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Richard Sayre

Press Releases:

Lowly algae may help fight against terror.

Microalgae will be used to produce recombinant proteins that can detoxify nerve gas agents. Columbus Dispatch, Nov. 12 2006.
http://www.dispatch.com/science/science.php?story=dispatch/2006/11/12/20061112-A1-03.html

GM cassava has 'super size' roots

Scientists who have genetically modified cassava plants to produce dramatically bigger roots say their research could help alleviate hunger in developing countries..... See link for story. http://www.scidev.net/content/news/eng/gm-cassava-has-super-size-roots.cfm

Ultrasound and algae team up to clean mercury from sediments (click to listen)

The program describes the use of ultrasound to release the toxic heavy metal, mercury, from sediments and its recovery from solution by transgenic alage engineered to have enhanced mercury-specific binding capacity. The technology may be used to clean up contaminated sediments in the Great Lakes.

Focus:

Structure-function of photosystem II complex; metabolic engineering of cassava; functional genomics of heavy metal tolerance.

Research Interests:

There are three major research programs in our lab including; 1) nutrient bio-fortification and metabolic engineering of cyanogenesis in the tropical root crop cassava, 2) molecular studies on primary photochemical processes in photosystem II complexes of chloroplasts, and 3) biotechnological applications of microalgae.

Biofortification and Metabolic Engineering of Cassava: Our lab coordinates the BioCassava Plus Program for bio-fortification of cassava. This program is funded by the Grand Challenge in Global Health Program of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Our lab’s specific research objectives include; increasing bio-available levels of iron in roots, reducing cyanogen toxicity, increasing root protein content, reducing root post-harvest physiological deterioration, and developing root-specific promoters for transgene expression in cassava. Additional research programs focus on starch metabolism in cassava.	Click logo to go to the BioCassava Plus Web Site
Photosynthesis and Biofuels: The focus of our photosynthesis research program is the characterization of energy transfer processes in photosystem II (PSII) reaction center complexes. Our lab uses recombinant DNA techniques to generate site-directed mutations in chloroplast genes encoding proteins of the PSII complex. The mutants are characterized using a variety of biochemical and biophysical techniques. Presently, we are testing models for alternate electron and energy transfer pathways among the PSII reaction center electron transfer cofactors. Recently, a new research program on microalgal biofuel production was initiated in our lab. The focus of this research program is on the development of commercially viable biofuel production systems using transgenic microalgae.
Microalgal Biotechnology: Our microalgal (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) biotechnology research programs include; 1) the characterization of heavy metal metabolism and its manipulation in transgenic algae, 2) development of recombinant oral vaccines in microalgae, and 3) the characterization of biosynthetic pathways for bacterial quorum sensing mimic compounds, and 4) large scale expression of human recombinant proteins and selenoproteins.

Awards:

• Honorary Phi Beta Kappa (2006)
• Fulbright Scholar, 2006-07
• College of Biological Sciences Distinguished Professor (2005-2010)

Lab Members:

Graduate Students

• Elisa Leyva-Guerrero (PCMB)
• Tawanda Zidenga, (PCMB)
  
• Anil Kumar, (PCMB)
  
• Zoee Gokhale, (Biophysics)

Postdoctorates

• Dr. Hangsik Moon
  
• Dr. Uzoma Ihemere
• Dr. Vanessa Falcao
• Dr. Narayanan Narayanan

Staff

• Anthonia Soboyejo
  
• Rachel Stork
• Scha Chia Murphy

Cassava Group	Chlamydomonas Group
Left to Right: Cara Chiu, Elisa Leyva-Guerrero, Anthonia Soboyejo, Tawanda Zidenga, Dr. Uzo Ihemere and Dr. Hangsik Moon	Left to right: Anil Kumar, Zoee Gokhale, Sathish Rajamani, Dr. Hangsik Moon, Niyati Patel and Sara Cline, not pictured Dr. Suzette Pereira and Rachel Stork

Awards Received by Current and Former Students since 2003.

• Jamie Ewalt, Surasak Siripornadulsil, Dimuth Siritunga, and Ling Xiong received competitive travel grant awards to attend various national and international research conferences to present their research in 2003.

