Most recently, my laboratory has begun a study of DNA repair in the model plant organism, Arabidopsis thaliana. We have focused our efforts on the repair of damage inflicted on plant DNA by ultraviolet (UV) light, and have characterized plant mutants which are sensitive to UV irradiation. Our findings have demonstrated that the nucleotide excision repair pathway, which is a well characterized mechanism for repairing UV damage in yeast and mammals, is also conserved in plants. However, we find that plants have developed unique adaptations of this pathway. For example, we have found that plant repair genes are also required for gene expression, plant growth and development, and responses to other stresses such as heat and cold.
My laboratory has a long-standing interest in the mechanism of eukaryotic DNA replication. We have studied this process, using human herpes simplex virus type 1 as a model system. This virus encodes many of its own replication proteins but also recruits host proteins for this process. A major emphasis of our work has been to understand how the viral DNA polymerase controls the frequency of replication errors, both by nucleotide selection and proofreading processes.. A related study has investigated the role of host proteins involved in the initiation of herpes virus replication. We have characterized a complex of host proteins (called OF-1), which binds to the viral replication origins at specific sites. We have also investigated an apparent interaction between this complex and a viral protein (UL9) required for initiation.
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of the BMCB site and to an abstract of that particular paper.
Larkindale, J., J.D. Hall, M.R. Knight, and E. Vierling. 2005. Heat stress phenotypes of Arabidopsis mutants implicate multiple signaling pathways in the acquisition of thermotolerance. Plant Physiology 138: 882-897.
Murata, L.B., M.S. Dodson, and J.D. Hall. 2004. A human cellular protein activity (OF-1), which binds herpes simplex virus type 1 origin, contains the Ku70/Ku80 heterodimer. Journal of Virology 78: 7839-7842.
Liu, Z., S.W. Hong, M. Escobar, E. Vierling, D.L. Mitchell, D.W. Mount, adn J.D. Hall. 2003. Arabidopsis UVH6, a homolog of human XPD and yeast RAD3 DNA repair genes, functions in DNA repair and is essential for plant growth. Plant Physiology 132: 1405-1414.
Liu, Z., J.D. Hall, and D.W. Mount. 2001. Arabidopsis UVH3 gene is a homolog of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae RAD2 and human XPG DNA repair genes. Plant Journal 26: 329-338.
Baker, R.O., L.B. Murata, M.S. Dodson, and J.D. Hall. 2000. Purification and characterization of OF-1, a host factor implicated in herpes simplex replication. Journal of Biological Chemistry 275: 30050-30057.
