Research Overview
Broad research overview of the Ronald Laboratory,
A thorough understanding of the complex signal transduction processes in monocots requires appropriate tools, as many aspects of their development and physiology are different from those of dicots. Rice, because of its diploid genetics, small genome size, extensive genetic map, available genome sequence, and relative ease of transformation, is considered a model monocot. Therefore the structural and functional analysis of rice has broad practical implications for the other economically important cereals. Rice is one of only seven (including C. elegans, Drosophila, human, mouse, mosquito and Arabidopsis) higher eukaryotic genomes that have been entirely sequenced with two draft sequences of the rice genome published in April 2002 and the finished, fully annotated sequence expected in 2005. The convergence of genomic sequence, informatics, and protein-protein interaction technologies has created the opportunity to dramatically enhance our understanding of cell signaling in the cereals, using rice as a model system. Development and application of these technologies will augment traditional approaches to create new higher yielding varieties of cereal species. Environmental stresses, particularly water availability and disease, are the largest factors determining plant yields and quality. Members of my lab are generating and using genomic, proteomic and informatic tools to study rice perception, signaling and response to bacterial and fungal pathogens, and submergence stress. For a brief description of each project click here, other wise, click straight to the project that interests you.
