cgi-bin/community/feature/200601.pl

   1 use strict;
   2 use CXGN::Page;
   3 my $page=CXGN::Page->new('200601','Teri Solow');
   4
   5 my $stylesheet=<<END_STYLESHEET;
   6 <style type="text/css">
   7 <!--
   8         body {
   9                 color: #000000;
  10                 background-color: #ffffff;
  11         }
  12
  13         p {
  14                 margin-left: 40px;
  15                 text-align: justify;
  16         }
  17
  18         .footnote {
  19                 font-size: small;
  20                 text-align:center;
  21                 padding: 0px;
  22                 margin: 5px 10px 5px 10px;
  23         }
  24
  25         .bibliography {
  26                 text-indent: -20px;
  27         }
  28 -->
  29 </style>
  30 END_STYLESHEET
  31
  32 $page->header('The Petunia Lab at Radboud University, Nijmegen', undef, $stylesheet);
  33 print<<END_HEREDOC;
  34
  35 <center>
  36 <h1>The Petunia Lab at Radboud University, Nijmegen</h1>
  37 </center>
  38
  39 <p class="footnote"><img src="/static_content/community/feature/200601-1.jpg" border="4" style="border-color: #0000FF" width="800" height="555" alt="The Petunia Lab" /><br />
  40 </p>
  41
  42 <p class="footnote" style="float:right; width:258px; text-align:center; border: 1px solid #000000;"><img src="/static_content/community/feature/200601-2.gif" width="258" height="243" alt="Commercial Petunia line with double mutation." /><br />
  43 Commercial Petunia line with "double" mutation.
  44 </p>
  45
  46 <p style="border-bottom: 0px">
  47 For the nearly four  years  that  we  now  have  been  in  Nijmegen,  The
  48 Netherlands, we  have  primarily  focused  on  two  themes  in  our  Petunia
  49 research: meiosis-related research and MADS-box genes. We  started  on  both
  50 topics when working in Ghent, Belgium in what was originally Prof  Marc  van
  51 Montagu\'s lab. Our group is small; each core subject is carried by a PI  (Dr
  52 Janny Peters and Dr Michiel Vandenbussche respectively) and one or  two  PhD
  53 students (Veena Hedatale with Janny;  Stefan  Royaert  and  Anneke  Rijpkema
  54 with Michiel) and supported by our fabulous technician,  Jan  Zethof,  while
  55 two to five undergraduate students join  the  group  for  short  periods  of
  56 time. We are proud to have visiting scientists  on  sabbatical  leave:  Prof
  57 Dave Clark from Gainesville, Florida
  58 stayed with us for seven months in 2004 and presently Dr Tony  Conner,  from
  59 the Crop &amp; Food Research/Lincoln University, Christchurch,  New  Zealand  is
  60 with us for a year.
  61 </p>
  62
  63 <p style="border-bottom: 0px">
  64 A large part of our research is funded by the  Institute  for  Water  and
  65 Wetland Research (IWWR). The IWWR aims to boost  its  competitive  force  by
  66 stimulating interdisciplinary co-operation  between  those  engaged  in  the
  67 scientific fields of microbiology,  ecology  and  plant-  and  environmental
  68 sciences (see <a href="http://www.iwwr.science.ru.nl/">http://www.iwwr.science.ru.nl/</a>). Further funding  is  obtained
  69 from various national and  international  agencies.  As  one  of  the 'old'
  70 petunia labs we are part of  the  growing  Petunia  community  and  as  such
  71 promote  the  use  of  this  nice  model  system  wherever  we   can   (see:
  72 <a href="http://www.pg.science.ru.nl/">http://www.pg.science.ru.nl/</a> and <a href="http://www.petuniaplatform.net/">http://www.petuniaplatform.net/</a>  ).  We  do
  73 touch upon other organisms, like Arabidopsis if and when useful. One of  the
  74 activities we are  undertaking  in  compliance  with  the  IWWR  integrative
  75 research strategy is to initiate in-situ studies in
  76 Southern America to research upon the activity of (endogenous)  transposable
  77 elements in natural Petunia axillaris accessions; a  second  activity  under
  78 development is a study on the molecular genetics and ecology of  the  clonal
  79 propagation capacity of  Petunia  altiplana,  seeds  of  which  were  kindly
  80 provided by Prof. Toshio Ando of Chiba University, Japan.
