The Plant Center at the University of Georgia
CAGT, 111 Riverbend Road, Athens, GA 30602 | 706.542.1820 |
plantctr@uga.edu
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Faculty & Research
Faculty members of the Plant Center are housed in different departments and have complementary skills. They share a common interest in plant genetics and plant molecular biology.
Peter Albersheim
Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
Structures and functions of oligosaccharins, biological active complex carbohydrates in plant cell wall
palbersh@ccrc.uga.edu
William Anderson
USDA/ARS
Perennial warm season grass geneticist. Develop warm-season grass cultivars for use as forages (NP 215) and biomass feedstock (NP 307) and develop management systems to incorporate these species into cropping systems that include CRP lands, buffer strips, forage for livestock, and conservation programs.
bill.anderson@ars.usda.gov
Michael L. Arnold
Department of Genetics
Our work continues to emphasize evolutionary biology and ecology and involves both temperate and tropical taxa. All of our projects are directed toward an understanding of organismal evolution. For example, we are interested in answering the question "What are the evolutionary consequences of natural hybridization?" We are using a diverse approach to understand the role of natural selection, mating patterns, and reproductive biology in determining what hybrid genotypes/phenotypes can survive in nature. These data have allowed us to discover gene exchange between various species and have indicated that positive and negative selection are causal in the establishment and survivorship of hybrid genotypes.
arnold@dogwood.botany.uga.edu
Maor Bar-Peled
Plant Biology/ CCRC
Complex carbohydrates synthesis and regulation; biochemistry and molecular biology.
peled@ccrc.uga.edu
Jeff Bennetzen
Genetics Department
Comparative genomics in cereals and allied species: the molecular mechanisms responsible for genomic structural change; the relationships between evolved genome structure and gene function; the identification of genetic diversity that can be used for the study, preservation and improvement of crop plants and their wild relatives.
maize@uga.edu
H. Roger Boerma
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
My research interests are in the area of soybean breeding and genetics. Presently, I am investigating the genetics of disease, nematode, and insect resistance, with emphasis on the use of marker-assisted selection.
rboerma@uga.edu
E. Charles Brummer
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
Forage and Bioenergy Crops Breeding and Genetics
brummer@uga.edu
John Burke
Department of Plant Biology
Plant Evolutionary Genetics
jmburke@plantbio.uga.edu
Jim Burnette
Department of Plant Biology
Peng W. Chee
Crop & Soil Sciences, Tifton Campus
Molecular Cotton Breeding Laboratory
pwchee@uga.edu
Ye Chu
Horticulture, Tifton Campus
Joann Conner
Horticulture, Tifton Campus
My research interest is to identify the gene(s) responsible for apospory, a form of apomixis, in the wild species Pennisetum squamulatum and Cenchrus ciliaris using various molecular biology techniques. Apomixis is a naturally occurring mode of asexual reproduction in angiosperms that leads to embryo and seed formation without a requirement for meiosis or fertilization of the egg.
Sarah Covert
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources
Fungal-plant interactions; current projects focus on on mechanisms of fungal pathogenesis, regulation of development in obligate pathogens, and biocontrol of annosum root disease.
covert@uga.edu
Alan Darvill
Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
Structurally characterizing the three pectic and two hemicellulosic polysaccharides of plant primary cell walls, studying the interactions among them, and elucidating the regulatory functions of cell wall-derived complex carbohydrates.
adarvill@ccrc.uga.edu
R. Kelly Dawe
Department of Plant Biology and Genetics
The Dawe lab studies centromeric DNA and the kinetochore proteins that bind to it. Maize meiosis is the primary model because the chromosomes are easy to see in this species. We use the many tools of genetics and cell biology, including genomics, classical genetics, detailed cell biology and advanced molecular techniques such as chromatin immunoprecipitation. Our primary goals are to understand what centromeres are made of and how they coordinate in the elegant meiotic cell division. We also focus on using centromeres to create artificial chromosome vectors for the biotechnology industry.
