Member Institutions:

• Bowling Green State U.
• Cleveland State U.
• Kent State U.
• Medical College of Ohio
• Miami U.
• The Ohio State U.
• Ohio U.
• University of Cincinnati
• University of Toledo
• Wright State U.
• Youngstown State U.

Research Interests

My area of interest in research is developmental plant physiology, with emphasis on phytochemicals and growth patterns in plants. Present projects are the following:

1. Isolation of carnosic acid, an antioxidant, from in vitro grown herbs.

   This project involves surface sterilizing leaves and stems of rosemary and sage, and placing excised tissue samples on nutrient media containing hormones. The purpose is to induce regeneration through shoot formation. The shoots are transferred to rooting media and when they are of sufficient size, they are extracted and assayed for carnosic acid, a phytochemical which has been shown by others to inhibit the HIV virus. Chemical samples are analyzed by means of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Dr. G. Douglas Wingetof this department and Dr. Koka Jayasimhulu of the Department of Environmental Health are collaborators in this project. Reference: Caruso, J. L.,, Winget, G. D., McGinnis, J., Jayasimhulu,K. 1995. Shoots of rosemary and sage cultured in vitro as possible sources of carnosic acid, a reported inhibitor of the human immunodeficiency virus protease. In Phytochemicals and Health, eds. D. Gustine and H. Flores, Proceedings of Tenth Annual Penn State Symposium in Plant Physiology, May 18-20, 1995, American Society of Plant Physiology Current Topics, vol. 15.

2. The role of auxin, a plant hormone, in expression of the lanceolate gene in tomato.

   (Click on the thumbnail to display the full image).
   We are testing the hypothesis that the lanceolate (La) gene, a leaf-shape mutant in tomato, results in the accumulation of indoleacetic acid (IAA), an auxin, in the stem and leaf. Such accumulation is suspected to result from an impaired polar auxin transport system. Plants are grown on nutrient media containing an auxin transport inhibitor and extractions and assays of IAA are performed. Reference: Avasarala, S., Yang, J., Caruso, J. L. 1996. Production of phenocopies of the lanceolate mutant in tomato using polar auxin transport inhibitors. Journal of Experimental Botany 47: 709-712.

3. The use of plant tissue culture in teaching.

   Plant biologists who perform tissue culture projects to demonstrate the influence of chemical factors on growth and differentiation frequently use the tobacco pith system since the hormonal requirements for this are well described in literature. Tobacco, however, involves much labor to maintain it in the greenhouse and it is expensive to purchase tobacco callus from biological supply companies. We are experimenting with such commonplace food items as broccoli and carrot to demonstrate in the classroom the effects of hormones on regeneration in cultured tissues. This approach has been used successfully in teaching by Haldeman and Ellis (1988) who used cauliflower to demonstrate tissue culture methods Reference: The American Biology Teacher 50: 154-159 (1988).

Dr. Caruso's website
University of Cincinnati Department of Biological Sciences
University of Cincinnati homepage