Rebekah Rampey, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of the Biology Department
Disciplines
- Biology
Research Interests
- Auxins are a class of phytohormones that influence virtually every aspect of plant development. Plants regulate auxin levels through complex interactions among de novo synthesis, degradation, influx, efflux, and conjugate synthesis and hydrolysis. A thorough knowledge of these pathways is key to understanding the roles of auxins in plants. In a collaborative effort with Dr. Bethany Zolman, an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Missouri in St. Louis, we are using genetic approaches to better understand the function of certain proteins involved in auxin storage and metabolism in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. A forward genetic screen identified a mutant defective in auxin-conjugate response, J56. We have used next-generation sequencing to compare mutant and genomic sequences and several mutations were identified in J56. Students are working to identify the causative mutation for the J56 auxin phenotype using several approaches, including isolating mutant alleles for candidate genes, using PCR to assay homozygous J56 lines for segregation of each mutation, and using quantitative PCR to measure expression levels of the candidate genes.