In our laboratory we seek to understand the mechanisms by which plants grow and respond to changes in their environment. Plants make use of their environment.
Plants make use of a diverse group of signaling compounds to regulate growth and development.
Although some of these compounds were identified almost a century ago, only recently has significant progress been made in identifying the proteins involved sensing and transducing these signals in the plant. Much of this work has been accomplished by using the plant Arabidopsis , which serves as a model organism for addressing basic questions in plant biology. We are using a combination of biochemical, molecular, and genetic strategies to analyze signaling pathways in Arabidopsis . One of our focuses is on the pathway of ethylene signal transduction. Ethylene serves as a gaseous hormone in plants, and is perhaps most widely known for its role in the ripening of such fruit as tomatoes, bananas, and apples.