Iowa State University
Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology
1210 Molecular Biology Building
Ames, Iowa 50011-3260
Phone: 515-294-7322
Fax: 515-294-6755
Email:
Steven R. Rodermel
Professor
Steve Rodermel, Professor, received his B.A. in Philosophy from Yale University, his M.S. in Zoology and Physiology from the University of Wyoming, and his Ph.D. in Cellular and Development Biology from Harvard University. After serving as a postdoctoral fellow, research associate, and lecturer at Harvard, Dr. Rodermel joined the faculty at Iowa State University in 1990 as an Assistant Professor. In 1997 he was a Visiting Professor with the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE) in Kyoto, Japan, and during 2003-2005 he served as a Program Director in the Integrative Organismal Biology Division at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C. At ISU, Dr. Rodermel served two years as chair of the Interdepartmental Genetics Program and three years as Associate Dean for Research in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Research Description
The Rodermel Lab is interested in nuclear-chloroplast interactions using various genetic, biochemical and molecular biological approaches. Variegation mutants are powerful systems to explore these interactions. These mutants have green sectors with normal-appearing chloroplasts and white sectors with defective chloroplasts. The lab has focused on two variegations for a number of years-- the immutans and var2 mutants of Arabidopsis. IMMUTANS is a plastid terminal oxidase that is required for carotenoid biosynthesis, chlororespiration, and oxidative stress avoidance, while VAR2 is a plastid-localized FtsH zinc metalloprotease that appears to play a role in the D1 photorepair cycle. Current studies are concentrated on understanding the physiological roles of these proteins in chloroplast biogenesis, plant growth and development, and on why cells in green sectors of the mutant plants are able to bypass the requirement for these proteins.
Rodermel. S . 2008. Don’t Overlook Valencia: the ISU Summer Study Abroad Program for Biology. Des Moines Register, Sunday Travel Section (December 7) .
Aluru, M., Y. Xu, R. Guo, Z. Wang, S. Li, W. White, K. Wang and S. Rodermel. 2008. Generation of transgenic maize with enhanced provitamin A content. J. Experimental Botany 59:3551-3562.
Yu, F., X. Liu, M. Alsheikh, S. Park and S. Rodermel. 2008. Mutations in SUPPRESSOR OF VARIEGATION1, a factor required for normal chloroplast translation, suppress var2-mediated leaf variegation in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 20(1786-1804).
Taber, H. G., P. Perkins-Veazie, S. Li, W. White, S. Rodermel and Y. Xu. 2008. Enhancement of tomato fruit lycopene by potassium is cultivar dependent. HortScience 43:159-165.
Lee, E.K., D. Cook, H. Hofmann, M. Aluru and S. Rodermel. 2007. The ProbeR Package (software) . http://cran.r-project.org/doc/packages/ProbeR.pdf .
Varbanova, M., S. Yamaguchi, Y. Yang, K. McKelvey, A. Hanada, R. Borochov, F. Yu, Y. Jikumaru, J. Ross, D. Cortes, C.-J. Ma, J. P. Noel, L. Mander, V. Shulaev, Y. Kamiya, S. Rodermel, D. Weiss and E. Pichersky. 2007. Methylation of gibberellins by Arabidopsis GAMT1 and GAMT2. Plant Cell 19:32-45.
Yu, F., A. Fu, M. Aluru, S. Park, Y. Xu, H. Liu, X. Liu, A. Foudree, M. Nambogga and S. Rodermel. 2007. Variegation mutants and mechanisms of chloroplast biogenesis. Plant Cell & Environment. (Refereed review) 30:350-365.
Aluru, M.R., D.J. Stessman, M.H. Spalding and S.R. Rodermel. 2007. Alterations in photosynthesis in Arabidopsis lacking IMMUTANS, a chloroplast terminal oxidase. Photosynthesis Research 91:11-23.
