Research Interest:

 

I am currently working with my thesis advisor Dr. Blee on the subcellular localization of 2 class III secretory peroxidase genes in Arabidopsis thaliana. One of the genes, AT4G30170 is predicted to be located in the extracellular space whereas the other gene, AT3G49120 is predicted to be located in the vacuole, the extracellular space, the golgi apparatus, cell wall, and the vacuolar membrane. Both genes follow the default secretory pathway, but AT3G49120 has a C-terminal propeptide (CTPP) which might be the determinant for sorting the class III peroxidase into the vacuole. I plan on splicing the CTPP of AT3G49120 onto AT4G30170 to see if the new construct is relocalized in the vacuole. Additionally, I will see where the original two genes are localized subcellularly. I also plan on studying the role of these genes in lignification and on the developmental stages of A. thaliana.

 

On the right is some pictures I took of a side project I am doing with Dr. Blee and Julie Lengerich