Zhen-Ming Pei, Biology

Unlike animals, which can escape from unfavorable conditions by behavioral responses, higher plants compensate their sessile lifestyle by programming physiological and developmental processes according to their environmental conditions. Perception of external signals is important for the survival of plants, and Ca²⁺ and nitric oxide have a pivotal role in this process. Our lab is interested in the molecular mechanisms underlying Ca²⁺ and nitric oxide signaling in Arabidopsis. Studies in our lab focus on two areas. One involves isolation of genes from Arabidopsis encoding receptors for external stimuli using a Ca²⁺-imaging-based function assay in mammalian cells. We have cloned an extracellular Ca²⁺-sensing receptor (Han et al., Nature 245: 196, 2003). The second area is molecular genetic dissection of nitric oxide signaling. We have developed genetic screens for its biosynthetic and signaling mutants in Arabidopsis. We have identified a nitric oxide overproducing mutant and shown nitric oxide represses the floral transition in Arabidopsis (Science 2004, in press).