Active research objectives:

· Plant response to abiotic stress (drought, freezing temperatures)

· Protein turnover in plants: examination of how long a specific protein stays functional. Collaboration:UMN-St Paul.

· Signal transduction: specifically our studies have focused on the role of and response of plant cells to the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA).  We have been attempting to define the regulation of genes and protein levels by ABA.

· Screening of wheat mutant lines for valuable traits: We have been amplifying the stocks of mutant wheat that were generated by azide mutation in the 1980s. We believe that some of these mutants may be drought resistant as well as freeze resistant.  Freeze resistant studies have already identified a subgroup that have 75 -80% freeze survival in the fields compared with 35% freeze resistance by the wild type cv ‘Winoka’. We are presently collaborating with the winter wheat breeding program for the mutant screens in the fields.

· Deciphering the mechanism of pre-harvest sprouting (PHS).  We believe that we have identified key molecular controls of this biological process. We will be collaborating with the spring wheat breeding program on a PHS project.

· Plant transformation techniques:  We have developed a wheat transient expression system and will not finalize the development of a stable transformation procedure.  We have recently used a modification of the wheat transformation technique to transform algae.  We are also working on developing alternative algal transformation techniques. 

· Plant vaccine development: Using molecular tools we have engineered DNA constructs that will be introduced into plant cells as well as algal cells.  When these cells are consumed it is proposed that the foreign proteins in the cells will result in the generation of antibody against these proteins. These antibodies will block binding of organisms such as E. coli O157 H7.

 

Research Goals/Mission Statement

My long-term scientific goal is to describe (at the molecular level) the biological processes that lead to (i) freeze resistance (ii) drought tolerance (iii) seed dormancy and thus PHS and to be able to manipulate these systems to improve crop production world wide.

 

Research Objectives/Action Plan

· Screen the wheat mutant population to identify mutants that have these traits.

· Use molecular techniques to describe the mutation and thus identify the components in the biological pathways that give rise to these traits

South Dakota State University

college of agriculture & biological sciences

Plant Molecular Physiology

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Last updated 3 November 2009

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