Biochemistry

Gary Stacey

MSMC Endowed Professor of Soybean Biotechnology
Professor of Plant Sciences
Joint Professor of Biochemistry

E-mail:staceyg@missouri.edu

Office: 271E Bond Life Sciences Center

Mail: National Center for Soybean Biotechnology
271E Bond Life Sciences Center
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211

Phone: 573-884-4752

Fax: 573-884-9676

Lab site: http://www.staceylab.missouri.edu/

Educational background

Notable honors and service

• Fellow, American Society of Plant Biologists
• Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology
• Robert A. Welch Predoctoral Fellowship, 1977-1978
• National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1979
• Research Fellowship, Alexander Von Humboldt Stiftung, 1988
• Van der Klaauw Chair of Molecular Biology, Visiting Professorship at the Univ. of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands, 1990
• Chancellor's Award for Research and Creative Achievement, University of Tennessee, 1992
• Distinguished Researcher Award, College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources, University of Missouri, 2007
• Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2008

Research description

Host-microbe interactions. The major focus of research in the Stacey lab is the symbiosis between the bacterium Bradyrhizobium japonicum and its host plant, soybean. The result of this interaction is the establishment of a novel organ, nodule, on the root of the host. Inside this organ, B. japonicum fixes atmospheric nitrogen, which the plant can utilize. Our work on this symbiosis focuses both on the symbiont and the plant host. With regard to the bacterium, we are largely focusing on functional genomics of the symbiont and the identification of key functions necessary for the symbiosis. Plant perception of lipo-chitin nodulation signals, produced by the bacterium, is essential for induction of de novo organogenesis, leading to nodule formation. Our research is focused on plant recognition of this molecule and the signal transduction pathways leading to nodule development. This work led to a general interest in plant chitin signaling and the identification of the plant receptor for chitin recognition. We are now exploring the role of this receptor and the downstream signaling pathway and how it relates to the induction of plant innate immunity.

Extracellular ATP. Our lab is one of the few in the world exploring the role of extracellular ATP as a signal in plants. Extracellular ATP is well studied in animal system where it has been shown to be involved in a variety of processes (e.g., nerve function, muscle contraction, inflammation, etc.). Our focus is on the identification of the plant receptor for eATP and understanding the downstream signaling pathway. Our data suggests that eATP is essential for normal plant growth and development. Hence, understanding the function of this important signal is key to understanding how plants grow.

Peptide transport in plants. There is a growing body of information implicating peptides as circulating hormones in plants. This is consistent with the major role that peptides play in regulating growth and development in animals. Our contribution to this area focuses on the role of peptide transporters in the growth and development of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. We have identified peptide transporters in two families: PTR, which transport di- and tripeptides and OPT, which transport tetra- and pentapeptides. In both cases, disruption of peptide transporter expression (e.g., through antisense expression or mutation) results in severe defects in seed and embryo development. Our goal in this research is to define the role peptide transporters play in plant growth and development, to define their substrates and to elucidate the regulation of these interesting proteins.

Soybean genomics and biotechnology. As part of the growing family of researchers at MU who are interested in soybean biology, our laboratory is contributing to the development of soybean genomic research. The goal of this research is to identify genes and traits, which can benefit soybean agriculture. For example, our lab was a key member of the consortium that recently completed the soybean genome sequence. We are currently working on tools for mutagenesis so that we can study soybean gene function.

Selected publications

Schmutz J, Cannon S, Schlueter J, Ma J, Mitros T, Nelson W, Hyten D, Song Q, Thelen J, Cheng J, Xu D, Hellsten U, May G, Yu Y, Sakurai T, Umezawa T, Bhattacharyya M, Sandhu D, Valliyodan B, Lindquist E, Peto M, Grant D, Shu S, Goodstein D, Barry K, Futrell-Griggs M, Abernathy B, Du J, Tian Z, Zhu L, Gill N, Trupti J, Libault M, Sethuraman A, Zhang X, Shinozaki S, Nguyen H, Wing RA, Cregan P, Specht J, Grimwood J, Rokhsar D, Stacey G, Shoemaker R, Jackson SA (2010) Genome sequence of the paleopolyploid soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.). Nature, 463: 178-183.

Libault, Marc, Andrew Farmer, Laurent Brechenmacher, William L. Franck, Jenny Drnevich, Raymond J. Langley, Damla D. Bilgin, Osman Radman, Steven J. Clough, Gregory May and Gary Stacey (2009) Complete transcriptome of the soybean root hair cell, a single cell model, and its alteration in response to Bradyrhizobium japonicum infection. Plant Physiol. 152: 541-552

Kiwamu Tanaka, Sarah J. Swanson, Simon Gilroy, and Gary Stacey (2010) Extracellular nucleotides elicit cytoplasmic free calcium oscillations in Arabidopsis seedlings. Plant Physiol. 154:705-719

Libault M, Farmer A, Joshi T, Takahashi K, Langley RJ, Franklin LD, He J, Xu D, May G, Stacey G (2010) An integrated transcriptome atlas of the crop model Glycine max and its use in comparative analysis in plants. Plant J. 63: 86-99.

Findley SD, Cannon S, Varala K, Du J, Ma J, Hudson M, Birchler J, Stacey G (2010) A fluorescence in situ hybridization system for karyotyping soybean. Genetics 185, 727-744

Laurent Brechenmacher, Zhentian Lei, Marc Libault, Seth Findley, Masayuki Sugawara, Michael J Sadowsky, Lloyd W Sumner, and Gary Stacey (2010) Soybean metabolites regulated in root hairs in response to the symbiotic bacterium Bradyrhizobium japonicum. Plant Physiol. 153: 1808-1822.

Marc Libault, Xue-Cheng Zhang, Manjula Govindarajulu, Yee Tsuey Ong, Laurent Brechenmacher, Jing Qiu, R. Howard Berg, Andrea Hurley-Sommer, Christopher G. Taylor, Gary Stacey (2010) A member of the highly conserved FWL (tomato FW2.2-like) gene family is essential for soybean nodule organogenesis. Plant Journal 62 (5): 852-864

Tanaka, Kiwamu, Gilroy, Simon, Jones, Alan, Stacey, Gary (2010) Extracellular nucleotide signaling in plants. Trends in Cell Biology 20:601-608. Cover Photo.

Libault, Marc, Brechenmacher, Laurent, Cheng, Jianlin, Xu, Dong, Stacey, Gary (2010) Root hair systems biology. Trends in Plant Science 15: 641-650.

Tanaka K, Nguyen C, Libault M, Cheng J, Stacey G (2011) Enzymatic activity of the soybean ecto-apyrase GS52 is essential for stimulation of nodulation. Plant Physiol. 155: 1988-1998.

Son GH, Wan J, Zhang X, Chung W, Hong JC, Stacey G (2011) Identification of a transcription factor network involved in chitin signaling and disease resistance in Arabidopsis. Mol. Plant-Microbe Int. (in press)

Bolon, Y-T, Haun, W.J., Xu, W., Grant, D, Stacey, M.G., Nelson, R.T, Gerhardt, D.J., Jeddeloh, J.A., Stacey, G., Muehlbauer, G.J., Orf, J.H., Naeve, S.L., Stupar, R.M., Vance C.P. 2011. Phenotypic and genomic analysis of a fast neutron mutant population resource in soybean. Plant Physiol. 156: 240-253. Cover Photo.