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School of Biosciences, Division of
Plant and Crop Sciences
   
   
  
 

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Donald Grierson

Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Science

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Research Summary

Don Grierson's research is aimed at identifying and characterising genes involved in ethylene signalling in tomato and understanding how ethylene interacts with regulatory networks and other… read more

Recent Publications

Current Research

Don Grierson's research is aimed at identifying and characterising genes involved in ethylene signalling in tomato and understanding how ethylene interacts with regulatory networks and other signalling pathways to control flower and fruit development and ripening. LeHB-1, a previously uncharacterized tomato homeobox protein interacts with the promoter of LeACO1, an ACC oxidase gene discovered in the Grierson lab, that is required for ethylene synthesis. Inhibition of LeHB-1 accumulation in tomato fruit using virus-induced gene silencing greatly reduced LeACO1 mRNA levels and inhibited ripening. Conversely, ectopic overexpression of LeHB-1 by viral delivery to developing flowers elsewhere on injected plants triggered altered floral organ morphology and caused conversion of sepals into carpel-like structures that grew into fruits and ripened (see Lin et al., 2008b).

We have shown SlTPR-1 , a novel tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) protein from tomato isolated by interaction with the ethylene receptor NR, encodes a novel component in the ethylene signalling pathway which functions as a positive regulator in ethylene signalling (Lin et al. 2008c under review). We have also shown the tomato receptors LeETR1, LeETR2 and NEVER-RIPE (NR) can interact with multiple LeCTRs. Biomolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) confirmed that NR could form a protein complex with CTR1, 3 and 4 through direct protein-protein interaction at the ER (see Zhong et al., 2008a). LeCTR2, on the other hand, plays a role in ethylene signalling, development and defence through its interactions with the ETR1-type ethylene receptors of subfamily I (see Lin et al., 2008a).

Recent Publications

LIN,Z., ARCIGA-REYES, L., ZHONG, S., HACKETT, R., WILSON, I., GRIERSON, D. (2008c) SlTPR1, a tomato tetratricopeptide repeat protein, interacts with the ethylene receptors NR and LeETR1, modulating ethylene and auxin responses and development. Journal of Experimental Botany 59:4271- 4287.

ZHONG, L., LIN, Z., FRAY, F., GRIERSON, D. (2008b) Improved plant transformation vectors for fluorescent protein tagging. Transgenic Research 17:985-989.

ZHONG, S., LIN, Z., and GRIERSON, D. (2008a) Tomato ethylene receptor interaction: visualization of NEVER-RIPE interaction with multiple CTRs at the endoplasmic reticulum. Journal of Experimental Botany 59:965-972.

LIN,Z., ALEXANDER, L., HACKETT, R., and GRIERSON D. (2008a) LeCTR2, a CTR1-like protein kinase from tomato, plays a role in ethylene signalling, development and defence. The Plant Journal 54: 1083-1093.

LIN, Z., HONG, Y., YIN, M., LI, C., ZHANG, K., and GRIERSON, D. (2008b) A tomato HB-zip homeobox protein, LeHB-1, plays an important role in floral organogenesis and ripening. The Plant Journal 55: 301-310.

HAN, Y., and GRIERSON, D. (2008) Enhancement of post-transcriptional gene silencing by grafting. Plant Signaling and Behaviour 3:30-33.

Division of Plant and Crop Sciences

University of Nottingham
Sutton Bonington Campus
Loughborough, Leicestershire LE12 5RD

telephone: +44 (0) 115 951 6327
email: plantandcrop-enquiries@nottingham.ac.uk