| Ph.D. - University of California, Riverside, 1991 |
| Associate Professor |
| Center for Agricultural Biotechnology |
| Plant Sciences Center |
| University of Maryland |
| College Park, MD 20742 |
| 3276 Biology Psychology, Campus 4415 |
| Phone: (301)-405-2912 |
| E-mail:
jc216@umail.umd.edu |
| Research: Molecular plant-virus interactions. |
Research in our laboratory is directed at understanding how plant viruses interact with their hosts to cause disease and induce resistance responses. Specifically, we are interested in identifying the viral and host components involved in these responses and determining how they interact. To examine these interactions, we utilize tobacco mosaic tobamovirus (TMV) as a model system. Several factors make TMV an ideal system for studying plant-virus interactions. These include existence of a full-length infectious cDNA clone of the virus, high-resolution crystallographic data on the structure of four tobamovirus coat proteins, established host genetics for resistance and disease responses, and a wealth of information on the biology and replication strategies of the virus. Currently, we are interested in the role of the TMV coat protein in the induction of a specific host resistance response. Elicitation of this response is dependent upon specific structural alterations that occur within the coat protein molecule. These alterations result in a molecule that is somehow recognized by the plant and can trigger the resistance response. Similar alterations within the TMV coat protein have also been found to affect host disease responses. Future research will focus on determining the precise coat protein structural features that affect host resistance and disease responses.
