Summary of Research Accomplishments for Dr. Aaron M. Rashotte page 1
10/7/2018
Statement of Research Accomplishments for Dr. Aaron M. Rashotte
Present Postdoctoral Research at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
with Dr. Joseph J. Kieber
This postdoctoral work is on going and described in my Statement of Research Interests. General accomplishments that I have made during my research to date are the confirmation and identification of novel cytokinin regulated genes, including a detailed understanding of a set of novel cytokinin regulated transcription factors or CRFs. I have specifically focused on the role that CRFs play in cytokinin signaling in addition to examining their role in cytokinin-regulated leaf and cotyledon expansion. This research has yielded three first author publications to date.
Postdoctoral Research at WakeForestUniversity with Dr. Gloria K. Muday
The major goal of my postdoctoral research in Dr. Muday’s lab was to further the understanding of how transport of the plant hormone auxin effects growth and developmental processes, with an emphasis on the role of auxin transport in gravitropic responses. In the course of this research I developed and improved assays in Arabidopsis to measure the polar movement of the auxin, IAA, in shoots, roots, and hypocotyls using radiolabeled IAA and was able to use these assays to provide the first detailed transport measurements of another natural auxin, IBA. I was involved in linking both gravitropic response and lateral root development to auxin transport by examining auxin movement in relation to auxin transport inhibitors, flavonoids, and protein phosphatase activity. This was accomplished primarily by measuring auxin transport in parallel with plant gravity or other physiological measurements conducted under a numerous conditions, including chemical treatment of single and double mutants and in auxin response element reporter gene backgrounds. This research yielded seven publications, including three first authorships.
Ph.D. in Plant Sciences at The University of Arizona with Dr. Kenneth A. Feldmann
The major goal of my dissertation research in Dr. Feldmann’s lab was to expand the baseline knowledge about plant cuticular wax (CW) through the examination of CW mutants in Arabidopsis. I conducted extensive GC and SEM to detail the chemical nature and physical structure of the CW on the wildtype and 21 eceriferum (cer) wax mutant loci. Using these results from single and double cermutants I was able to help refine the model for CW biosynthesis in Arabidopsis. I additionally helped identify and characterize three novel CW loci, which I mapped along with 10 other unmapped cer loci using SSLP makers. Finally, I examined a possible functional role for CW in plant-insect interactions using aphids, Arabidopsis ecotypes and wax mutants. This work yielded six publications, including four first authorships.