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Morris Cline

Focus:

Developmental control mechanisms of apical dominance.

Research Interests:

Plants respond to changes in the environment (e.g., light, temperature, gravity, wind, herbivores) in remarkable ways which enhance their probability of survival. Appropriate photoperiods will induce a plant to flower at a favorable time in the growing season to insure plentiful seed production. When wind or foraging animals damage the terminal bud of a vegetative shoot, the next lower axillary bud often will grow out in its place. What is the signal that releases this bud? What are the biochemical and genetic control mechanisms of apical dominance and sylleptic branching? In the case of woody plants, how do these mechanisms interface with winter dormancy? Dr. Cline's current research focuses on the role of auxin, cytokinin and nutrients in these processes.

Teaching:

• PCMB 101

Selected publications (1994 - Date):

1. Cline, M.G., 1994. The role of hormones in apical dominance. New approaches to an old problem in plant development. Physiologia Plantarum 90: 230-237. (A mini-review)

2. Cline, M.G. 1996. Exogenous auxin effects on lateral bud outgrowth in decapitated shoots. Annals of Botany 78: 255-266.

3. Cline, M.G. 1996. Gravity effects on the shoot of Japanese morning glory. In: Plants in Space Biology. H. Suge (ed.) Tohoku Univ. pp. 167-174.

4. Cline, M.G. 1997. Concepts and terminology of apical dominance. American Journal of Botany 84:1064-1069.

5. Cline, M.G., T. Wessel and H. Iwamura. 1997. Cytokinin/auxin control of apical dominance in Ipomea nil. Plant Cell Physiology 38: 659-667.

6. Cline, M.G. and D. Deppong (1999) The role of apical dominance in paradormancy of temperate woody plants: A reappraisal. Journal of Plant Physiology 155: 350-356.

7. Cline, M.G. and D. Deppong (2000) Do leaves control episodic growth in woody plants? Ohio Journal of Science 100:19-23.

8. Cline, M.G. (2000) Execution of the auxin replacement apical dominance experiment in temperate woody species. American Journal of Botany 87: 182-190.

9. Cline, M.G., S.P. Chatfield and O. Leyser (2001) NAA restores apical dominance in the axr3-1 mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana. Annals of Botany 87: 61-65.

10. Cline, M.G. and K. Dong-Il (2002) A Preliminary investigation of the role of auxin and cytokinin in sylleptic branching of three hybrid poplar clones exhibiting contrasting degrees of sylleptic branching. Annals of Botany 90: 417-421.

11. Cline, M.G. and K. Sadeski (2002) Is auxin the repressor signal of branch growth in apical control? American Journal of Botany 89:1764-1771

12. Cline, M.G., M. Thangavelu and K. Dong-Il (2006 Short Communication) A possible role of cytokinin in mediating long-distance nitrogen signaling in the promotion of sylleptic branching in hybrid poplar. J. Plant Physiol. 163: 684-688.

13. Cline, M.G., M. Yoders, D. Desai, C. Harrington and W. Carlson (2006) Hormonal control of second flushing in Douglas-fir shoots. Tree Physiol. 26: 1369-1375.

14. Cline, M.G. and Choonseok Oh (2006) A reappraisal of the role of abscisic acid and its interaction with auxin in apical dominance.  Ann. Botany 98: 891-897.

PCMB NEWS

A MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) sponsored post-doctoral position is available in the Department of Plant Cellular and Molecular Biology/Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, starting on August 1st 2008.

The researcher will work in the field of mitochondria biogenesis and study the assembly process of c-type cytochromes, a class of hemoproteins with covalent attachment of the heme co-factor to a CXXCH motif on the apocytochrome. Cytochromes c are versatile molecules that function in electron transfer reactions but also in signaling the death pathways. Their assembly process is not understood and in humans mutations in the only known cytochrome c assembly factor cause a neurodevelopmental disease with cardiomyopathic manifestations.

The future hire will use yeast as an experimental system and focus on 1) elucidating the biochemical activity of Cyc2p a novel mitochondrial flavoprotein that controls a yet-to-be-defined redox step in the heme attachment reaction to apocytochrome and 2) identifying additional mammalian cytochrome-c assembly factors. Because we suspect a role of Cyc2p in thiol-based chemistry, the researcher will also take part in on-going genetic experiments to 3) further dissect the pathway(s) that operate in intermembrane thiol-based redox chemistry. Thiol-based chemistry in the mitochondrial intermembrane space is a recent and novel development in the field since the discovery of catalysts that promote disulfide bond formation. Molecular genetics and biochemical approaches will be used to answer the scientific questions we are interested in. Interested candidates should send a cover letter, resume, and a list of three referees to Dr. Patrice Hamel at hamel.16@osu.edu. Use Post-doctoral Position in the subject line. For additional information, see also Dr. Hamel's Web Site.

Erich Grotewold Receives Grant from US-Israeli Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund

We are pleased to announce that Erich Grotewold has been awarded another new grant. This is a 3-year award from the US-Israeli Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund. It is in the amount of $137,000 and is entitled "Regulation of tomato fruit development by interacting MYB proteins."

Erich Grotewold Receives DOE And NSF Grants

Erich Grotewold has been awarded 3-year grant in the amount o $449,390 from the DOE, entitled "Engineering phenolic metabolism in the grasses using transcription factors."

Erich has also been awarded a second, major grant from NSF (Plant Genome). It is a 3-year award in the amount of $2,479,632 entitled "The Grass Regulome Initiative: Integrating control of gene expression and agronomic traits across the grasses.

David Somers' Lab Published In Nature

David Somers’ group has published an article in Nature (Sept. 20) entitled, “ZEITLUPE is a circadian photoreceptor stabilized by GIGANTEA in blue light.” Woe-Yeon Kim and Sumire Fujiwara are co-first authors.

Erich Grotewold Awarded USDA Grant

Erich Grotewold has been awarded a grant from the USDA in the amount of $201,025 for a two-year study entitled, “Transposons as gene control elements.”

Rebecca Lamb Receives OPBC Award

Rebecca Lamb has received an award of $57,567 over two years from the OPBC for a study entitled, ”Two Arabidopsis WWE-PARP proteins involved in abiotic stress response and development.”

Plant Biotechnology In-Floor Seminar Series Schedule

Follow the link below for a schedule of informal 30-40 min seminars that will take place at noon on Fridays in room 189 of Rightmire Hall.
Schedule [pdf]

News Archive

Read past information and news articles.

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The Ohio State University • Department of Plant Cellular and Molecular Biology
500 Aronoff Laboratory • 318 West 12th Avenue • Columbus Ohio 43210
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