Harmer Lab

Room 2123 Department of Plant Biology 1002 Life Sciences, One Shields Ave. University of California Davis Davis, CA 95616 Contact: slharmer at ucdavis.edu

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Announcements This page is no longer maintained. Please go to our new site at Harmer Lab. Our investigation of sunflower solar tracking was recently published in Science! A nice description of our recent article investigating the role of the clock in sunflower solar tracking and flower orientation can be found in this New Scientist article. Other popular press coverage includes pieces in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Atlantic and the Washington Post. Links to additional popular press articles, podcasts, and social media references to this work may be found on this page. Schedules for our joint group meeting with the Maloof lab, and UC Davis biology seminars. Research Many organisms, including some prokaryotes and most eukaryotes, possess an internal timer or circadian clock that allows them to regulate their physiology to better adapt to our continually changing world. These circadian clocks generate roughly 24 hour rhythms in physiology and behavior that are maintained even in the absence of environmental cues. Although the molecular components of circadian clocks are not conserved across higher taxa, in all organisms studied these clocks are cell autonomous oscillators and in diverse eukaryotes are composed of complex transcriptional networks. As rooted organisms living in a continually changing world, plants are masters at withstanding environmental variation. The circadian clock is key: it both ensures the optimal timing of daily and seasonal events to cope with predictable stresses and regulates myriad signaling pathways to optimize responses to environmental cues. The study of circadian rhythms in plants thus presents a wide range of fascinating questions with real-world applications: What is the molecular nature of the circadian clock; that is, how can a cell keep time? What aspects of physiology are under circadian regulation? What are the mechanistic links between the clock network and other signaling pathways? Why does a functional circadian clock provide an adaptive advantage? The Harmer lab is using Arabidopsis thaliana and sunflower to address these important questions. We use forward and reverse genetics, genomics, biochemistry, and physiological studies to better understand the nature of the plant clock and how it helps shape plant responses to the environment. Read more... Lab Members Stacey Harmer Hagop Atamian Cassandra Baker Chris Brooks Nicky Creux Rod Kumimoto Akiva Shalit-Kaneh Undergrad & high school interns Faith Ajayi Ben Caswell Marcus Gainer Emma Goguen Tatiana Gromova Leandro Guerrero Nicky Kwa Joe Martin Valeria Nunez Ryleigh Rupe Yanne Santos Bryant Tran Former Members Shajahan_Anver Mike Covington Cory Ellison Valentina Fanelli Jennifer Gray Polly (Yingshan) Hsu Matt Jones Ellen Martin-Tryon Reetika Rawat Ivan Salles Santos Koby Schwartz Nozomu Takahashi Jessica Tucci Mikayala Waugh Brian Williams Undergrad Alumni Funding National Institute of General Medical Sciences Molecular analysis of Arabidopsis circadian regulation National Science Foundation Investigating how internal and external cues coordinate floral organ development and the consequences for plant reproduction Recent Publications Shalit-Kaneh, A., Kumimoto, R.W., Filkov, V., and Harmer, S.L. (2018) Multiple feedback loops of the Arabidopsis circadian clock provide rhythmic robustness across environmental conditions. Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences, 115(27) 7147-7152. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1805524115 [1] Harmer, S.L. and Brooks, C.J. (2017) Growth-mediated plant movements: hidden in plain sight. Current Opinion in Plant Biology. 41:89-94. doi: 10.1016/j.pbi.2017.10.003 [2] Rubin, M.J., Brock, M.T., Davis, A.M., German, Z.M., Welch, S.M., Harmer, S.L., Maloof, J.N., Davis, S.J., and Weinig, C. (2017) Circadian rhythms vary over the growing season and correlate with fitness components. Molecular Ecology. 26(20):5528-5540. doi: 10.1111/mec.14287 [3] Gray, J.A., Shalit-Kaneh, A., Chu, D.N., Hsu, P.Y., and Harmer, S.L. (2017) The REVEILLE clock genes inhibit growth of juvenile and adult plants by control of cell size. Plant Physiology. 173(4):2308-2322. doi: 10.1104/pp.17.00109 [4] Müller-Moulé P., Nozue, K., Pytlak, M.L., Palmer, C.M., Covington, M.F., Wallace, A.D., Harmer, S.L., and Maloof, J.N. (2016) YUCCA auxin biosynthetic genes are required for Arabidopsis shade avoidance. PeerJ. 4:e2574 [5] Atamian, H.S., Creux, N.M., Brown, E.A., Garner, A.G., Blackman, B.K., and Harmer, S.L. (2016) Circadian regulation of sunflower heliotropism, floral orientation, and pollinator visits. Science. 353(6299):587-90. doi: 10.1126/science.aaf9793 [6] Atamian, H.S. and Harmer, S.L. (2016) Circadian regulation of hormone signaling and plant physiology. Plant Mol Biol. 91(6):691-702. doi: 10.1007/s11103-016-0477-4 [7] Jones, M.A., Hu, W., Litthauer, S., Lagarias, J.C. and Harmer, S.L. (2015) A constitutively active allele of phytochrome B maintains circadian robustness in the absence of light. Plant Physiology. 169(1):814-25. doi: 10.1104/pp.15.00782 [8] Anver, S., Roguev, A., Zofall, M., Krogan, N.J., Grewal, S.I.S., and Harmer, S.L. (2014) Yeast X-Chromosome Associated Protein 5 (Xap5) Functions with H2A.Z to Suppress Aberrant Transcripts. EMBO reports. pii: e201438902. [9] Hsu, P.Y. and Harmer, S.L. (2013) Wheels within wheels: the plant circadian system. Trends in Plant Science [10] Hsu, P.Y., Devisetty, U.K., and Harmer, S.L. (2013) Cycling activators control the evening arm of the plant clock. eLife. 2:e00473. [11] Zemach, A., Kim, M.Y., Hsieh, P.-H., Coleman-Derr,D., Eshed-Williams, L., Thao, K, Harmer, S.L., and Zilberman, D. (2013) The Arabidopsis nucleosome remodeler DDM1 allows DNA methyltransferases to access H1-containing heterochromatin. Cell 153(1):193-205 [12] Hu, W., Franklin, K.A., Sharrock, R.A., Jones, M.A., Harmer, S.L., and Lagarias, J.C. (2013) Unanticipated regulatory roles for Arabidopsis phytochromes revealed by null mutant analysis. Proceedings of the National Academy of the Science 110(4) 1542-1547. [13] see complete list... Collaborators Blackman Lab Jones Lab Lagarias Lab Maloof Lab Montemurro Lab Yanovsky Lab http://www2.clustrmaps.com/stats/maps-no_clusters/openwetware.org-wiki-Harmer_Lab-thumb.jpg Link title