Eric
M. Engstrom
Assistant Professor at
The College of William and Mary since August 2005. B.A., Biology, Reed College, May 1993. Ph.D., Biological Sciences, Stanford
University, June 2002.
Research
Interests:
My
laboratory studies mechanisms of intercellular communication underlying plant
development and the evolution of developmental pathways. Plants exhibit an indeterminate pattern
of growth, characterized by the continuous generation of organs throughout the
life of the organism. Leaves and
floral organs are derived from shoot meristems, populations of pluripotent
cells located at shoot apicies.
Organs arise from cells on the meristem flank. Cells on the meristem flank are replaced, and the structure
of the meristem maintained, by cell division on the meristem interior.
Surgical
studies first performed roughly half a century ago established that lateral
organ polarity becomes fixed shortly following or immediately preceding organ
emergence, and is dependent upon information derived from the apical
meristem. In the absence of this
information, lateral organs develop as radially symmetrical structures. Much of the research in my laboratory
focuses on the goal of identifying this meristem-derived signal that induces
organ polarity.
My
laboratory is also contributing to the development of Selaginella
moellendorffii
as a model system for the study of plant development. Specifically, we are developing reliable methods for
crossing and transformation, with the longer-term goal of performing
mutageneses and forward genetic screening for developmental mutations.
Potential
Student Projects:
I
currently have space and funding to support student interested in plant biology
research. Several examples of
possible projects are:
(1) Isolation
of TORNADO1,
a gene that may play a role in development of the leaf lamina (Molecular
Cloning).
(2) Construction
of a C-terminal tagged PHABULOSA gene to facilitate purification of the PHABULOSA
protein (Molecular Cloning and Plant Transformation).
(3) Construction
of a micro-RNA resistant dominant gain-of-function allele of the Arabidopsis
At2g45160 gene, a scarecrow-like gene with a possible role in meristem
regulation (Molecular Cloning and Plant Transformation).
(4) Determination
of the sub-cellular localization pattern of FACKEL, a sterol biosynthesis
protein essential for normal embryogenesis in Arabidopsis, using GREEN FLUORESCENT
PROTEIN (GFP)-tagged FACKEL (Confocal Microscopy).
(5) Development
of a Selaginella moellendorffii transformation protocol (Plant Transformation).
Interested
students should contact Dr. Eric Engstrom at emengs@wm.edu
or 221-1994. My office is
Millington 214.
Recent
Publications:
Engstrom,
E. M., Izhaki,
A. and Bowman, J.L. (2004) Promoter bashing, microRNAs, and Knox genes. New insights, regulators, and
targets-of-regulation in the establishment of lateral organ polarity in
Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology 135, 685-694.
Engstrom,
E. M.,
Ehrhardt, D. W., Mitra, R. M. and Long, S.R. (2002) Pharmacological analysis of
Nod factor-induced calcium spiking in Medicago truncatula. Evidence for the requirement of type IIA calcium pumps and
phosphoinositide signaling. Plant Physiology 128, 1390-1401. (Feature article
ŇOn the InsideÓ: Pharmacology of Calcium Spiking Induced by Nod Factors. Plant
Physiology 128, 1163.)
Oldroyd,
G.E.D., Engstrom, E.M. and Long, S. R. (2001) Ethylene inhibits the Nod factor signal
transduction pathway of Medicago truncatula. Plant Cell 13, 1835-1849.
Lolle,
S.J., Berlyn, G.P., Engstrom, E.M., Krolikowski, K.A., Reiter, W-D. and Pruitt, R. E.
(1997) Developmental regulation of cell interactions in the Arabidopsis fiddlehead-1 mutant: a role for the
epidermal cell wall and cuticle. Developmental Biology 189, 311-321.
Last
updated November 05
The
College of William and Mary, Department of Biology