kelly@plantbio.uga.edu
Jeffrey Dean
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Adjunct)
Center for Applied Genetic Technologies
For more than a decade a major focus for the laboratory has been the use of genomic approaches to identify the genes and regulatory mechanisms controlling wood formation in forest trees, particularly loblolly pine (Pinus taeda). Early, pre-microarray efforts used serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) to develop transcriptional profiles for the genes expressed in juvenile and mature wood, as well as compression and opposite wood. Using high-throughput DNA sequencing platforms we have been a major contributor to international EST and gene discovery projects funded by the National Science Foundation and, more recently, the US Department of Energy. We have produced a cDNA microarray comprising >25,000 unique elements, which is being used to analyze gene expression changes during development and in response to environmental stress in a host of conifer tissues. Substantial efforts are underway in the lab to improve the bioinformatics tools available to the research community interested in conifer genomics, and we have placed particular emphasis on developing improved gene space characterization, gene annotations, and gene family structure for conifers.
C. Michael Deom
Department of Plant Pathology
Plant virology, biochemical and molecular mechanisms required for the cell-to-cell movement of virus progeny and effects of virus movement on host range; molecular analysis of plant virus glycoproteins; genetically engineered approaches to developing virus disease resistance.
deom@uga.edu
Kathrien Devos
Crop and Soil Sciences and Plant Biology
My lab conducts research on comparative genomics in cereals, in particular Triticeae cereals and millets. We study the structural and functional changes genomes and genes undergo during evolution. In addition, we conduct mapping and biodiversity studies in millets to enhance the agronomic qualities of these crops to the benefit of developing countries.
kdevos@uga.edu
Lisa Donovan
Department of Plant Biology
Plant evolutionary ecophysiology, with an emphasis on stress and resource use traits as they relate to plant performance. In general, we want to know which plant traits affect fitness, the genetic basis of those traits, and how they evolve. To address these questions, we use a combination of ecological, ecophysiological, evolutionary genetic, and genomic approaches.
Alan Gingle
Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory & The Center for Tropical & Emerging Global Diseases
My research interests focus on the design and development of biological databases, pipelines and search/visualization tools for both plant and other taxa. I have manage public databases for both NSF and USDA funded plant genome projects and currently maintain a NSF funded database for cotton microarray gene expression profiling data.
Scott Gold
Department of Plant Pathology
Molecular biology of plant-fungal pathogen interactions.
sgold@uga.edu
Michael G. Hahn
Department of Plant Biology and Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
The research in my laboratory is focused in two areas: the elucidation of signal transduction mechanisms in plant cells; and the study of plant cell wall polysaccharides using monoclonal antibodies.
hahn@ccrc.uga.edu
Steven Knapp
CAGT/Crop and Soil Sciences
Plant Breeding and Genomics
sjknapp@uga.edu
Jim Leebens-Mack
Department of Plant Biology
Plant Systematics and Evolutionary Biology
jleebensmack@plantbio.uga.edu
Walter Lorenz
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources
Gene discovery in loblolly pine, P. taeda, and the integration of genomics and bioinformatics tools to better understand transcriptional responses to stress. Our recently completed cDNA microarray is being used to assess drought response and recovery in root tissue and also embryonic developmental transitions in other Pinus species.
Wolfgang Lukowitz
Department of Plant Biology
Plants, just like all multicellular organisms, start life as a single cell. This cell and its daughters then need to lay down the reference points of a complex body plan. Which cues do they read-out and how do they interpret them to derive basic positional values, such as top/bottom, surface/interior? We are working towards understanding the molecular mechanics of this process in Arabidopsis thaliana using a variety of experimental approaches, including genetics, targeted manipulations, and imaging.
