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John Gray University of Toledo |
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Research Interests
The major focus of the laboratory is to understand the molecular mechanisms
regulating cell death and cell survival decisions in plants. I employ a molecular
genetic approach to identify and clone genes involved in such processes and
then I use molecular biology techniques to further characterize the functions
of such genes. A particular set of mutations of current focus are disease lesion
mimic mutations, which are characterized by the spontaneous formation of discrete
or expanding disease-like symptoms on leaves in the absence of pathogens. At
present, not much is known about the mechanistic basis of these mutations, or
the function of the wild-type alleles at these loci.
Until recently, not much effort was invested into elucidating the molecular
and physiological mechanisms of these mutations, which appear to offer a unique
opportunity for studying how plants control the integrity of cells. Our long
term goals are to understand the genetic, molecular, cellular, and developmental
basis of these mutations.
Current Project
The current goal of the lab is to fully investigate how a lesion mimic gene lls1 (lethal leaf spot), an inhibitor of cell death expansion in plants, executes its death-defying function. In previous work in Guri Johal's lab at the University of Missouri-Columbia, we were successful in cloning the lls1 gene from maize. In collaboration with Jean Greenberg (University of Chicago) we identified the orthologous gene in Arabidopsis named accelerated cell death-1 (acd1). The lls1 gene is a novel gene with an unknown function in plants. We have not identified any related gene in animals. The current goal is to understand the exact function of the lls1 gene and to identify proteins that interact with the LLS1 protein.
Specifically, we would like to study: how lls1 is regulated during both normal and pathological situations; where its cellular and subcellular sites of action are; what is its target in the cell; and what other cellular factors does it associate with to keep cells alive in the wake of death-promoting signals.
The PI's new laboratory is located in Wolfe Hall - a recent $23 million addition to the Bowman-Oddy Life Sciences building at the University of Toledo. In addition to having a modern well equipped molecular biology laboratory the PI has full access to the new Plant Science Research Facility (PSRF) on the fourth floor of Wolfe Hall. The PSRF houses modern greenhouse, plant growth chamber and plant tissue culture equipment that facilitate the study of plants year round.
Selected Publications
- Gray J., and G.S. Johal. (1998) Programmed Cell Death in Plants, in Arabidopsis. Ann. Plant Reviews Vol I. Anderson M., and J.A. Roberts eds., Sheffield Academic Press. Sheffield.
- Bucker B., D. Janick-Buckner, J. Gray, and G.S. Johal. (1998) Cell-death mechansims in maize. Trends in Plant Science, 3 (6):218-223.
- Gray J., Close, P.S., Briggs, S.P., and G.S. Johal. (1997). A novel suppressor of cell death in plants encoded by the Lls1 gene of maize. Cell 89: 25-31.
- Multani, D.S., Meeley, R.B., Patterson, A.H., Gray, J., Briggs, S.P., and G.S. Johal. Plant-pathogen micro-evolution: molecular basis for the recent origin of a fungal disease in maize. Proc. Natl.Acad. Sci. USA. 95:1186-1191
- Gray, J., Gelvin S.B., Meilan, R., and R.O. Morris. (1996) tRNA is the source of extracellular isopentenyladenine in a Ti-plasmidless strain of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Plant Physiology. 110:431-438
- Johal, G.S., Gray J., Gruis D., and S.P. Briggs. (1995) Convergent insights into mechanisms determining disease and resistance response in plant-fungal interactions. Can. J. Bot. 73 (suppl.1): 468-474.
- Lichter, A, Manulis, S., Sagee, O., Gafni, Y.,Gray, J., Meilan, R., Morris, R.O., and I. Barash. (1995) Production of cytokinins by Erwinia herbicola pv. gypsophilae and isolation of a cytokinin biosynthetic gene. Mol. Microbe Plant Interact. (8) 1:114-121
Dr. Gray's website
University of Toledo homepage