Center for Plant Cell Biology

Mission

Julia Bailey-Serres

Professor of Genetics;
Director, Center for Plant Cell Biology

Mailing Address:

Botany and Plant Sciences
Genomics Building /4119A
University of California
Riverside, CA 92521

Phone: (951) 827-3738
Fax: (951) 827-4437
Email: serres@mail.ucr.edu

UCR Living the Promise Profile (2010)
ChemGen IGERT Website

Degree(s):

PhD 1986 Edinburgh University
BS 1981 University of Utah

College/Division Affiliation:

College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Center/Inst Affiliation(s):

Center for Plant Cell Biology

Areas Of Expertise:

Gene Regulation; Translational Control; Abiotic Stress Signaling/Response; Low Oxygen Sensing; Flooding/Submergence

Awards / Honors:

2010  Fellow of ASPB (American Society of Plant Biologists)
2009  World Technology Award Finalist
2008  USDA National Research Discovery Award
2008  F.C. Donders Chair, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
2005  AAAS Fellow (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
2002  Outstanding Faculty Mentor, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research

Research Summary:

The primary focus of the Bailey-Serres group at UCR is to define mechanisms of signal transduction and gene regulation that are critical to the response of plants to adverse changes in the environment. Much of our research has focused on sensing and response to cellular oxygen deprivation (hypoxia/anoxia) that is a major consequence of flooding, submergence or high metabolic activity (i.e., in meristems). A particular interest is the regulation of gene expression by selective mRNA translation. We use molecular-genetic, biochemical, chemical genomics and systems-biological approaches to study these processes. The long-term goal is to increase crop tolerance of flooding / submergence, combine stress tolerances, and to contribute to the general understanding of low-oxygen sensing and translational regulation in eukaryotic cells.

A large proportion of the genes that are upregulated in response to hypoxia and other abiotic stresses are proteins with no biological function. The Bailey-Serres lab coordinates an Arabidopsis 2010 Collaborative Research Project to characterize stress-induced proteins of unknown function.  

Much gene regulation occurs at the cell specific and post-transcriptional levels. The Bailey-Serres lab has developed methods for analysis mRNA associated with ribosomes or specific RNA binding proteins in individual cell types. Data for cell-specific translatomes of Arabidopsis can be viewed (http://efp.ucr.edu/). 

Professor Bailey-Serres directs the NSF CEPCEB ChemGen IGERT program that provides cross disciplinary training for biologists, computer scientists, chemists and engineers. Student projects in this program focus on using chemical compounds to elucidate biological mechanisms in plants and pathogen models (http://cepceb.ucr.edu/igert/)

Related Press Releases:

• UCR October 23, 2011: How Plants Sense Low Oxygen Levels to Survive Flooding
• New York Times Article dated June 5, 2011 (climate change and food challenges)
• IRRI video: Sub1 Rice Varieties (Bangladesh and Nepal farmers' perspective)

• UCR March 2, 2011: Flood-tolerant Rice Plants Can Also Survive Drought, Say UC Riverside Scientists
• IRRI September 13, 2010: Indian Farmers Adopt Flood-tolerant Rice at Unprecedented Rates
• CNN February 5, 2009: Fighting Hunger with Flood-Tolerant Rice
• UCR December 5, 2008: UC Riverside Rice Geneticist Receives High Honor from U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Science Today December 1, 2008: The Huge Potential of "Waterproof Rice"
• Video: Flood Tolerant Rice
• UCR June 30, 2005: Graduate Training at UCR Earns $2.9 Million Boost from NSF

Selected Publications:

List of publications from HubMed

Lab Personnel: 

Fukao, Takeshi

Assistant Specialist — Dissection of mechanisms of submergence tolerance in rice

Hummel, Maureen —

Postdoctoral Researcher — The RNPome Project: Deciphering roles of cytosolic RNA binding proteins in gene regulation

Juntawong, Piyada

Postdoctoral Researcher —  Mechanisms of post-transcriptional regulation under suboptimal growth conditions

Collin, Matt

IGERT Coordinator and Assistant Researcher — Management of the FLAG-tagged ribosomal protein collection for cell-specific isolation of polyribosomes

Barding, Greg

PhD Student — Characterization of the role of the submergence tolerance regulator SUB1A on metabolome reconfiguration during submergence in rice (Major professor, Cynthia Larive)

Brinton, Erin

PhD Student — Improvement towards submergence tolerance in maize

Jang, Charles

PhD Student —  Bioinformatic and chemical genomic analysis of stress responses from the cellular to whole plant level

Kaiser, Kayla

PhD Student — Metabolite profiling studies in Arabidopsis: Low oxygen and chemical compound response networks (Major professor, Cynthia Larive)

Lee, Seung Cho

PhD Student — Sensing, signaling and response mechanisms to low-oxygen and flooding in Arabidopsis; Characterization of proteins of unknown function

Rejbana, Alam

PhD Student — Pyramiding flooding tolerance genes of rice

Sorenson, Reed

PhD Student —  Identification and characterization of RNA binding proteins that sequester mRNAs during low oxygen stress

Dang, Jonathan; Lee, Joanna; Longoria, Victor; Yeung, Elain

Undergraduate Student Researchers — Our undergraduates assist lab members in rice, maize and Arabidopsis research, gaining hands-on experience in molecular biology and plant physiology