• Sareena Singh received the outstanding undergraduate oral presentation award at the 2004 Annual Midwest ASPB Sectional Meeting for her presentation on the structure and function of the H43 iron-binding protein of Chlamydomonas.

• Uzo Ihemere won third place for his research on bioengineering starch production in cassava at the annual Hayes Research Symposium for graduate students at OSU.

• Sathish Rajamani received a Council of Graduate Students Edward J. Ray Travel Award for Scholarship and Service in 2004.

• Sathish Rajamani received a travel award to attend the 11th International Conference on the Cell and Molecular Biology of Chlamydomonas, held in Kobe, Japan in 2004.

• Elisa Leyva-Guerrero (Horticulture and Crop Science) received an OARDC Graduate Fellowship in 2004.

• Zoee Gokhale (Biophysics) received a University Graduate Fellowship in 2004.

• Niyati Patel, an undergraduate student majoring in Pharmacy, received a USG Academic Grant in 2005 to support her research on bacterial quorum sensing mimic compounds.

• Niyati Patel, an undergraduate student majoring in Pharmacy, received a College of Pharmacy Grant in 2005 to support her research on bacterial quorum sensing mimic compounds.

• Sathish Rajamani received a travel award to present his research at the International Marine Biotechnology Conference in St John's, Newfoundland, in June 2005.

• Satish Rajamani (Biophysics), Moacir Torres and Vanessa Falcao (visiting students from the Dept. Biochemistry, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil) received third prize for their poster entitled "Microalgae as Heavy Metal Biosensors" at the International Marine Biotechnology Conference (2005) in St. Johns, Newfoundland.

• Anil Kumar was awarded the Helen M. and Milton O. Lee Fellowship for aquatic biology research in 2006.

• Anil Kumar was awarded the best graduate student oral presentation prize at the annual Plant MOlecular Biology and Biotechnology Conference in 2006.

• Wai Ting (Cara) Chui received a competitive undergraduate scholarship from the College of Biological Sciences in 2006.

• Ms. Zoee Gokhale, a graduate student in the Biophysics Program, won honorable mention for her poster entitled, "ELUCIDATING MECHANISMS OF PRIMARY CHARGE SEPARATION IN PHOTOSYSTEM II" at the 2006 Midwest Photosynthesis Conference.

• Elisa Leyva-Guerrero (2007) represented OSU at the Campus of Excellence Conference in the Canary Islands, Spain.

Selected publications (2002 - Date):

1. Wang J, Gosztola D, Ruffle SV, Hemann C, Seibert M, Wasielewski MR, Hille R, Gustafson TL and Sayre RT (2002) Functional asymmetry of photosystem II D1 and D2 peripheral chlorophyll mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 99: 4091-4096. (pdf)

2. Rubinelli P, Siripornadulsil S, Gao-Rubinelli F and Sayre RT (2002) Cadmium and iron-stress inducible gene expression in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: evidence for H43 protein function in iron assimilation. Planta 215: 1-13. (pdf)

3. Frasch W and Sayre RT (2002) Remembering George Cheniae, who never compromised his high standards of science. Photosyn. Res. 70: 245-247. (pdf)

4. Adhiya J, Cai X-H, Traina S and Sayre RT (2002) Binding of aqueous cadmium by the lyophilized biomass of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 210-1-11. (pdf)

5. Siripornadulsil S, Traina S, Verma DP and Sayre RT (2002) Molecular Mechanisms of Proline-Mediated Tolerance to Toxic Heavy Metals in Transgenic Microalgae. Plant Cell 14: 2837-2847. (pdf)

6. Siritunga D and Sayre RT (2003) Generation of Cyanogen-Free Transgenic Cassava. Planta 217:367-373. (pdf)

7. Siritunga D, Arias-Garzon D., White W and Sayre RT (2004) Over-expression of hydroxynitrile lyase in cassava roots accelerates cyanogenesis and detoxification. Plant Biotechnology Journal 2: 37-43. (pdf)

8. Xiong L and Sayre RT (2004) Engineering the chloroplast encoded proteins of Chlamydomonas. Photosynthesis Research 80:411-419. (pdf)

9. Teplitski M, Chen H, Rajamani S, Gao M, Merighi M, Sayre RT, Robinson JB, Rolfe BG and Bauer, WD (2004) Chlamydomonas secretes compounds that mimic bacterial signals and interfere with quorum sensing regulation in bacteria. Plant Physiology 134:137-146. (pdf).

