Fax: (314) 935-8692
e-mail: rsq@wustl.edu
Mailing Address:
Washington University
1 Brookings Drive
Campus Box 1137
St. Louis, Missouri, 63130
Ph.D., Yale University (1968)
M.S., Ohio University (1964)
A.B., Colgate University (1962)
Synopsis
The primary objective of my research program is to understand the
mechanisms of cellular differentiation during plant
embryogenesis.
Zygotes of the brown algae (Fucus) (see Figure 1) and embryos of developing
seeds and seedlings (cereals, Arabidopsis) are the main
systems utilized. Current research projects using Fucus
as a model to study early embryogenesis are (Figures 2, 3, 4): to determine the
role of cytoskeletal elements and extracellular matrix (ECM)
components in the establishment of a polar cell, to characterize
the molecules in the ECM involved in polar adhesion of the
embryos to surfaces, to characterize and localize gene products
that are involved in the asymmetric division and polarity
establishment in the zygote, to identify sequences in mRNA that
determine their localization during embryogenesis, to determine
if gene products involved in asymmetric processes in other systems
(such as yeast and Arabidopsis) have homologous genes
in Fucus, and to determine the mechanism(s) operative in the
asymmetric distribution of these products. Current projects
concerned with the control of embryo maturation (see Figure 5) in higher plants
are: the characterization of the cis-acting
regulatory sequences in genes that are controlled by the phytohormone
abscisic acid (ABA), isolating genes encoding trans-acting factors
that interact with these elements (see Figure
6), and post-translational modification of these factors that may link
them to intermediates in the ABA response pathway. Genetic approaches
(ABA deficient/insensitive mutants - aba, abi, vp - see Figure 5)
are also being used to identify intermediates in the ABA response chain.
How plants utilize the ABA response chain in their responses to various
stresses (e.g. water, temperature) is also of interest.
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