BMCB-Faculty Research, Brian A. Larkins

Professor of Plant Sciences and Molecular & Cellular Biology
Ph.D., University of Nebraska

Genetic and biochemical regulation of plant seed development and protein nuritional quality.

Research Interests

As a plant molecular biologist, my research has focused on the regulation of seed development and the synthesis of seed storage proteins. Storage proteins are the most abundant proteins in seeds, and, as such, they are the principal determinants of the nutritional quality of grains. Storage proteins are generally deficient in several amino acids that are required in human and livestock diets. Consequently, increasing the levels of these essential amino acids has long been a goal of plant breeders and cereal chemists. We have used a molecular genetic approach to investigate the biology of seed storage protein synthesis and seed development. These studies have attempted to define the structure of storage proteins, the mechanisms by which they are synthesized and deposited in seed tissues, and the genes that regulate these processes. Most recently, we have begun to determine the nature of the proteins that contribute the majority of essential amino acids to the seed and develop genetic strategies for increasing their content. While most of this work has focused on the storage proteins of cereals, maize in particular, I have also done research on the proteins of legume seeds.

Select Publications

Any link on the below references will take you off of the BMCB site and to an abstract of that particular paper.

Sabelli, P.A., and B.A. Larkins. 2006. Grasses like mammals? Redundancy and compensatory regulation within the retinoblastoma protein family. Cell Cycle 5: 352-355.

Sabelli, P.A., R.A. Dante, J.T. Leiva-Neto, R. Jung, W.J. Gordon-Kamm, and B.A. Larkins. 2005. RBR3, a member of the retinoblastoma-related family from maize, is regulated by the RBR1/E2F pathway. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 102: 13005-13012.

Coelho, C.M., R.A. Dante, P.A. Sabelli, Y. Sun, B.P. Dilkes, W.J. Gordon-Kamm, and B.A. Larkins. 2005. Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors in maize endosperm and their potential role in endoreduplication. Plant Physiology 138: 2323-2336.

Gibbon, B.C., and B.A. Larkins. 2005. Molecular genetic approaches to developing quality protein maize. Trends in Genetics 21: 227-233.

Zhang, L., M.C. Yang, X. Wang, B.A. Larkins, M. Gallo-Meagher, and R. Wu. 2004. A model for estimating joint maternal-offspring effects on seed development in autogamous plants. Physiological Genomics 19: 262-269.

Lai, J., N. Dey, C.S. Kim, A.K. Bharti, S. Rudd, K.F. Mayer, B.A. Larkins, P. Becraft, and J. Messing. 2004. Characterization of the maize endosperm transcriptome and its comparison to the rice genome. Genome Research 14: 1932-1937.

Lopez-Valenzuela, J.A., B.C. Gibbon, D.R. Holding, and B.A. Larkins. 2004. Cytoskeletal proteins are coordinately increased in maize genotypes with high levels of eEF1A. Plant Physiology 135: 1784-1797.

Leiva-Neto, J.T., G. Grafi, P.A. Sabelli, R.A. Dante, Y.M. Woo, S. Maddock, W.J. Gordon-Kamm, and B.A. Larkins. 2004. A dominant negative mutant of cyclin-dependent kinase A reduces endoreduplication but not cell size or gene expression in maize endosperm. The Plant Cell 16: 1854-1869.

Gibbon, B.C., X. Wang, and B.A. Larkins. 2003. Altered starch structure is associated with endosperm modification in Quality Protein Maize. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 100: 15329-15334.

Kim, C.S., B.G. Hunter, J. Kraft, R.S. Boston, S. Yans, R. Jung, and B.A. Larkins. 2004. A defective signal peptide in a 19-kD alpha-zein protein causes the unfolded protein response and an opaque endosperm phenotype in the maize De*-B30 mutant. Plant Physiology 134: 380-387.

Lopez-Valenzuela, J.A., B.C. Gibbon, P.A. Hughes, T.W. Dreher, and B.A. Larkins. 2003. eEF1A isoforms change in abundance and actin-binding activity during maize endosperm development. Plant Physiology 133: 1285-1295.

Hunter, B.G., M.K. Beatty, G.W. Singletary, B.R. Hamaker, B.P. Dilkes, B.A. Larkins, and R. Jung. 2002. Maize opaque endosperm mutations create extensive changes in patterns of gene expression. The Plant Cell 14: 2591-2612.

Gordon-Kamm, W., B.P. Dilkes, K. Lowe, G. Hoerster, X. Sun, M. Ross, L. Church, C. Bunde, J. Farrell, P. Hill, S. Maddock, J. Snyder, L. Sykes, Z. Li, Y.M. Woo, D. Bidney, and B.A. Larkins. 2002. Stimulation of the cell cycle and maize transformation by disruption of the plant retinoblastoma pathway. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 99: 11975-11980.

Wu, R., X.Y. Lou, C.X. Ma, X. Wang, B.A. Larkins, and G. Casella. 2002. An improved genetic model generates high-resolution mapping of QTL for protein quality in maize endosperm. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 99: 11281-11286.

Kim, C.S., Y.M. Woo, A.M. Clore, R.J. Burnett, N.P. Carneiro, and B.A. Larkins. 2002. Zein protein interactions, rather than the asymmetric distribution of zein mRNAs on endoplasmic reticulum membranes, influence protein body formation in maize endosperm. The Plant Cell 14: 655-672.

Dilkes, B.P., R.A. Dante, C. Coelho, and B.A. Larkins. 2002. Genetic analyses of endoreduplication in Zea mays endosperm: evidence of sporophytic and zygotic maternal control. Genetics 160: 1163-1177.

Contact Information

Mailing:
Brian A. Larkins, Professor
Department of Plant Sciences
University of Arizona
Marley 822C
P. O. Box 210036
Tucson, AZ 85721-0036

Web Site: Home Page

Telephone:
520-621-9958 (Office)
520-621-9154 (Lab)

Fax:
520-621-3692

Email:
larkins@ag.arizona.edu

Please e-mail any comments to:
bmcb@email.arizona.edu