The lab is using a multi-disciplinary approach to understand how genes control changes in the shape of plant cells. By examining post-embryonic growth of the model plant species Arabidopsis, we seek to uncover the molecular machinery that underlies the decision making process of a cell to commence expansion and the mechanisms that drive these shape changes.
Towards this, two complementary methodologies are being integrated:
1) Inference of co-functional Gene Networks (how genes influence other genes)
2) Quantitative analysis of 3D cellular geometric changes (how plant cells grow in 3D)
Functional gene interactions that modulate cell shape change have been computationally inferred from publicly available gene expression data in the lab. These predicted functional gene interactions are being investigated using quantitative high resolution imaging. In this way, the effects of these gene interactions can be quantified within the context of 3D cell shape changes.
Bassel GW, Gaudinier A, Brady SM, Hennig L, Rhee SY, De Smet I (2012) Systems Analysis of Plant Functional, Transcriptional, Physical Interaction, and Metabolic Networks. The Plant Cell Published online October 30, 2012 PDF
Miguel Gonzalez-Guzman, Gaston A. Pizzio, Regina Antoni, Francisco Vera-Sirera, Ebe Merilo, George W. Bassel, Maria A. Fernández, Michael J. Holdsworth, Miguel Angel Perez-Amador, Hannes Kollist, Pedro L. Rodriguez (2012)Arabidopsis PYR/PYL/RCAR Receptors Play a Major Role in Quantitative Regulation of Stomatal Aperture and Transcriptional Response to Abscisic Acid. The Plant Cell 2012 tpc.112.098574
Martínez-Andújar C*, Pluskota WE*, Bassel GW*, Asahina M*, Pupel P, Nguyen TT, Takeda-Kamiya N, Toubiana D, Bai B, Górecki RJ, Fait A, Yamaguchi S, Nonogaki H. (2012) The mechanisms of hormonal regulation of endosperm cap-specific gene expression in tomato seeds. The Plant Journal Mar 28. PubMed *Equal Contribution
Bassel GW*, Lan H, Glaab E, Gibbs DJ, Gerjets T, Krasnogor N, Bonner AJ, Holdsworth MJ, Provart NJ (2011) Genome-wide network model capturing seed germination revealscoordinated regulation of plant cellular phase transitions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 108:9709-14 * Corresponding author
Bassel GW*, Glaab E, Marquez J, Holdsworth MJ, Bacardit J. (2011) Functional network construction in Arabidopsis using rule-based machine learning on large-scale data sets. The Plant Cell 23:3101-16. * Corresponding author
Gibbs DJ, Lee SC, Isa NM, Gramuglia S, Fukao T, Bassel GW, Correia CS, Corbineau F, Theodoulou FL, Bailey-Serres J, Holdsworth MJ. (2011) Homeostatic response to hypoxia is regulated by the N-end rule pathway in plants. Nature 479(7373):415-8
Usadel B, Obayashi T, Mutwil M, Giorgi F, Bassel GW, Tanimoto M, Chow A, Persson S, Provart NJ (2009) Coexpression Tools for Plant Biology: Opportunities for Hypothesis Generation and Caveats. Plant Cell and Environment32: 1633-1651
Bassel GW, Fung P, Chow TF, Foong JA, Provart NJ, Cutler SR (2008) Elucidating the germination transcriptional program using small molecules. Plant Physiology147:143-155
Bassel GW*, Mullen RT, Bewley JD (2008) procera is a putative DELLA mutant in tomato (Solanum lycopersicon): effects on the seed and vegetative plant. Journal of Experimental Botany 59: 585-593 * Corresponding author
Bassel GW, Zielinska E, Mullen RT, Bewley JD (2004) Down-regulation of DELLA genes is not essential for germination of tomato, soybean and Arabidopsis seeds. Plant Physiology 136: 2782-2789