Rosso, D. A.G. Ivanov, A. Fu, J. Geisler-Lee, L. Hendrickson, M. Geisler, G. Stewart, M. Krol, V. Hurry, S.R. Rodermel, D.P. Maxwell and N.P.A. Hüner.. 2006. IMMUTANS does not act as a stress-induced safety valve in the protection of the photosynthetic apparatus of Arabidopsis during steady state photosynthesis. Plant Physiology 142:574-585.
Aluru, M.R., F. Yu, A. Fu and S. Rodermel. 2006. Arabidopsis variegation mutants: new insights into chloroplast biogenesis. Journal Experimental Botany (Refereed article) 57:1871-1881.
Fu, A., S. Park and S. Rodermel. 2005. Sequences required for the activity of PTOX (IMMUTANS), a plastid terminal oxidase: in vitro and in planta mutagenesis of iron-binding sites and a conserved sequence that corresponds to Exon 8. J. Biol. Chem. (Cover article) 280:442489-42496.
Alsheikh, M., and S. Rodermel. 2005. Genetics and genomics of chloroplast biogenesis. Maydica (Invited review: 50th anniversary of Maydica) 50:443-449.
Yu, F., S. Park and S.R. Rodermel. 2005. Functional redundancy of AtFtsH metalloproteases in thylakoid membrane complexes. Plant Physiology 138:1957-1966.
Baerr, J.N., J.D. Thomas, B.G. Taylor, S.R. Rodermel and G.R. Gray. 2005. Differential photosynthetic compensatory mechanisms exist in the immutans mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana.. Physiologia Plantarum (Cover article). 124:390-402.
Rodermel, S., J.-F. Viret and E. Krebbers. 2005. Lawrence Bogorad (1921-2003), a pioneer in photosynthesis research: a tribute. Photosynthesis Research (Invited tribute) 83:17-24.
Lonosky, P.M., X. Zhang, V.G. Honavar, D.L. Dobbs, A. Fu and S.R. Rodermel. 2004. A proteomic analysis of maize chloroplast biogenesis. Plant Physiology 134:560-574.
Barr, J., W.S. White, L. Chen, H. Bae and S. Rodermel. 2004. The GHOST terminal oxidase regulates developmental programming in tomato fruit. Plant, Cell & Environment (Cover article) 27:840-852.
Aluru, M.R and S.R. Rodermel. 2004. Control of chloroplast redox by the IMMUTANS terminal oxidase. (Refereed review). Physiologia Plantarum (Cover article) 120:4-11.
Yu, F., S. Park and S.R. Rodermel. 2004. The Arabidopsis FtsH metalloprotease gene family: interchangeability of subunits in chloroplast oligomeric complexes. Plant Journal 37:864-876.
Rodermel, S.. 2004. Rubisco antisense mutants: a tool to study the molecular biology of intracellular communication and leaf development. In, Recent Advances in Plant Molecular Biology (in press).
Mazarei, M., K.A. Lennon, D. P. Puthoff, S.R. Rodermel and T.J. Baum. 2004. Expression of an Arabidopsis phosphoglycerate mutase homologue is localized to apical meristems, regulated by hormones, and induced by sedentary plant-parasitic nematodes. Plant Mol. Biol. 53:513-530.
Mazarei, M., K.A. Lennon, D. P. Puthoff, S. R. Rodermel and T. J. Baum. 2004. Homologous soybean and Arabidopsis genes share responsiveness to cyst nematode infection. Molecular Plant Pathology 5:409-423.
Stessman, D., M. Spalding and S. Rodermel. 2004. Short and long term regulation of photosynthesis during leaf development. In, Handbook of Plant and Crop Physiology. M. Pessarakli, ed. (Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York) (in press).
Wubben, M.J.E., S.R. Rodermel, and T.J. Baum. 2004. Mutation of a UDP-glucose-4-epimerase alters nematode susceptibility and ethylene responses in Arabidopsis roots. Plant Journal 40:712-724.
Park, S., and S. Rodermel. 2004. Mutations in ClpC2/Hsp100 suppress the requirement for FtsH in thylakoid membrane biogenesis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101:12765-12770.