  81 </p>
  82
  83 <p class="footnote" style="float:left; width:227px; text-align:center; border: 1px solid #000000;"><img src="/static_content/community/feature/200601-3.gif" width="227" height="221" alt="Transposon line W138" /><br />
  84 Transposon line W138
  85 </p>
  86
  87 <p style="border-bottom: 0px">
  88 Now then, to describe in a few words our core research, I need  to  go  a
  89 bit into Petunia as a system to work with; for details  I  refer  to  Gerats
  90 and Vandenbussche (2005), for now it suffices to state that Petunia  has  an
  91 easy  and  fast  growth  cycle,  donates  prolific  material,  is  easy   to
  92 transform, but  maybe  is  most  outstanding  in  its  transposable  element
  93 system, for which efficient forward and reverse strategies have been  worked
  94 out.
  95 </p>
  96
  97 <p style="border-bottom: 0px">
  98 MADS box research in Petunia  is  flourishing;  in  fact  the  D-  and  E
  99 functions were added to the classical ABC model,  based  on  Petunia  mutant
 100 analysis (the work of Gerco  Angenents  group).  Meanwhile  we  are  finally
 101 making progress in  re-defining  the  A-function.  One  of  the  outstanding
 102 results of our group has been the development of the
 103 frameshift theory that states that 3\' frameshift  mutations  may  contribute
 104 structurally to the evolution of protein functions  (Vandenbussche  et  al.,
 105 2003a). Presently we are finalizing the analysis of the  B  function  genes.
 106 While Antirrhinum and Arabidopsis both have only one Glo/Pi and one  Def/Ap3
 107 gene, Petunia has two representatives  of  each  lineage.  A  nice  case  of
 108 subfunctionalization  and  divergence.  We  are  working  on  a   systematic
 109 analysis of B function gene development within  the  Solanaceae  (thanks  to
 110 the marvellous Nijmegen collection we  can  sample  a  great  range  of  SOL
 111 species: <a href="http://www.bgard.science.ru.nl/">http://www.bgard.science.ru.nl/</a>).
 112 </p>
 113
 114 <p style="border-bottom: 0px">
 115 Finally, on the meiosis-related research, we  have  performed  a  partial
 116 cDNA-AFLP transcript analysis on developing Petunia  Mitchell  anthers  from
 117 single flower buds that  have  been  staged  cytologically.  Among  the  480
 118 meiosis-modulated gene  fragments  identified  in  this  screen,  there  are
 119 around 65 that have a peak in expression in the  early  stages  of  meiosis,
 120 when the process of homologous recombination takes  place.  And  that\'s  the
 121 process in which we are most interested. Together with Prof  Hans  de  Jong,
 122 Wageningen, we are analyzing SALK line insertants in genes, homologous to  a
 123 number of the identified petunia genes. We have also joined forces  on  this
 124 subject with Keygene, the company that invented the AFLP procedures.
 125 </p>
 126
 127 <br clear="all" />
 128
 129 <div style="float:left; width:250; height: 240px; margin-left: 100px; vertial-align: middle; padding-top: 50px; text-align:left;">
 130 <h2>Contact Information</h2>
 131 <p>
 132 Dr. Tom Gerats<br />
 133 Radboud University, Nijmegen<br />
 134 The Netherlands<br />
 135 E-mail: <a href="mailto:T.Gerats\@science.ru.n">T.Gerats\@science.ru.nl</a>
 136 </p>
 137 </div>
 138
 139 <p class="footnote" style="float:right; width:220px; margin-right: 100px; border: 1px solid #000000; text-align:center;"><img src="/static_content/community/feature/200601-4.gif" border="0" width="220" height="207" alt="Seppallata mutant" /><br />
 140 Seppallata mutant
 141 </p><br clear="all" />
 142
 143 <h2>Recent Publications</h2>
 144
 145 <p class="bibliography">
 146 Petunia Ap2-like genes and their role in flower and seed development (2001). Maes T, Van de Steene N, Zethof J, Karimi M, D'Hauw M, Mares G, Van Montagu M, Gerats T. The Plant Cell 13 (2): 229-244
 147 </p>
 148
 149 <p class="bibliography">
 150 Analysis by Transposon Display of the behavior of the dTph1 element family during ontogeny and inbreeding of Petunia hybrida (2001). De Keukeleire P, Maes T, Sauer M, Zethof J, Van Montagu M, Gerats T. Mol Gen and Gen 265 (1): 72-81
