Albrecht VonArnim

Keywords:

Cell and developmental biology of Arabidopsis, Responses to the light environment, Translational control, Bioluminescence technology.

Research Area:

Molecular mechanisms of light signal transduction in Arabidopsis

Description of Research:

A plant can be regarded as a processor that senses environmental light conditions and transduces this information to shape development of the organism to achieve optimal growth (photomorphogenesis). Our goal is to understand the mechanistic basis for these fascinating events. This research employs cell biology and molecular genetics and is greatly facilitated by the tools of genomics, which have become easily accessible in our model organism, Arabidopsis thaliana. These include the completed Arabidopsis genome sequence, T-DNA knockout insertion lines, transposon mutagenesis, facile generation of transgenic plants, and more. Part of our effort is to contribute to the tools of proteomics and functional genomics, specifically, by optimizing a real-time in vivo method to study protein-protein interactions, termed Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer (BRET). Another major project investigates how light signals modulate the subcellular and subnuclear localization of key regulatory proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana. These proteins are highly conserved among higher eukaryotes and can be studied well in Arabidopsis given the unique combination of biochemistry, genetics, and cell biology possible in this organism. We are particularly intrigued by a novel biochemical line of communication between the cellular machineries for translation (protein synthesis) and proteolysis (protein degradation). Interestingly, derailment of this process may underlie certain cases of cancer in humans.

Contact Information

Albrecht VonArnim
Molecular Genetics and Systems Biology
Associate Director of GST
Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Cellular & Molecular Biology

UT
228 Hesler Biology
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996
865-974-6206

Email: vonarnim@utk.edu

Degrees

Postdoctoral Fellow: Yale University, New Haven, CT (1992-1996)

PhD: University of East Anglia and John Innes Institute, Norwich, United Kingdom (1992)

MS: University of Freiburg, Germany (1988)