Quint Lab:Research
broad research scopeHOW do organisms adapt to the environment and how do they react to different biotic and abiotic stimuli?
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natural variation and quantitative genetics of hormone responsesquantitative genetics
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TIR1-dependent auxin signalingto identify novel components of SCF complex regulation and/or auxin signaling we used the f-box protein and auxin receptor mutant tir1-1 for a second site forward genetic screen. in a previous screen in bill gray's lab several enhancers of tir1-1-mediated auxin resistance had been identified (see zhang et al., pnas 2008; ito and gray, plant physiology 2006; quint et al., plant journal 2005; chuang et al., plant cell 2004; gray et al., plant cell 2003). Vice versa, we are screening for suppressors of the root growth defect on auxin-supplemented (2,4-D, artificial auxin) media. we identified appr. 15 independent tir1-1 suppressor (tis) mutants that restored the wild-type response and are currently cloning the underlying gene/s and charactarize the physiological and genetic features of the mutants. |
f-box proteinsthe evolutionary conserved f-box motifs can be found in various organisms ranging from fungi, insects, fish, and mammals to plants. f-box proteins are subunits of SCF-type E3 ubiquitin ligases and selectively recruit target proteins via their protein-protein interaction domain for ubiquitination and subsequent proteasomal degradation. the arabidopsis genome encodes appr. 700 f-box proteins which makes this gene superfamily one of the largest in eukaryotes. however, a biological function has been assigned to less than 30 genes/proteins of the 700 members. We are generally interested in the evolution and selection patterns acting on f-box proteins (see Schumann et al., 2011 in press) and study a small sub-family to understand the molecular functions of each member. |