RESEARCH INTEREST

Microbial and plant development. Specific interests include: symbiotic nitrogen fixation, plant molecular biology, peptide transport, functional and structural plant genomics.


RESEARCH

Host-microbe interactions
The major focus of research in the Stacey lab is the symbiosis between the bacterium Bradyrhizobium japonicum and its host plant, soybean. The result of this interaction is the establishment of a novel organ, nodule, on the root of the host. Inside this organ, B. japonicum fixes atmospheric nitrogen, which the plant can utilize. Our work on this symbiosis focuses both on the symbiont and the plant host. With regard to the bacterium, we are largely focusing on the regulation of the nodulation genes required for plant infection and establishment of the symbiosis. Regulation of these genes is complex. For example, we recently discovered a novel quorum (population density) signal bradyoxetin that controls nodulation gene expression in planta. This work may have broader relevance to other bacteria, including animal pathogens, which have an intracellular growth habit. Plant perception of lipo-chitin nodulation signals, produced by the bacterium, is essential for induction of de novo organogenesis, leading to nodule formation. Our research is focused on plant recognition of this molecule and the signal transduction pathways leading to nodule development. This work has led us to a general interest in chitin recognition in plants. For example, chitin, released from the cell wall of pathogenic fungi, is a known elicitor of defense responses in plants. We are investigating this phenomenon utilizing DNA microarray and proteomic approaches.

Peptide transport in plants
There is a growing body of information implicating peptides as circulating hormones in plants. This is consistent with the major role that peptides play in regulating growth and development in animals. Our contribution to this area focuses on the role of peptide transporters in the growth and development of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. We have identified peptide transporters in two families: PTR, which transport di- and tripeptides and OPT, which transport tetra- and pentapeptides. In both cases, disruption of peptide transporter expression (e.g., through antisense expression or mutation) results in severe defects in seed and embryo development. Our goal in this research is to define the role peptide transporters play in plant growth and development, to define their substrates and to elucidate the regulation of these interesting proteins.

Soybean genomics and biotechnology
As part of the growing family of researchers at MU who are interested in soybean biology, our laboratory is contributing to the development of soybean genomic research. The goal of this research is to identify genes and traits, which can benefit soybean agriculture. For example, at MU, we are developing, in collaboration with other laboratories, first rate facilities for high-throughput molecular breeding of soybean and transformation capabilities for creating transgenic soybean with improve agronomic and/or nutritional traits.



SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

A. Book/ Journals Edited:

Gustafson, P., Taylor, J., and Stacey, G. (2008) Genomics of Disease. Springer.

Stacey, G. (2008) Soybean Genetics and Genomics, Springer.

B. Journal Articles:

Xiaolei Wu, Guihua Zhong, Seth Findley, Perry Cregan, Gary Stacey and Henry Nguyen. (2008). Genetic marker anchoring by six-dimensional pools for development of a soybean physical map. BMC Genomics 9:28

Laurent Brechenmacher, Moon-Young Kim, Jijun Zou, Marisol Benitez, Min Li, Crystal B. McAlvin, Trupti Joshi, Bernarda Calla, Mei Phing Lee, Reena Philip, Marc Libault, Lila O. Vodkin, Dong Xu, Suk-Ha Lee, Steven J. Clough, Gary Stacey. (2008) Transcription profiling of soybean supernodulation byBradyrhizobium japonicum. Mol. Plant-Microbe Int. 21: 631-645

Jinrong Wan, Xuecheng Zhang, Katrina M. Ramonell, Steve Clough, Sung-yong Kim, Minviluz Stacey, and Gary Stacey (2008) A LysM receptor-like kinase mediates chitin perception and fungal resistance in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 20: 471-481.

Randy Shoemaker, David Grant, Terry Olson, Wesley C. Warren, Rod Wing, Perry Cregan, Bindu Joseph, Montona Futrell-Griggs, Will Nelson, Jon Davito, Jason Walker, John Wallis, Colin Kremitski, Debbie Scheer, Sandy Clifton, Tina Graves, Henry Nguyuen, Xiaolei Wu, Mingcheng Luo, Jan Dvorak, Steve Cannon, Jeff Thomkins, Jeremy Schmutz, Gary Stacey and Scott Jackson (2008) Microsatellite discovery from BAC end sequences and genetic mapping to anchor the soybean physical and genetic maps. Genome 51: 294-302

Minviluz G. Stacey, Ami Patel, William E. McClain, Melanie Mathieu, Melissa Remley, Elizabeth E. Rogers, Walter Gassmann, Dale G. Blevins and Gary Stacey. (2008) The Arabidopsis AtOPT3 protein functions in metal homeostasis and movement of iron to developing seeds. Plant Physiol. 146: 589-601

Marc Libault, Sandra Thibivilliers, Osman Radman, Steven J. Clough and Gary Stacey (2008) Identification of four soybean reference genes for gene expression normalization. Plant Genome. 1:44-54

