Faculty: Department of Horticulture

My primary research interests are developing DNA markers for plant improvement, gene mapping, marker assisted plant breeding, application of genomic tools to elucidate plant response to biotic stress with particular emphasis on soybean root response to Fusarium virguliforme, the causative agent of sudden death syndrome of soybean. My secondary research interests include nutraceuticals effects on obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome in rat models.

RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS

1) Ahsan R, MJ Iqbal, AJ Afzal, K Shopinski, A Jamai and DA Lightfoot (2006) Analysis of soybean diphenol oxidase (laccase) gene; candidate for Rfs2. Theoretical and Applied Genetics (under review)

2) Iqbal MJ, K Shopinski, J. Shultz, C. Lanagin, DA Lightfoot (2006) Physical mapping of stress and defense related ESTs in soybean genome. Theoretical and Applied Genetics (under revision).

3) Beagle JM, GA Apgar, KL Jones, KE Griswold, JS Radcliffe, X Qiu, DA Lightfoot and MJ Iqbal (2006) The digestive fate of transgenic gdhA DNA in corn diets fed to weanling pigs. Journal of Animal Science 84: 597-607.

4) Yeater KM, AL Rayburn, MJ Iqbal, DG Bullock, S Rodriguez-Zas, GA Bollero (2006) The use of a soybean cDNA microarray to assess for differential gene expression in Vicia species: A mixed model approach. Crop Science (under review).

5) Shultz JL, D Kurunam, K Shopinski, MJ Iqbal, S Kazi, K Zobrist, R Bashir, S Yaegashi, N Lavu, AJ Afzal, CR Yesudas, MA Kassem, C Wu, HB Zhang, CD Town, K Meksem, DA Lightfoot (2006) The Soybean Genome Database (SoyGD): a browser for display of duplicated, polyploid, regions and sequence tagged sites on the integrated physical and genetic maps of Glycine max. Nucleic Acids Res. 34: D758-765.

6) Iqbal MJ, S Yaegashi, R Ahsan, K Shopinski, DA Lightfoot 2005 Root response to F. solani f. sp. glycines: Temporal accumulation of transcripts in partially resistant and susceptible soybean. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 110: 1429-1438.

7) Lightfoot DA, VN Njiti, PT Gibson, ME Schmidt, O Myers Jr., MJ Iqbal and K Meksem 2005 Registration of Essex x Forrest recombinant inbred line mapping population. Crop Science 45: 1678-1681.

8) Davis J, MJ Iqbal, J Steinle, J Oitker, A Higginbotham, R Peterson, WJ Banz (2005) Soy Protein Influences the Development of the Metabolic Syndrome in male obese ZDFxSHHF Rats. Hormone and Metabolic Research 37:316-325.

9) Triwitayakorn K, VN Njiti, MJ Iqbal, S Yaegashi, C Town, and DA Lightfoot 2005. Genomic analysis of a region encompassing QRfs1 and QRfs2: genes that underlie soybean resistance to sudden death syndrome. Genome 48: 125-138.

10) Kassem MA, K Meksem, MJ Iqbal, VN Njiti, WJ Banz, TA Winters, A Wood and DA Lightfoot 2004 Definition of soybean genomic regions that control seed phytoestrogen amounts J Biomed Biotechnol 2004 (1): 52-60.

11) Banz WJ, J Davis, R Peterson, MJ Iqbal 2004 Gene expression and adiposity are modified by soy protein in male ZDF rats. Obesity Research 12: 1907-1913.

12) Jones KL, SS King and MJ Iqbal 2004 Endophyte-infected tall fescue diet alters gene expression in heifer luteal tissue as revealed by interspecies microarray analysis. Molecular Reproduction and Development 67: 154-161.

13) Grauke LJ, MJ Iqbal, AS Reddy, and TE Thompson 2003 Development of microsatellite DNA markers in pecan. J Amer Soc Hort Sci 128: 374-380.

14) Schrader AD, MJ Iqbal and KL Jones 2003 Gene expression in cloned bovine fetal liver. Cloning and Stem Cells 5: 63-69.

15) Iqbal MJ, S Yaegashi, R Ahsan, DA Lightfoot and WJ Banz 2002 Differentially abundant mRNAs in rat liver in response to diets containing soy protein isolate. Physiological Genomics 11: 219-226.

16) Iqbal MJ, S Yaegashi, VN Njiti, R Ahsan, KL Cryder and DA Lightfoot 2002 Resistance locus pyramids alter transcript abundance in soybean roots inoculated by Fusarium solani f. sp. glycines. Molecular Genetics and Genomics 268: 407-417.

17) Iqbal, MJ, AJ Afzal, S Yaegashi, E Ruben, K Triwitayakorn, VN Njiti, R Ahsan, AJ Wood and DA Lightfoot 2002 A pyramid of loci for partial resistance to Fusarium solani f. sp. glycines maintains Myo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase expression in soybean roots. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 105: 1115-1123.

18) Yuan J, VN Njiti, K Meksem, MJ Iqbal, MA Kaseem, GT Davis, ME Schmidt and DA Lightfoot 2002 Quantitative trait loci in two soybean recombinant inbred line populations segregating for yield and disease resistance. Crop Science 42: 271-277.

19) Njiti VN, K Meksem, MJ Iqbal, JE Johnson, MyA Kassem, KF Zobrist, VY Kilo and DA Lightfoot 2001 Common loci underlie field resistance to soybean sudden death syndrome in Forrest, Pyramid, Essex and Douglas. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 104: 294-300.

20) Iqbal MJ, K Meksem, VN Njiti, MyA Kassem and DA Lightfoot 2001 Microsatellite markers identify three additional quantitative trait loci for resistance to soybean sudden death syndrome (SDS) in Essex x Forrest RILs. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 102: 187-192.

21) Meksem K, VN Njiti, WJ Banz, MJ Iqbal, MyA Kassem, D Hyten, J Yuan, TA Winters and DA Lightfoot 2001 Genomic regions that underlie soybean seed isoflavone content. J Biomed Biotechnol 2001(1): 38-45.

22) Iqbal MJ, OUK Reddy, KM Elzik and AE Pepper 2001 A genetic bottleneck in the “Evolution under domestication” of upland cotton Gossypium hirsutum L. examined using DNA fingerprinting. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 103: 547-554.