# overview
My lab is currently investigating mechanisms that regulate telomerase activity in plants. We previously showed that the pattern of telomerase expression in plants is remarkably similar to the pattern seen in humans, despite fundamental differences in development between plants and animals. Telomerase is abundantly expressed in reproductive organs but is undetectable in most vegetative organs (Fitzgerald et al., 1996). Additionally, telomerase can be induced in leaves and other vegetative organs by exposure to exogenous auxin.

To isolate genes that regulate telomerase, we screened a large population of activation tagged lines of Arabidopsis thaliana, and found that several lines that ectopically express telomerase in leaves. The first line we characterized over-expressed a gene encoding a small zinc finger transcription factor we designated TELOMERASE ACTIVATOR 1 (Ren et al., 2004). This factor does not bind to the promoter for TERT, which encodes the catalytically active subunit of telomerase. Instead, it binds to and activates transcription of BT2, a gene encoding a component of a ubiquitin ligase (Ren et al., 2007). Our working model is that the BT2 ubiquitin ligase marks a telomerase repressor for destruction, thereby allowing expression of telomerase. Efforts in the lab are currently focused on identifying the presumed telomerase repressor protein and other proteins that interact with BT2.

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Global Transcription Factor Group E Protein (gte)

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30 Agricultural, Veterinary And Food Sciences

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Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization (fish)

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3102 Bioinformatics And Computational Biology

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2.2 Factors Relating To The Physical Environment

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University of Georgia - (Athens, Georgia, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
University of Georgia - (Athens, Georgia, United States)

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Association of Former Students College-Level Teaching Distinguished Achievement Award, The

# publications[].label
A disarmed binary vector from Agrobacterium tumefaciens functions in Agrobacterium rhizogenes : Frequent co-transformation of two distinct T-DNAs.

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Telomeres, telomerase, and stability of the plant genome.

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Living with genome instability: plant responses to telomere dysfunction.

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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

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Different modes of de novo telomere formation by plant telomerases.

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A secreted purple acid phosphatase from Arabidopsis.

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BT2, a BTB protein, mediates multiple responses to nutrients, stresses, and hormones in Arabidopsis.

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Regulation of telomerase in Arabidopsis by BT2, an apparent target of TELOMERASE ACTIVATOR1.

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TRANSFORMATION OF PLANTS VIA THE SHOOT APEX

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A BTB-TAZ protein is required for gene activation by Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S multimerized enhancers.

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The secreted purple acid phosphatase isozymes AtPAP12 and AtPAP26 play a pivotal role in extracellular phosphate-scavenging by Arabidopsis thaliana

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Molecular characterization of two anthranilate synthase alpha subunit genes in Camptotheca acuminata.

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Secreted purple acid phosphatase from Arabidopsis thaliana

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Nucleotide sequence and molecular evolution of two tomato genes encoding the small subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase.

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Ty1-copia-retrotransposon behavior in a polyploid cotton.

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Role of LEAFLESS, an AP2/ERF family transcription factor, in the regulation of trichome specialized metabolism.

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Disruption of the telomerase catalytic subunit gene from Arabidopsis inactivates telomerase and leads to a slow loss of telomeric DNA.

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

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Wright was right: leveraging old data and new methods to illustrate the critical role of epistasis in genetics and evolution.

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Characterization and developmental patterns of telomerase expression in plants

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

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Tissue-Specific Expression of the β-Subunit of Tryptophan Synthase in Camptotheca acuminata, an Indole Alkaloid-Producing Plant

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Development of transcriptomic resources for interrogating the biosynthesis of monoterpene indole alkaloids in medicinal plant species.

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Characterization and preliminary mapping of cauliflower mosaic virus transcripts.

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Expression of enzymatically active and correctly targeted strictosidine synthase in transgenic tobacco plants.

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Use of meiotic FISH for identification of a new monosome in Gossypium hirsutum L.

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Telomeres, telomerase and plant development

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Sustained harvest of camptothecin from the leaves of Camptotheca acuminata.

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Fluorescent in situ hybridization of a bacterial artificial chromosome.

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Isolation and Mapping of Small Cauliflower Mosaic Virus DNA Fragments Active as Promoters in Escherichia coli.

