Research
Interests:
My lab has active areas of research in virus-induced
gene silencing, geminivirus-host interactions, and in abiotic
stress. Long-term goals are to understand how geminiviruses,
which are DNA viruses that transcribe their genes in plant
nuclei, interact with plant gene silencing pathways, and
to be able to harness these viruses for use in the functional
genomics of crop plants. A second long-term goal is to
understand how modulation of intracellular levels of calcium
in the endoplasmic reticulum affects root growth and stress
tolerance.
Selected
Publications:
Tuttle,, J.R., Idris,, A.M., Brown, J. K.,
Haigler, C.H., and Robertson, D. (submitted) Disarming Cotton
leaf crumple virus for virus induced gene silencing
in Gossypium hirsutum. Plant Physiol.
Jordan, C.V., Shen, W., Hanley-Bowdoin, L., and Robertson, D. (2007) Geminivirus-induced
gene silencing of the tobacco retinoblastoma-related gene results in cell death
and altered development. Plant Molecular Biology. (in press, available online).
Smith, C.A., Woloshuk, C.P., Robertson, D., and Payne, G.A. (2007) Silencing
of the aflatoxin gene cluster in a diploid strain of Aspergillus flavus is
suppressed by ectopic aflR expression. Genetics. (in press).
Blevins, T., Rajeswaran, R., Shivaprasad, P.V., Beknazariants, D., Si-Ammour,
A., Park, H.-S. Vazquez, F. Robertson, D., Meins, F., Hohn, T. and Pooggin, P.,
2006 Four plant Dicers mediate viral small RNA biogenesis and DNA virus induced
silencing. Nucleic Acids Research 34:6233-6246.
Muangsan, N., Beclin, C., Vaucheret, H., Robertson, D.
(2004) Geminivirus VIGS of endogenous genes requires SGS2/SDE1
and SGS3 and defines a new branch in the genetic pathway
for silencing in plants. Plant J. 38: 1004-1014.
Hanley-Bowdoin, L., Settlage, S.B., Robertson, D. (2004)
Reprogramming plant gene expression – a prerequisite
to geminivirus DNA replication. Mol. Plant Path. 5: 149-156.
Robertson, D. (2004) VIGS vectors for gene silencing, many
targets, many tools. Ann. Rev. Plant Biol. 55: 495-519.
Muangsan, N., Robertson, D. (2004) Geminivirus vectors
for transient gene silencing in plants. Methods Mol. Biol.
265: 101-116.
Nagar, S., Hanley-Bowdoin, L., and Robertson, D. (2002)
Host DNA Synthesis is Induced by Geminivirus Infection
of Differentiated Plant Cells. The Plant Cell. 14:2995-3007.
Egelkrout, E., Mariconti, L., Cella, R., Robertson, D.,
and Hanley-Bowdoin, L. (accepted) Two E2F elements regulate
the proliferating cell nuclear antigen promoter during
plant development. The Plant Cell.
Wyatt, S.E., Rashotte, A.M., Shipp, M., Robertson, D. and
Muday, G. K. (in press) Mutations in the GPS loci in Arabidopsis
disrupt the perception and/or signal transduction of gravitropic
stimuli. Plant Physiol.
Turnage, M.A., Muangsan, N., Peele, C.G, and Robertson,
D. (2002) Geminivirus-based vector for gene silencing in
Arabidopsis. Plant J. 30: 107-114.
Peele, C., Jordan, C.V., Muangsan, N., Turnage, M., Egelkrout,
E., Eagle, P., Hanley-BOwdoin, L., and Robertson, D. (2001)
Silencing of a meristematic gene using geminivirus-derived
vectors. Plant J. 27:357-66
Persson,
S., Wyatt, S.E., Love, J., Thompson, W.F., Robertson,
D., Boss, W.F. (2001) The Ca2+ status of the endoplasmic
reticulum is altered by induction of calreticulin expression
in transgenic plants. Plant Physiol. 126:1092-104
Egelkrout, E.M., Robertson, D., and Hanley-Bowdoin, L.
(2001) PCNA Transcription Is Repressed through an E2F Consensus
Element and Activated byGeminivirus Infection in Mature
Leaves. Plant Cell 13:1437-1452
Cox, K, Robertson, D., Fites, R.C. (in press) Mapping
and Expression of a Bifunctional Thymidylate Synthase,
Dihydrofolate Reductase Gene from Maize. Plant Mol. Biol.
Scott, A., Wyatt, S., Tsou, P.-L., Robertson, D., and Allen,
N.S. A model system for plant cell biology: GFP imaging
in living onion epidermal cells. Biotechniques 26: 1125-1132.
Ullah, M.H., Robertson, D., and Fites, R.C. (1999) A gene
for thymidine kinase in plants. (Accession No. AF066050)(
PGR 99-048). Plant Physiol. 119:1567.
Hanley-Bowdoin, L., Settlage, S.B., Orozco, B.M., Nagar,
S. and Robertson, D. (1999) Geminiviruses ? Models for
plant DNA replication, transcription and cell cycle regulation.
Crit. Rev. in Plant Sci. 18: 71-106.
Kjemtrup, S., Sampson, K.S., Peele, C., Nguyen, L.V., Conkling,
M.A., Thompson, W.F. and Robertson, D. (1998) Gene silencing
from plant DNA carried by a geminivirus. The Plant Journal,
14: 91-100.
Nagar, S. Pedersen, T., Carrick, K., Hanley-Bowdoin, L.
and Robertson, D. (1995) A geminivirus induces expression
of a host DNA synthesis protein in terminally differentiated
plant cells. The Plant Cell 7: 705-719.
