Publications by authors named "Robert E McEwan"
Auxin is a hormone that is required for hypocotyl elongation during seedling development. In response to auxin, rapid changes in transcript and protein abundance occur in hypocotyls, and some auxin responsive gene expression is linked to hypocotyl growth. To functionally validate proteomic studies, a reverse genetics screen was performed on mutants in auxin-regulated proteins to identify novel regulators of plant growth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElucidation of the MicroRNA Transcriptome in Western Corn Rootworm Reveals Its Dynamic and Evolutionary Complexity.
Genomics Proteomics Bioinformatics
October 2021
Diabrotica virgifera virgifera (western corn rootworm, WCR) is one of the most destructive agricultural insect pests in North America. It is highly adaptive to environmental stimuli and crop protection technologies. However, little is known about the underlying genetic basis of WCR behavior and adaptation.
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- Plant cellulose is created by cellulose synthase complexes (CSCs) made of various CESA isoforms, but the detailed mechanism behind cellulose synthesis is not fully understood due to a lack of atomic structures.
- Research using chemical genetic analysis, structural modeling, and live cell imaging identified Endosidin20 (ES20) as a chemical inhibitor that targets the catalytic site of CESA6 in Arabidopsis.
- Inhibiting CESA6's catalytic activity with ES20 reduces the efficiency of CSC transport to the cell membrane, highlighting its potential as a valuable tool for studying cellulose synthesis in plants.
Western corn rootworm (WCR, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte) is highly sensitive to orally delivered double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). RNAi in WCR is systemic and spreads throughout the insect body. This raises the question whether transitive RNAi is a mechanism that functions in WCR to amplify the RNAi response via production of secondary siRNA.
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