For 20 years, Tyler has been a leader in the study of a unique group of plant pathogens called oomycetes that cause devastating diseases in a variety of plants of importance to agriculture, forestry, and natural ecosystems. After he joined Virginia Tech in 2002, he led this research into the area of genomics and has received 15 extramural research grants totaling more than $20 million.
At Virginia Tech, Tyler and his colleagues completed a series of landmark studies showing how the genomes of the oomycete pathogens Phytophthora sojae and Phytophthora ramorum rapidly adapt to overcome the defense of their plant hosts. These pathogens, for example, have caused at least $1 billion in damage annually to the U.S. soybean crop and have devastated California’s coastal oak ecosystems. Tyler’s research team also identified a unique family of protein toxins called “effectors” that have the ability to enter the cells of their host to reprogram them.