Rodney Mauricio
Department of Genetics
Ecological and evolutionary genetics of natural plant populations. The research in my laboratory focuses on understanding the origin and maintenance of genetic variation, particularly with regard to traits conferring resistance to herbivores and pathogens. My approach is to integrate field experiments with molecular and population genetic techniques to learn the fitness effects of traits and the selective histories of the genes that underlie these traits.
mauricio@uga.edu
Russell Malmberg
Department of Plant Biology
My current research interests are in the broad areas of bioinformatics and plant evolutionary genetics. Most of my bioinformatics work is a collaboration with Liming Cai of the Computer Science Department to develop methods of modeling and searching genomes for non-coding RNAs. Within the area of plant evolution my major interest is studying the genetics, evolution, and ecology, of the insect-eating pitcher plants.
e-mail to Russell Malmberg
Cecilia McGregor
Department of Horticulture
My lab focuses on using molecular and traditional approaches for vegetable improvement and understanding plant-virus interactions.
cmcgre1@uga.edu
Richard B. Meagher
Department of Genetics
The laboratory examines the molecular genetics and evolution of plant gene expression. Actin and actin-binding proteins like profilin are encoded by ancient gene families in plants. Recent experiments have shown that the diverse actin genes are differentially expressed in unique subsets of cell types, tissues, and organs of Arabidopsis and that the actin proteins are functionally different. A separate project focuses on the central role of the differentially expressed plant poly (A)-binding protein family in building the post-transcriptional apparatus. Mechanisms for the phytoremediation of heavy metal pollution are being explored. Plants which metabolize ionic- and methyl-mercury have been engineered.
meagher@uga.edu
Scott Merkle
School of Forest Resources
Somatic embryogenesis and genetic transformation of forest trees.
smerkle@uga.edu
Debra Mohnen
Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology/Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
The study of plant cell wall polysaccharide biosynthesis. Current emphasis is on studying the enzyme that synthesizes homogalacturonan, a major component of pectin in the cell wall.
dmohnen@ccrc.uga.edu
Brad Morris
USDA, ARS, Plant Genetic Resources Conservation Unit Georgia Experiment Station
Development and utilization of curation research strategies for novel value-added uses plus identification/discovery of specific nutraceutical, phytopharmaceutical, pesticidal, industrial, and forage traits within the special-purpose legume, new crop, and miscellaneous crop collections with concurrent Genetic variation studies for these traits.
brad.morris@ars.usda.gov
Campbell J. Nairn
Warnell School of Forest Resources
Current research areas include the molecular biology and genetics of tree growth and wood development. Additional areas of interest are molecular evolution of genes and gene families, plant systematics and transgenic technologies.
jnairn@forestry.uga.edu
Peggy Ozias-Akins
Department of Horticulture, Tifton
Developmental biology and molecular mechanisms of apomixis, asexual reproduction through seeds, where female gametophytes are formed from chromosomally unreduced cells in the ovule and eggs develop through parthenogenesis. Genetic enhancement of peanut and grasses using molecular tools such as marker-assisted selection and plant transformation.
pozias@uga.edu
Wayne A. Parrott
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
Development of advanced technology for genetic engineering of crop genes, and deployment strategies for transgenes.
wparrott@uga.edu
Andrew H. Paterson
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Plant Biology, and Genetics
My lab studies intrinsic genetic properties that make plants different from other organisms and from one another. In particular, selected plants have become crops because of unique attributes that also make them valuable as botanical models. Crop genetics thus offers the opportunity to increase basic scientific knowledge and apply it to contemporary needs. Our priorities are to explore basic principles of genetics and evolution in the genomes of angiosperms, and to accelerate assembly of the genomic frameworks that will permit such principles to be applied to the study and improvement of major crops.
paterson@plantbio.uga.edu
Harold Scherm
Department of Plant Pathology
Etiology and integrated management of diseases of fruit crops. Theoretical and applied epidemiology.
scherm@uga.edu
Brian Schwartz
Department of Crop & Soil Sciences
Turfgrass Breeding: Development of warm-season turfgrass species for golf course and home use with improved adaptation to drought, shade, temperature, and plant-parasitic nematode stresses.
tifturf@uga.edu
Shavannor Smith
Department of Plant Pathology
Pauline Spaine
Research Eco-Plant Pathologist, USDA Forest Service
CJ Tsai
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources and Department of Genetics
Current research efforts in the Tsai lab focus on phenylpropanoid carbon allocation, and the regulation of competing branchways for biosynthesis of lignin, flavonoid-derived condensed tannins (CTs), phenolic glycosides (PGs) and other phenolic derivatives. CTs and PGs play important roles in defense and stress management among Salicaceae (e.g., poplars and willows), and together with lignin, represent a large carbon sink that can account for more than 50% of leaf biomass in these species. Their potential effects on tree growth, fitness, and wood quality, and their documented impacts on ecosystem dynamics are the driving force behind this line of research into the molecular regulation of phenylpropanoid metabolism. Additional research projects investigate one-carbon metabolism and cytoskeletal regulation of cellulose microfibril deposition during wood formation. Functional genomics resources are also being developed to advance our research goals.
