Marcela Rojas-Pierce

Bio

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 780 Plant Molecular Biology (Fall)

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Area(s) of Expertise

Cell Biology, Vesicle Trafficking, Vacuole Biogenesis

Publications

• Rapid depletion of target proteins in plants by an inducible protein degradation system , PLANT CELL (2024)
• Microgravity enhances the phenotype of Arabidopsis zigzag-1 and reduces the Wortmannin-induced vacuole fusion in root cells , NPJ MICROGRAVITY (2022)
• Molecular mechanisms of endomembrane trafficking in plants , PLANT CELL (2022)
• Plasma agriculture: Review from the perspective of the plant and its ecosystem , Plasma Processes and Polymers (2021)
• 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 OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (2018)
• Modifications to a LATE MERISTEM IDENTITY1 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)
• Modifications to a LATE MERISTEM IDENTITY1 gene are responsible for the major leaf shapes of Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2016)
• Wortmannin-induced vacuole fusion enhances amyloplast dynamics in Arabidopsis zigzag1 hypocotyls , JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY (2016)