Research Topics
Department of Crop Sciences and Plant Biology
Ph.D. (1976) University of Leeds, UK
Research Topics
Research Interests
Computational power is now such that the complete photosynthetic process can be described and simulated by computer. This makes it possible to simulate how recorded variation in photosynthetic proteins and metabolites, via proteomics and metabolomics, affect the dynamics and environmental variation of photosynthesis in the intact system. Such models also allow us to predict, from the multitude of potential gene transformations, which are likely to increase photosynthetic efficiency and ultimately lead to improved crop production. In collaboration with the National Center for Super-Computing Applications (NCSA) we are developing and testing such models.
C4 species such as maize show higher light-saturated photosynthetic efficiencies than C3 species above, but not below, 20ºC. The primary cause for reduced capacity at low temperature is both limitation within steps of C4 metabolism, which leads to photoinhibition, and partial lesions within the photosynthetic apparatus developed at low temperature. The latter may be a direct effect of temperature on gene expression or an indirect effect through accumulation of active oxygen species under conditions inducing photoinhibition. The C4 rhizomatous grass Miscanthus x giganteus is capable of photosynthetic rates well in excess of C3 plants down to 5ºC and develops photosynthetically effective leaves to 8ºC, indicating that efficient C4 photosynthesis can be realized in cool climates. We are investigating the physiological basis and molecular mechanisms for cold-tolerant C4 photosynthesis in Miscanthus, with the long-term goal of transferring this trait to maize. Specifically we are investigating sequence differences in the gene coding for C4 photosynthetic genes and the protein products of these genes expressed in E. coli.
The concentration of carbon dioxide ([CO 2]) and ozone ([O 3]) in the troposphere (the layer of the atmosphere in which we live, are rising rapidly. Our laboratory has led the development of a unique facility at the University of Illinois called SoyFACE (www.soyface.uiuc.edu). This facility, for the first time, allows the growth of crops in the atmospheric composition of the future (ca. 2050) without otherwise altering the environment. This is being used to gain a holistic understanding of the response of soybean, maize and Arabidopsis to global change from gene expression to seed production and crop yield.
Key Words Introduction of DNA into Plant Cells, Photosynthesis and Biophysical Techniques, Plant Transformation, Global Change, Mutant Analysis, Molecular Biology, Genome Organization/RFLP Mapping.
Current Research Funding
National Science Foundation (NSF), Illinois Council for Food and Agricultural Research (C-FAR), Department of Energy (DOE).