Linda K. Hanley-Bowdoin

Bio

Geminiviruses are a large family of plant viruses with circular, single-stranded DNA genomes that replicate through double-stranded intermediates. Because of their limited coding capacity, geminiviruses supply only the factors required to initiate viral replication and depend on host DNA polymerases to amplify their genomes. Many geminiviruses replicate in differentiated plant cells that no longer contain detectable levels of host DNA polymerases and associated factors.

Geminiviruses are major impediments to food production in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia, which together account for more than 60% of the 820M undernourished people worldwide. We are working on peptide aptamers and trans-dominant negative mutants that interfere with viral replication to confer table, general resistance against these important plant pathogens and collaborating with researchers in Africa and Asia to move the technology into key crops.

In eukaryotes, DNA replication begins at specific sites in their genomes designated as origins of replication. Even though origins have been mapped to specific sequences in yeast, it has proven more difficult to define origins in higher eukaryotes. We are collaborating with other scientists to characterize plant origins of replication and to determine their relationships to matrix attachment regions, DNA methylation sites, recruitment of modified histones and transcriptional activity.

Area(s) of Expertise

• Geminiviruses mechanisms
• ssDNA virus resistance
• Plant DNA Replication

Publications

• Alternative splicing expands the functional portfolio of a plant virus to control the viral cycle , bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (2026)
• Replication timing uncovers a two-compartment nuclear architecture of interphase euchromatin , The Plant Cell (2026)
• Selective repurposing of the eukaryotic DNA replication machinery by a plant virus , bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (2026)
• A TIR ‐ NLR gene from Arabidopsis Pla‐1 confers resistance to geminivirus infection , The Plant Journal (2025)
• A comparison of genomic methods to assess DNA replication timing , Scientific Reports (2025)
• Comparison of transcriptional activity profiling by metabolic labeling or nuclear RNA sequencing , The Plant Journal (2025)
• Development of Modular Geminivirus‐Based Vectors for High Cargo Expression and Gene Targeting in Plants , Plant Biotechnology Journal (2025)
• Replication Timing Uncovers a Two-Compartment Nuclear Architecture of Interphase Euchromatin in Maize , bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (2025)
• SEGS-1 episomes generated during cassava mosaic disease enhance disease severity , Frontiers in Plant Science (2025)
• Cassava begomovirus species diversity changes during plant vegetative cycles , Frontiers in Microbiology (2023)

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