*From Science, vol. 284, no. 5423, pp. 2148-2152.

Jose M. Alonso

Visit Our Lab Home Page

Molecular Genetics of the Ethylene Signal
Transduction Pathway in Arabidopsis

Jose Alonso’s research focuses on uncovering the molecular mechanisms that underlie ethylene signaling and response in Arabidopsis. By employing a combination of classical molecular genetic, genomic, and cell biology approaches, his lab is elucidating the ethylene signal transduction cascade, as well as the net of interactions between this pathway and other hormonal and developmental signals. Recently, Alonso and colleagues have found that some of the tissue specificity observed in response to ethylene is due to the local activation of auxin biosynthesis. These findings have opened a new avenue in the study of auxin production in plants and have provided new tools for investigating the role of auxin biosynthesis in ethylene response and plant development in general. The Alonso lab is also committed to generating new genetic tools that will facilitate and accelerate gene-function characterization. Towards this goal, Alonso is implementing a new recombineering approach that will enable large-scale gene tagging in Arabidopsis, preserving the chromosomal environment of the tagged genes.

Selected Publications:

Stepanova, A., Robertson-Hoyt, J., Yun, J., Benavente, L.M., Xie, D., Doležal, K., Schlereth, A., Jürgens, G., and Alonso, J.M. (2008). TAA1-mediated auxin biosynthesis is essential for hormone crosstalk and plant development. Cell. 133: 177–191.

Stepanova, A.N., Yun, J., Likhacheva, A.V., and Alonso, J.M. (2007). Multilevel Interactions between Ethylene and Auxin in Arabidopsis Roots. Plant Cell. 19: 2169–85.

Alonso, J.M., and Ecker, J.R. (2006). Moving forward in reverse: genetic technologies to enable genome-wide phenomic screens in Arabidopsis. Nat. Rev. Genet. 7: 524–536

Stepanova, A.N., Hoyt, J.M., Hamilton, A.A., and Alonso, J.M. (2005). A Link between ethylene and auxin uncovered by the characterization of two root-specific ethylene-insensitive mutants in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell. 17: 2230–42

Alonso, J.M., et al. (2003). Genome-wide insertional mutagenesis of Arabidopsis thaliana. Science. 301: 653–657. [pdf file]

Move directly to the Genetics Home Page.
Move directly to the CALS Home page.

Comments should be sent to theDepartment of Genetics
Genetics Web display last changed 5 November 2008 .