Teaching Interests:
Plant Physiology and lipid-mediated signal
transduction
Research Interests:
Research in my lab in collaboration
with Dr. Imara Perera has focused on the role of inositol
phospholipids in regulating plant sensing and response
to environmental stimuli including osmotic stress and
gravity. We are taking a combinatorial approach that includes
biochemistry,cell biology and molecular biology to characterize
the enzymes involved in inositol lipid biosynthesis, to
study their subcellular distribution and to genetically
alter the flux through the PI signaling pathway. In addition,
in collaboration with Dr. Amy Grunden we are taking a
molecular genetics approach to reduce the presence or
reactive oxygen species in plants by expressing genes
from Pyrococcus furiosus.
Selected
Publications:
Galvão, R.M., U. Kota, E. J. Soderblom, M. B. Goshe, W. F. Boss, 2008.
Characterization of a new family of protein kinases containing
phosphoinositide 3/4-kinase and ubiquitin-like domains. Biochemistry Journal. 409:117-127.
Im, Y.J., I.Y. Perera,, I. Brglez, A.J. Davis, J. Stevenson-Paulik, B.Q. Phillippy,
E. Johannes, N.S. Allen, W. F. Boss, 2007. Increasing plasma
membrane phosphatidylinositol(4,5)bisphosphate biosynthesis increases phosphoinositide
metabolism. The Plant Cell, 19:
1603-1616.
Davis, A.J. Y. Ju Im, J. S. Dubin, K. B. Tomer, and W. F. Boss, 2007.
Arabidopsis phosphatidylinositol phosphate kinase 1 binds
F-actin and recruits phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase b1 to the actin cytoskeleton J.
Biological. Chemistry, 282: 14121-14131.
Im, Y.J., A.J. Davis, I.Y. Perera, E. Johannes, N.S. Allen, W. F. Boss. 2007.
The N-terminal membrane occupation and recognition nexus
domain of Arabidopsis phosphatidylinositol phosphate kinase 1 regulates enzyme
activity. J. Biological
Chemistry. 282: 5443-5452
Im,
Y.J., M. Ji, A.M. Lee, W. F. Boss, A.M. Grunden, 2005. Production
of a thermostable archaeal superoxide reductase in plant
cells. FEBS Letters. 579:5521-5526.
Kimbrough, J., R. Salinas-Mondragon, W.F. Boss, C.S.
Brown, H. Winter Sederoff. (2004.) The
fast and transient transcriptional network of gravity
and mechanical stimulation in the Arabidopsis root
apex. Plant Physiol.
136: 2790-2805.
Davis, A.J., I.Y. Perera, W. F. Boss (2004.) Cyclodextrins
enhance recombinant phosphatidylinositol phosphate kinase
activity J. Lipid Res. 45: 1783-1789.
Stevenson-Paulik,
JM, J. Love, W. F. Boss. (2003.) Differential
Regulation of two Arabidopsis Type III Phosphatidylinositol
4-Kinase Isoforms: A regulatory role for the pleckstrin
homology domain. Plant Physiol. 132:1053-1064.
Perera,
IY, Love J, Heilmann I, Thompson WF, Boss WF (2002) Up-regulation
of Phosphoinositide MetaBOlism in Tobacco Cells Constitutively
Expressing the Human Type I Inositol Polyphosphate 5-Phosphatase.
Plant Physiol 129:1795-1806
Persson SH, Love J, Tsou P-L, Robertson D, Thompson
WF, Boss WF (2002) When a day makes a difference. Interpreting
data from endoplasmic reticulum-targeted green fluorescent
protein fusions in cells grown in suspension culture.
Plant Physiol 128:341-344
Heilmann I, Perera IY, Gross W, Boss WF (2001) Plasma
membrane phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate levels
decrease with time in culture. Plant Physiol 126:
1507-1518
Persson S, Wyatt SE, Love J, Thompson WF, Robertson
D, Boss WF (2001) The Ca2+ status of the endoplasmic
reticulum is altered by induction of calreticulin expression
in transgenic plants. Plant Physiol 126: 1092-1105
Perera IY, Heilmann I, Chang SC, Boss WF, Kaufman BO
(2001) A role for inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate in
gravitropic signaling and the retention of cold-perceived
gravistimulation of oat shoot pulvini. Plant Physiol
125: 1499-1507
Stevenson, J.M., Perera, I.Y.,Heilmann, I., Persson, S.
and Boss, W.F.(2000) Inositol signaling
and plant growth. Trends in Plant Sci. 5:252-258
Ransom-Hodgkins, W.D., Brglez, I., Wang, X., and Boss,
W.F. (2000) Calcium-regulated proteolysis of eEF1A. Plant
Physiology 122:957-966
Perera, I.Y., Heilmann, I.,
and Boss, W.F. (1999). Transient
and sustained increases in inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate
precede the differential growth response in gravistimulated
maize pulvini. Proc Natl Acad
Sci 96:5838-5843
Heilmann, I., Perera, I.Y.,
Gross, W., and Boss, W.F. (1999). Changes in phosphoinositide
metaBOlism with days in culture affect signal transduction
pathways in Galdieria sulphuraria. Plant Physiology
119:1331-1340
Stevenson, J.M., Perera, I.Y.,
and Boss, W.F. (1998). A phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase
pleckstrin homology (PH) domain that binds phosphatidylinositol
4-monophosphate. J. Biol Chem. 273:22761-22767
