Research - Schumaker Lab

We are interested in understanding the endogenous programs that control plant growth and development and how those programs are altered to enable the plant to adapt to growth in non-optimal conditions. Specifically our research activities are focused in the following three areas:

Signal transduction - Mechanisms controlling calcium-mediated development. Our long term goal is to understand how developmental specificity is achieved in plants. Plants are continually exposed to endogenous and environmental signals beginning at seed germination through seedling growth and plant maturation to flowering and reproduction. Hormones, light, nutrient availability, gravity, drought, salinity, extremes of temperature and pest and pathogen interactions are just some of the signals that are perceived and processed by cells in ways that allow the plant to respond and modify growth. A change in cellular calcium has emerged as an essential component of many signaling pathways in plants, underlying growth and development by linking perception of endogenous and environmental cues to cellular responses. A critical unanswered question in plant biology centers on the issue of specificity. How can a simple non-protein messenger be involved in so many signal transduction pathways? Models for specificity suggest it may reside in the temporal, spatial and kinetic properties of the calcium change and in the array of molecules that sense alterations in cellular calcium levels. Using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, our research focuses on understanding the roles of the Calcineurin B-like calcium binding proteins and their target Calcineurin B-like interacting proteins kinases in the establishment of developmental specificity. Results from these studies will be critical for designing strategies to modify the responses of plants to endogenous and environmental cues for optimal growth.

Abiotic stress - Mechanisms underlying plant adaptation to salt stress. The build up of salt in agricultural soils is a widespread problem that limits the growth and yield of important crop species nationally and worldwide. With few exceptions, crop plants are glycophytes, unable to adapt to the ionic, osmotic and oxidative stresses induced by elevated levels of salt in the soil. Halophytes are plants that are capable of maintaining growth and development in extremely saline environments. Our research focuses on understanding how a halophytic relative of Arabidopsis, Thellungiella halophila (synonymous with Thellungiella salsuginea), is able to grow in saline soils. Understanding the molecular mechanisms critical for halophyte success during growth in salt and discovery of the associated determinants will be critical for designing strategies to engineer and breed more salt-tolerant crop plants.

Gene regulatory networks – Gene regulatory networks controlling early reproductive development. The female gametophyte is an integral part of the plant life cycle and plays critical roles in essentially every step of the angiosperm reproductive process including pollen tube guidance, fertilization, activation of seed development, and maternal control of seed development. The goal of this research is to identify gene-regulatory networks in the female gametophyte in Arabidopsis to understand how gene circuitries control plant processes.