Juan Zhang, Senthil Subramanian, Gary Stacey, and Oliver Yu (2008) Different flavonoids have distinct functions during nodulation of Medicago truncatula by Sinorhizobium meliloti. Plant J. (in press)

Ravisha R. Weerasinghe, Sarah J. Swanson, Seiko Okada, Michele B. Garrett, Sung-Yong Kim, Gary Stacey, Richard C. Boucher, Simon Gilroy, and Alan M. Jones (2008) The resenitization-to-touch set point in Arabidopsis roots is regulated by the heterotrimeric G protein complex. EMBO Reports (in revision)

Lee, Joohyun, Kimberly G. Campbell, Brian Scheffler, Jian Feng, Daniel Q. Naiman, Wesley M. Garrett, Sandra Thibivilliers, Gary Stacey, M.A. Pastor-Corrales, and Bret Cooper (2008). Quantitative proteomic analysis of bean plants infected by a virulent and avirulent obligate rust fungus. Mol. Cell. Prot. (submitted).

Franck, William L., Woo-Suk Chang, Jing Qiu, Stephanie A. Smith, and Gary Stacey (2008) Whole-genome transcriptional profiling of Bradyrhizobium japonicum during chemoautotrophic growth. J. Bacteriol. (in press)

Wan, Jinrong, Xuecheng Zhang, and Gary Stacey (2008) Chitin signaling and plant disease resistance. Plant Signaling and Behavior, 3 (10): 1-3.

Wan J, Patel A, Mathieu M, Kim S-Y, Xu D, Stacey G (2008) A lectin receptor-like kinase is required for pollen development in Arabidopsis. Plant Mol. Biol. 67: 469-482

Thibivilliers S, Joshi T, Campbell KB, Scheffler B, Boerma R, Xu D, Cooper B, Nguyen HT, Stacey G (2008) EST sequencing of Phaseolus vulgaris genes responsive to Uromyces appendiculatus infection also identifies soybean genes responding to Phakopsora pachyrhizi infection. Mol. Plant-Microbe Int. (submitted)

Libault M, Zhang X-C, Govindarajulu M, Ong YT, Brechenmacher l, Berg RH, Hurley-Sommer A, Taylor C, Stacey G (2008) A member of the highly conserved FWL (tomato FW2.2-like) gene family is essential for soybean nodule organogenesis. Plant Cell (submitted).

Govindarajulu, Manjula, Sung-Yong Kim, Marc Libault, R. Howard Berg, Kiwamu Tanaka, Gary Stacey, and Christopher G. Taylor (2008) GS52 ecto-apyrase plays a critical role during nodulation in soybean. Plant Physiology (submitted).

Laurent Brechenmacher, Joohyun Lee, Sherri Sachdev, Zhao Song, Tran Hong Nha Nguyen; Joshi Trupti, Beverly Dague, Nathan Oehrle, Marc Libault, Brian Mooney, Dong Xu, Bret Cooper, and Gary Stacey (2008) Establishment of a protein reference map for soybean root hair cells. Plant Physiol. (submitted)

Mathieu, Melanie, Elizabeth K. Winters, Fanming Kong, Jinrong Wan, Shaoxing Wang, Helene Eckert, Christopher Donovan, David Somers, Kan Wang, Gary Stacey and Tom Clemente (2008) Establishment of a soybean (Glycine max Merr. L) transposon-based mutagenesis respository. Planta (accepted, pending revision).

Rogers EE, X. Wu, G. Stacey, H. Nguyen (2008) Two MATE proteins play a role in iron efficiency in soybean. J. Plant Physiol. (submitted)

Mathieu M, Z Zhang, H. Nguyen, T Clemente, G Stacey (2008) Successful transposition of the Tnt1 tobacco retrotransposon in soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.). (in preparation)

C. Book Chapters

Joshi T, Wan J, Palm CJ, Juneau K, Davis R, Southwick A, Ramonell KM, Stacey G, Xu D (2007) Bioinformatics Analyses of Arabidopsis thaliana Tiling Array Expression Data. In "Knowledge Discovery in Bioinformatics: techniques, Methods and Application" edited by Yi Pan and Xiaohua (Tony) Hu, John Wiley and Sons, New York. pp. 57-70.

Stacey G. Brechenmacher L, Libault M, Sachdev S (2007) Functional genomics of soybean root hair infection., IN Proceedings of the 15th International Congress on Biological Nitrogen Fixation. In press

Stacey G (2007) Evolution. IN Proceedings of the 15th International Congress on Biological Nitrogen Fixation. In press

Jinrong Wan, Katrina Ramonell, Xuecheng Zhang, Steve Clough, Marc Libault, Geon H. Son, Minviluz G. Stacey, Ren Zhang, Jong C. Hong, and Gary Stacey (2007) Chitin Signaling in Arabidopsis, F. Sanchez, C. Quinto, I.M. Lopez-Lara, and O. Geiger (eds.), pp. 42-48, Biology of Plant-Microbe Interactions, volume 5, Int. Soc. Mol. Plant-Microbe Int., St. Paul, MN, USA.