POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH SCHOLARS
Katherine Millar
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Email: millark2@muohio.edu
Collaborating with: Dr. John Z. Kiss
Interests/Activity: Growing plants in space is a challenging feat that requires understanding how a plant responds to gravity and light in an unnatural environment. The response of a plant to altered gravity can be observed through both changes in growth and at the molecular level as genes are turned on or off. The spaceflight project TROPI (for tropisims), developed with and funded by NASA, was created to better understand how low levels of gravity and differential light quality alters growth of Arabidopsis plants grown at the International Space Station (ISS). A video recording was made of the seedlings sent to ISS as the experiments progressed, and currently digital image analysis is being used to determine the extent of the phototropic response of Arabidopsis to the experimental conditions. Plants were also harvested for microarray analysis to determine changes in gene expression, providing insight into what is happening at the molecular level. The data is currently being processed and will provide interesting information on phototropism in plants.
Selected Publications:
Millar K., Crandall-Stotler B. J., and Ferreira G.. 2007. Antimicrobial properties of Radula obconica, Blasia pusilla, and Pallavicinia lyellii. Cryptogamie Bryologie. 28: 197-210.
Millar K., Wood A., Young B., and Gibson. D. 2007. Impact of interspecific competition on seed development and seed quality of five soybean cultivars. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 47: 1455-1459.
Gibson, D., Millar, K., DeLong, M., Connolly, J., Kirwan, L., Wood, A., and Young, B. 2008. The weed community affects yield and quality of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.). Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 11: 371-381.
Denghui Xing
Postdoctoral Research Associate
E-Mail: Xingd@muohio.edu
Collaborating with: Dr. Qingshun Quinn Li
Interests/Activity: Pre-mRNA 3’-end processing is an essential step for eukaryotic mRNA biogenesis and coupled with many other gene expression processes in vivo. In plant, an emerging theme is that the pre-mRNA 3’-end processing could serve as an entry point for the regulation of gene expression by means of alternative polyadenylation. Elucidating the molecular and biochemical mechanisms of alternative polyadenylation in regulating gene expression and therefore their biological functions is my research interest. Taking the alternative polyadenylation of FCA, a gene controlling Arabidopsis flowering time, as a study system, we identified a couple of more polyadenylation factors (PCFS4 and CLPS3), in addition to FY, involving in this process. Isolation of the whole protein complex functioning in FCA alternative polyadenylation and identification of other targets of this protein complex are going on.
Selected Publications:
Xing D., H. Zhao, R. Xu and Q. Q. Li. 2008. Arabidopsis PCFS4, a homologue of yeast polyadenylation factor Pcf11p, regulates FCA alternative processing and promotes flowering time. The Plant Journal. doi: 10.1111. (In press)
A. G. Hunt, R. Xu, B. Addepalli, S.Rao, K. P. Forbes, L. R. Meeks, D. Xing, M.Mo, H. Zhao, A. Bandyopadhyay, L. Dampanaboina, A. Marion1, C. Lanken1, and Q. Q. Li. 2008. Arabidopsis mRNA polyadenylation machinery: comprehensive analysis of protein-protein interactions and gene expression profiling. BMC Genomics. (In press)
Xing, D., Z. Lai, Z. Zheng, K. M. Vinod, B. Fan and Z. Chen. 2008. Stress- and Pathogen-induced Arabidopsis WRKY48 is a Transcriptional Activator that Represses Plant Basal Defense. Molecular Plant. doi: 10.1093/mp/ssn020. (In press)
Xing, D. and Z. Chen. 2006. Constitutive expression of EDS1 and PAD4
enhanced plant disease resistance to Pseudomonas syringae, but susceptibility to Botrytis cineria. Plant Science. 171: 251-262.