Area(s) of Expertise
The vacuole is the major storage compartment in plant cells and has important implications for the nutritional value of agricultural crops. Our research is focused on identifying the molecular mechanisms that regulate the biogenesis of the vacuole and the delivery of tonoplast proteins to the vacuolar membrane. We use chemical and classical genetic approaches to characterize these mechanisms in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.
Plant vacuoles have additional functions in growth and development. Dynamics of vacuole fusion are also important for critical physiological functions such as the regulation of stomata closing during water deficit and gravitropism. Our lab is starting to elucidate molecular mechanisms of vacuole dynamics that may contribute to responses of plants to these environmental cues.
Courses Taught:
- PB 414 Cell Biology (Spring)
- PB 780 Plant Molecular Biology (Fall)
Publications
- A whole-cell electron tomography model of vacuole biogenesis in Arabidopsis root cells, Nature Plants (2019)
- Phosphoinositides control the localization of HOPS subunit VPS41, which together with VPS33 mediates vacuole fusion in plants, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2018)
- Modifications to a LATE MERISTEM IDENTITY gene are responsible for the major leaf shapes of Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2017)
- Vacuolar trafficking and biogenesis: a maturation in the field, Current Opinion in Plant Biology (2017)
- Wortmannin-induced vacuole fusion enhances amyloplast dynamics in Arabidopsis zigzag1 hypocotyls, Journal of Experimental Botany (2016)
- Wortmannin-induced vacuole fusion enhances amyloplast dynamics in Arabidopsiszigzag1hypocotyls, Journal of Experimental Botany (2016)
- Regulator of bulb biogenesis1 (RBB1) is involved in vacuole bulb formation in arabidopsis, PLoS One (2015)
- REGULATOR OF BULB BIOGENESIS1 (RBB1) Is Involved in Vacuole Bulb Formation in Arabidopsis, {PLOS} {ONE} (2015)
- PLASTID MOVEMENT IMPAIRED1 mediates ABA sensitivity during germination and implicates ABA in, light-mediated Chloroplast movements, Plant Physiology and Biochemistry (2014)
- Homotypic Vacuole Fusion Requires VTI11 and Is Regulated by Phosphoinositides, Molecular Plant (2014)
Publications
Education
Ph.D., Botany, University of California (2003)
B.S., Biology, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia (1997)