 151 </p>
 152
 153 <p class="bibliography">
 154 A physical amplified fragment-length polymorphism map of Arabidopsis (2001).
 155 Peters JL, Constandt H, Neyt P, Cnops G, Zethof J, Zabeau M, Gerats T Plant Phys 127 (4): 1579-1589
 156 </p>
 157
 158 <p class="bibliography">
 159 AFLP maps of Petunia hybrida: building maps when markers cluster (2002).
 160 Strommer J, Peters J, Zethof J, de Keukeleire P, Gerats T. Theor and Appl Gen 105 (6-7): 1000-1009
 161 </p>
 162
 163 <p class="bibliography">
 164 Transcript profiling on developing Petunia hybrida floral organs (2003). Cnudde F, Moretti C, Porceddu A, Pezzotti M, Gerats T. Sex Plant Rep 16 (2): 77-85
 165 </p>
 166
 167 <p class="bibliography">
 168 Structural diversification and neo-functionalization during floral MADS-box gene evolution by C-terminal frameshift mutations (2003a). Vandenbussche M, Theissen G, Van de Peer Y, Gerats T. Nucl Acids Res 31 (15): 4401-4409
 169 </p>
 170
 171 <p class="bibliography">
 172 In silico identification of putative regulatory sequence elements in the 5 '-untranslated region of genes that are expressed during male gametogenesis (2003).
 173 Hulzink RJM, Weerdesteyn H, Croes AF, Gerats T, van Herpen MMA, van Helden J
 174 Plant Phys 132 (1): 75-83
 175 </p>
 176
 177 <p class="bibliography">
 178 Forward genetics and map-based cloning approaches (2003). Peters JL, Cnudde F, Gerats T. Trends in Plant Sci 8 (10): 484-491
 179 </p>
 180
 181 <p class="bibliography">
 182 Toward the analysis of the petunia MADS box gene family by reverse and forward transposon insertion mutagenesis approaches: B, C, and D floral organ identity functions require SEPALLATA-like MADS box genes in petunia (2003).
 183 Vandenbussche M, Zethof J, Souer E, Koes R, Tornielli GB, Pezzotti M, Ferrario S, Angenent GC, Gerats T. The Plant Cell 15 (11): 2680-2693
 184 </p>
 185
 186 <p class="bibliography">
 187 An AFLP-based genome-wide mapping strategy (2004). Peters JL, Cnops G, Neyt P, Zethof J, Cornelis K, Van Lijsebettens M, Gerats T. Theor and Appl Gen 108 (2): 321-327
 188 </p>
 189
 190 <p class="bibliography">
 191 A PCR-based assay to detect hAT-like transposon sequences in plants (2004). De Keukeleire P, De Schepper S, Gielis J, Gerats T. Chrom Res 12 (2): 117-123 2004
 192 </p>
 193
 194 <p class="bibliography">
 195 The Rg-1 encoded regeneration capacity of tomato is not related to an altered cytokinin homeostasis (2004). Boiten H, Azmi A, Dillen W, De Schepper S, Debergh P, Gerats T, Van Onckelen H, Prinsen E New Phyt 161 (3): 761-771
 196 </p>
 197
 198 <p class="bibliography">
 199 The duplicated B-class heterodimer model: Whorl-specific effects and complex genetic interactions in Petunia hybrida flower development (2004). Vandenbussche M, Zethof J, Royaert S, Weterings K, Gerats T. The Plant Cell 16 (3): 741-754
 200 </p>
 201
 202 <p class="bibliography">
 203 Ectopic expression of the petunia MADS box gene UNSHAVEN accelerates flowering and confers leaf-like characteristics to floral organs in a dominant-negative manner (2004). Ferrario S, Busscher J, Franken J, Gerats T, Vandenbussche M, Angenent GC, Immink RGH The Plant Cell 16 (6): 1490-1505
 204 </p>
 205
 206 <p class="bibliography">
 207 The rotunda2 mutants identify a role for the LEUNIG gene in vegetative leaf morphogenesis (2004). Cnops G, Jover-Gil S, Peters JL, Neyt P, De Block S, Robles P, Ponce MR, Gerats T, Van Lijsebettens M Journ of Exp Bot 55 (402): 1529-1539
 208 </p>
 209
 210 <p class="bibliography">
 211 STIG1 controls exudate secretion in the pistil of petunia and tobacco (2005).  Verhoeven T et al. Plant Phys 138 (1): 153-160
 212 </p>
 213
 214 <p class="bibliography">
 215 A model system for comparative research: Petunia (2005). Gerats T, Vandenbussche M Trends in Plant Sci 10 (5): 251-256
 216 </p>
 217
 218 <p class="bibliography">
 219 Meiosis: Inducing variation by reduction (2005). Cnudde F, Gerats T Plant Biology 7 (4): 321-341 Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) Isogenic Recombinant Analysis: a method for high-resolution mapping of QTL within a single population (2005). Peleman JD, Wye C, Zethof J, Sørensen AP, Verbakel H, Van Oeveren J, Gerats T, Rouppe van der Voort J. Genetics, 171: 1341-1352.
 220 </p>
 221
 222 END_HEREDOC
 223 $page->footer();