Type: Associate Faculty
Education:
PhD, University of Wisconsin
Contact Info
Office: 214 Partners III, Centennial Campus,
T: 919-515-3390
F: 919-515-3436
Email: Boston
Website: Visit our Lab Home Page
My lab studies the coordination of protein synthesis and phospholipid metabolism during seed maturation with particular focus on common signaling pathways between molecular chaperones and phospholipid biosynthetic enzymes. We also work with maize ribosome-inactivating proteins to characterize their fungicidal and insecticidal properties. Current projects are directed at determining both the means by which cytosolic RIPs from maize gain access to fungal ribosomes and the form (proenzyme or active enzyme) that enters the fungal cell.
I am the Director of Graduate Programs for the Plant Biology department, and also currently serve as the Interim Assistant Director of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Costa MD, Reis PA, Valente MA, Irsigler AS, Carvalho CM, Loureiro ME, Aragão FJ, Boston RS, Fietto LG, and Fontes EP. (2008). A new branch of endoplasmic reticulum stress signaling and the osmotic signal converge on plant-specific asparagine-rich proteins to promote cell death. J. Biol. Chem. 283: 20209–20219.
Vitale A, and Boston RS. (2008). Endoplasmic reticulum quality control and unfolded protein response: insights from plants; invited review, Traffic. 9: 1581–1588.
Holmes RA, Boston RS, and Payne GA. (2008). Diverse inhibitors of aflatoxin biosynthesis. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 78: 559–572.
Kim C-S, Gibbon BC, Gillikin JW, Larkins BA, Boston RS, and Jung R. (2006). The maize Mucronate mutation is a deletion in the 16-kD γ-zein gene that induces the unfolded protein response. Plant J. 48: 440–451.
Kirst ME, Meyer DJ, Gibbon BC, Jung R, and Boston RS. (2005). Identification and characterization of ER associated degradation proteins differentially affected by ER stress. Plant Physiology. 138: 218–231.
