 Project
Director
Michael F. Thomashow
Professor of Molecular Genetics
Ph.D.(University of California, Los Angeles, CA)
MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1312 USA
Phone: (517) 355-2299
Fax: (517) 353-9168
thomash6@msu.edu
Departmental Home Page:
http://www.prl.msu.edu/faculty-and-research/michael-f-thomashow/
DOE-Plant Research
Laboratory
Department of Crop and Soil
Sciences
Department of Microbiology
and Molecular Genetics
Member of Genetics
Program
Member of Cell and Molecular
Biology Program
Member of Plant Breeding
& Genetics Graduate Program
College of Agriculture
and Natural Resources
College of Natural Science
Michigan Agricultural Experiment
Station
Research Summary
My lab works on the molecular genetic basis of cold tolerance
in plants and bacteria. Our plant research focuses on cold
acclimation, the process whereby certain plants increase in
freezing tolerance in response to low nonfreezing temperatures.
We recently described a regulatory pathway in Arabidopsis,
the CBF cold-response pathway, that contributes to
both freezing and drought tolerance. Our goal now is to develop
a detailed low temperature "wiring diagram" for
the Arabidopsis genome. At completion, the diagram
will include an identification of all genes that are responsive
to low temperature; the transcription factors that control
the expression of these genes; an identification of the low
temperature "thermometers" or "sensors"
that regulate the activities of the transcription factors;
and a determination of whether the pathways have critical
roles in cold tolerance. We are currently using gene expression
profiling approaches to provide key components of the diagram.
As a new member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, we are extending
our studies on cold tolerance to include bacterial strains
that have been retrieved from the Arctic and Antarctic permafrost,
some of which have been frozen for more than three million
years. Our overall goal is to identify genes that enable these
bacteria to live in these cold, inhospitable environments.
The studies include determining and analyzing the full genome
sequences of two permafrost isolates, one an Exiguobacterium,
the other a Psychrobacter, and conducting gene expression
profiling and transposon mutagenesis experiments to determine
the regulation and function of cold-responsive genes.
Recent Key Research Papers on Cold Acclimation
Stockinger, E.J., S.J. Gilmour and M.F. Thomashow. 1997. Arabidopsis
thaliana CBF1 encodes an AP2 domain-containing transcriptional activator
that binds to the C-repeat/DRE, a cis-acting DNA regulatory element
that stimulates transcription in response to low temperature and water deficit. Proc
Natl Acad Sci USA 94: 1035-1040.
Jaglo-Ottosen, K. R., S.J. Gilmour, D.G. Zarka, O. Schabenberger and M.F.
Thomashow. 1998. Arabidopsis CBF1 overexpression induces COR genes
and enhances freezing tolerance. Science 280: 104-106.
Gilmour S.J., A.M. Seblot, M.P. Salazar, J.D. Everard and M.F. Thomashow.
2000. Overexpression of the Arabidopsis CBF3 transcriptional activator
mimics multiple biochemical changes associated with cold acclimation. Plant Physiol 124:
1854-1865.
Fowler S., and M.F. Thomashow. 2002. Arabidopsis transcriptome
profiling indicates multiple regulatory pathways are activated
during cold acclimation in addition to the CBF cold-response
pathway. Plant Cell 14: 1675-1690.
Zhang X., S. Fowler, H. Cheng, Y. Lou, S.Y. Rhee, E.J. Stockinger and M.F.
Thomashow. 2004. Freezing sensitive tomato has a functional CBF cold response
pathway, but a CBF regulon that differs from that of freezing tolerant Arabidopsis.
Plant J 39: 905-919.
Cook D., S. Fowler, O. Fiehn and M.F. Thomashow. 2004. A prominent role
of the CBF cold response pathway in configuring the low temperature metabolome
of Arabidopsis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101: 15243-15248 (article is subject
of associated commentary).
Vogel, J.T., D.G. Zarka, H.A. Van Buskirk, S.G. Fowler, and M.F. Thomashow.
2005. Roles of the CBF2 and ZAT12 transcription factors in configuring the
low temperature transcriptome of Arabidopsis. Plant
J 41: 195-211.
Reviews on Cold Acclimation
Thomashow, M.F. 2001. So what's new in the field of plant cold
acclimation? Lots! Plant Physiol 125: 89-93.
Thomashow, M.F. 1999. Plant cold acclimation: freezing tolerance
genes and regulatory mechanisms. Annu Rev Plant Physiol
Plant Mol Biol 50: 571-599.
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