10. Xiong L, Johnston HG, Seibert M, Wasielewski MR, Gustafson TL, and Sayre RT (2004) Substitution of a chlorophyll into the inactive branch pheophytin-binding site impairs charge separation in photosystem II. Journal Physical Chemistry B 108:16904-16911. (pdf)

11. Cuni A, Xiong L, Sayre, RT, Rappaport F and Lavergne J (2004) Modification of the pheophytin midpoint potential in photosystem II: Modulation of the quantum yield of charge separation and of charge recombination pathways. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 6: 4825-4831 (pdf).

12. Sayre, RT and Hippler M (2004) Introduction. In; Molecular Genomics of the Chlamydomonas Chloroplast. Special Issue of Photosynthesis Research. Guest editors, Richard Sayre and Michael Hippler. Photosynthesis Research 82: 201-202. (pdf)

13. Siritunga D and Sayre, RT (2004) Engineering cyanogen synthesis and turnover in cassava (Manihot esculenta). Plant Molecular Biology 56: 661-669. (pdf)

14. Rappaprt F, Cunia A, Xiong L, Sayre, RT, and Lavergne J (2005) Charge Recombination and Thermoluminescence in Photosystem II. Biophysical Journal 88:1948-1958. (pdf)

15. Ihemere, U, Arias-Garzon D, Lawrence S and Sayre, RT (2006) Genetic modification of cassava for enhanced starch production. Plant Biotechnology Journal 4: 453-465.(pdf)

16. Siripornadulsil S, Dabrowski K, Sayre, RT (2006) Microalgal vaccines. In: Transgenic Microalgae as Green Factories. Emilio Fernandes, Aurora Galvan, Rosa Leon, eds. Landes Press.

17. Rajamani S, Siripornadulsil S, Falcao V, Torres M, Colepicolo P, Sayre, RT (2006) Phycoremediation of heavy metals using transgenic microalgae. In: Transgenic Microalgae as Green Factories. Emilio Fernandes, Aurora Galvan, Rosa Leon, eds. Landes Press.

18. Rajamani S, Zhu G, Pei D and Sayre RT (2007) A LuxP-FRET reporter for direct detection and quantification of AI-2-related bacterial quorum sensing signals. Biochem. 46: 3990-3997.

19. Makarova V, Kosourov S, Krendeleva T, Semin B, Kukarskikh G, Rubin A, Sayre RT, Ghirardi M, and Seibert M (2007) Photoproduction of hydrogen by sulfur-deprived C. reinhardtii mutants with impaired Photosystem II photochemical activity. Photosyn. Res. 94: 79-89. (pdf)

20. Siritunga D and Sayre RT (2007) Transgenic approaches for cyanogen reduction in cassava. J. Assoc. Off. Anal. Chem. (in press).

21. Ihemere U, Siritunga D and Sayre RT (2007) Transgenic Cassava. In: Transgenics and Molecular Tailoring in Plants. Chitta R Kole, Editor. Blackwell Scientific (in press).

Patents:

• Sayre, RT and Wagner RE (August 23, 2005) Method of making microalgal-based animal foodstuff supplements, microalgal-supplemented foodstuffs and method of animal nutrition. US Patent Number 6,932,980. [pdf]

Current Research Funding:

• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• NOAA/Sea Grant
• Rockefeller Foundation
• NIH
• USAF-OSR

PCMB NEWS

Faculty Position Opening

The merging Departments of Plant Cellular & Molecular Biology and Molecular Genetics at The Ohio State University, in conjunction with the interdisciplinary Plant Molecular Biology/Biotechnology (PMBB) program, invite applications for a full-time, tenure-track faculty position. Position Information [pdf]

NSF Grant Awarded to Biao Ding

Biao Ding has been awarded a 3-year grant in the amount of $480,000 from the National Science Foundation to study the mechanisms of cell-to-cell RNA trafficking.

Work Study Position Available in PCMB

8-20 hrs/week; $7.26-8.25/hour.
Contact Dr. Rebecca Lamb.
Position Information [pdf}

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.

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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