Day. 2004. Horizontal gene transfer and the real world, p. 173-177. In R. V. Miller and M. J. Day (eds.), Evolution of the Bacterial Genome: Gene Establishment, Survival, and Exchange . ASM Press, Washington, D.C.

Day, Martin J., and Robert V. Miller . 2004. Why are genes lost? Why do genes persist?, p. 290-294 In R. V. Miller and M. J. Day (eds.), Evolution of the Bacterial Genome: Gene Establishment, Survival, and Exchange . ASM Press, Washington, D.C.

Miller, Robert V., and Martin J. Day. 2004. Can we understand bacterial phylogeny and does it make any difference anyway?, p. 357-361. In R. V. Miller and M. J. Day (eds.), Evolution of the Bacterial Genome: Gene Establishment, Survival, and Exchange . ASM Press, Washington, D.C.

Miller, Robert V., and Steven A. Ripp. 2002. Pseudolysogeny: A bacteriophage strategy for increasing longevity in situ, p. 81-91. In M. Syvanen and C. Kado (eds), Horizontal Gene Transfer-2nd Edition , Academic Press, San Diego, California.

Booth, Melissa G., Wade H. Jeffrey, and Robert V. Miller . 2001. RecA Expression in Response to Solar UVR in the Marine Bacterium Vibrio natriegens. Microbial Ecology . 42 :531-539 (PDF)

Booth, Melissa G., LeAnna Hutchinson, Margaret Brumsted, Peter Aas, Richard B. Coffin, Roswell C. Downer, Jr, Cheryl A. Kelley, M. Maille Lyons, J. Dean Pakulski, Sonya L. Holder Sandvik , Wade H. Jeffrey, and Robert V. Miller. 2001. Quantification of recA Gene Expression as an Indicator of Repair Potential in Marine Bacterioplankton Communities of Antarctica. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 24 :51-59.

Miller, Robert V. 2001. Environmental Bacteriophage-Host Interactions: Factors contributing to Natural Transduction. Antony van Leeuwenhoek. International Journal of General and Molecular Microbiology . 79 :141-147. (pdf)

van Waasbergen , Lorraine G., David L. Balkwill, Fiona H. Crocker, Bruce N Bjornstad, and Robert V. Miller . 2000. Genetic diversity among Arthrobacter species collected across a heterogeneous series of terrestrial deep-subsurface lithologies as determined by 16S rRNA and recA gene sequences. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 66 :3454-3463. (pdf)

Miller, Robert V. 2000. recA: The gene and its protein product, p. 43-54. In S. Luria (ed.), Encyclopedia of Microbiology, 2nd Edition, Vol. 4 . Academic Press, San Diego , California .

Elasri, Mohamed O., Tricia Reid. Steven Hutchens, and Robert V. Miller. 2000. Response of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm Community to DNA-Damaging Chemical Agents. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 33 :21-25. (PDF)

Miller, Robert V. , Wade Jeffrey, David Mitchell, and Mohamed Elasri. 1999. Bacterial Response to Solar Ultraviolet Light. ASM News 65: 535-541.

Elasri, Mohamed O., and Robert V. Miller . 1999. Study of the response of a biofilm bacterial community to ultraviolet radiation. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 65 :2025-2031 . (PDF)

Elasri, Mohamed O., and Robert V. Miller . 1998. A Pseudomonas aeruginosa biosensor responds to exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 50: 455-458. (PDF)

Ripp, Steven, and Robert V. Miller . 1998. Dynamics of the pseudolysogenic response in slowly growing cells of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Microbiology 144: 2225-2232. (pdf)

Lyons, M. M., P. Aas, J. D. Pakulski, L. van Waasbergen, R. V. Miller , D. L. Mitchell, and W. H. Jeffrey. 1998. DNA damage induced by ultraviolet radiation in coral-reef microbial communities. Marine Biology 130: 537-543.

Miller, Robert V. 1998. Bacterial gene swapping in nature. Scientific American 278(1): 66-71.

van Waasbergen , Lorraine G., Saranga P. Kidambi, and Robert V. Miller . 1998. Construction of a recA mutant of Burkholderia (formerly Pseudomonas ) cepacia. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 49 :59-65. (pdf)

Miller, Robert V. 1998. The importance of the dynamics of bacteriophage-host interactions to bacterial abundance and genetic diversity in aquatic environments. Environmental Research Brief EPA/600/S-98/002 :1-7.

Miller, Robert V. , and Steven Ripp. 1998. The importance of pseudolysogeny to transduction in situ ., pp. 179-191. In M. Syvanen and C. Kado (ed.s), Horizontal Gene Transfer , Chapman and Hall, London .

Miller, Robert V. 1998. Methods for enumeration and characterization of bacteriophages from environmental samples, pp. 218-235. In Robert Burlage (ed.), Techniques in Microbial Ecology . Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K.