Ron Walcott
Department of Plant Pathology
Seed Pathology: Development of molecular diagnostic assays for detecting seedborne fungi and bacteria. Biology of seed infection and factors contributing to pathogen survival in seeds. Impact of pathogens on seed quality and risks of seed transmission. Biological control of seedborne pathogens.
rwalcott@uga.edu
Susan R. Wessler
Departments of Plant Biology and Genetics
There are two areas of research interest in the lab. The first involves the isolation of active transposable element systems in maize and other flowering plants and an assessment of their role in the evolution of gene expression. The second project utilizes the natural variants found among a family of regulatory genes (the R family) to understand mechanisms of post-transcriptional gene regulation and how and why such mechanisms may have evolved.
sue@plantbio.uga.edu
Dayton Wilde
Department of Horticulture
Zheng-Hua Ye
Department of Plant Biology
My research focuses on mechanisms underlying differentiation and patterning in plant vascular systems. Although the patterns of vascular tissues have been well described anatomically, little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying the evolution of the vascular patterns. We have been using molecular and genetic approaches to dissect the mechanisms controlling vascular patterning as well as the mechanisms controlling lignification and autolysis during xylogenesis.
ye@plantbio.uga.edu
Xiaoyu Zhang
Department of Plant Biology
Genome-wide studies of the mechanisms, functions and interactions of plant epigenetic pathways
Patrick Conner
Department of Horticulture - Coastal Plains Experiment Station
My interests lie in the area of pecan breeding and genetics. A major focus of the breeding program is to better understand the inheritance of resistance to the pecan scab fungus Cladosporium caryigenum. Linkages between molecular markers and key resistance genes and important horticultural traits will be sought in order to better understand their inheritance as well as for use in marker-assisted selection.
pconner@tifton.cpes.peachnet.edu
Timothy P. Denny
Department of Plant Pathology
I am primarily interested in the genetic and biochemical mechanisms that determine the outcome of plant-pathogen interactions. My primary research effort concentrates on Ralstonia solanacearum (previously called Pseudomonas solanacearum), one of the world's most important phytopathogenic bacteria. This pathogen causes a lethal wilting disease of several hundred species in over 40 plant families; hosts include not only agronomic plants like peanut, potato, tomato, tobacco, and banana, but also some economically important trees and shrubs (e.g., mulberry, olive, cassava). My overall goal is to better understand the processes used by R. solanacearum to colonize host plants and elicit wilt symptoms, including how the bacterium regulates its virulence determinants in response to environmental signals. We hope that insight into these basic processes will lead to the design of novel strategies to control wilt diseases.
tdenny@uga.edu
Travis Glenn
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory
Travis oversees multi-user DNA labs at SREL and the University of South Carolina. His research organisms range from alligators to bacteria and include mammals, birds, fish and plants. An equally large variety of DNA tools and techniques are used to answer questions in molecular ecology, conservation genetics, and genotoxicology. Visit the SREL DNA Lab web pages for more information.
glenn@srel.edu
Jerry Johnson
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
My research objective is in the development of improved wheat, triticale, and barley cultivars and germplasm for the Southeast.
jjohnso@gaes.griffin.peachnet.edu
Michelle Momany
Department of Plant Biology
We are investigating polar growth through studies of ts swo (swollen) mutants in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. We are also investigating the A. nidulans septins, proteins important in the organization of the septum and branching.
momany@plantbio.uga.edu
Mark A. Schell
Department of Microbiology
Molecular biology of bacterial plant pathogens, environmental microbiology, biological control of fungal pathogens
schell@uga.edu
Ida Yates
USDA - Richard Richard Research Center