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Nucleotide sequence of a cDNA encoding the vacuolar protein strictosidine synthase from Catharanthus roseus.

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Bromodomain proteins GTE9 and GTE11 are essential for specific BT2-mediated sugar and ABA responses in Arabidopsis thaliana.

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Distribution of 5S and 18S-28S rDNA loci in a tetraploid cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) and its putative diploid ancestors

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ISOLATION AND LOCATION OF POTENTIAL PROMOTERS OF CAULIFLOWER MOSAIC-VIRUS

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Analysis of the G‐overhang structures on plant telomeres: evidence for two distinct telomere architectures

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ISOLATION AND EXPRESSION OF A TRYPTOPHAN DECARBOXYLASE GENE FROM CAMPTOTHECA-ACUMINATA

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ACCUMULATION AND BIOSYNTHESIS OF CAMPTOTHECIN AND 10-OH-CAMPTOTHECIN IN CAMPTOTHECA-ACUMINATA

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Molecular biology of camptothecin production

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In situ hybridization of biotinylated DNA probes to cotton meiotic chromosomes.

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Identification of a homeologous chromosome pair by in situ DNA hybridization to ribosomal RNA loci in meiotic chromosomes of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum).

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Purification and characterization of a secreted purple phosphatase from soybean suspension cultures.

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A rapid procedure for the isolation of C0t-1 DNA from plants.

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New ribosomal RNA gene locations in Gossypium hirsutum mapped by meiotic FISH.

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Molecular cytogenetic mapping of a nucleolar organizer region in cotton

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TELOMERASE ACTIVATOR1 induces telomerase activity and potentiates responses to auxin in Arabidopsis.

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Candidate Gene Networks for Acylsugar Metabolism and Plant Defense in Wild Tomato Solanum pennellii

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Plant telomeres and telomerases. A review.

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Evolution of interspersed repetitive elements inGossypium (Malvaceae).

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POT1-independent single-strand telomeric DNA binding activities in Brassicaceae.

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Sites of accumulation of the antitumor alkaloid camptothecin in Camptotheca acuminata.

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Expression of a 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase gene from Camptotheca acuminata is differentially regulated by wounding and methyl jasmonate.

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A simplified and efficient vector-primer cDNA cloning system.

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Distribution of 5S and 18S-28S rDNA loci in a tetraploid cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) and its putative diploid ancestors.

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Specialized metabolism by trichome-enriched Rubisco and fatty acid synthase components.

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Segregation of genes transferred to one plant cell from two separate Agrobacterium strains.

# researcherOn[].label
Genetic Heritability and Spatiotemporal Transcriptional Mapping of the Vocal Learning Process Using A Minimal Song-Training

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Science Foundation - (Arlington, Virginia, United States)

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Texas A&M University; Biology; 3258 TAMU

# inTheNews[].label
Remembering Longtime Academic Advisor And Texas Graduate Clint Crampton '99

# etdChairOf[].label
Misra, Anjali (2011-12). The Bromodomain Proteins GTE9 and GTE11 Associate with BT2-based E3 Ligase Complex and Mediate Responses to Multiple Signals in Arabidopsis thaliana.. Doctoral Dissertation.

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Thomas, Beth Elene Armstrong (2006-12). Regulation of phosphate starvation response in Arabidopsis. Master's Thesis.

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Ren, Shuxin (2003-08). Telomerase activator1: a zinc-finger protein that acts synergistically with auxin to control telomerase expression in Arabidopsis thaliana. Doctoral Dissertation.

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Mandadi, Kranthi Kiran (2010-08). BT2, a BTB Scaffold Protein, Mediates Responses to Multiple Biotic and Abiotic Signals in Arabidopsis. Doctoral Dissertation.

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Boltz, Kara A. (2013-12). Telomere Regulation in Arabidopsis thaliana by the CST Capping Complex and DNA Damage Response Proteins. Doctoral Dissertation.

# etdChairOf[].label
Patel, Ketan (2006-12). Purple acid phosphatase 12: a tool to study the phosphate starvation response in Arabidopsis thaliana. Doctoral Dissertation.