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Martin H. Spalding
Professor and Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Marty Spalding

Dr. Spalding, Professor, received a B.S. in both Environmental Science and Biochemistry in 1974, and an M.S. in Botany in 1976, from Washington State University. He received his Ph.D in Plant Physiology from the University of Wisconsin in 1979. Dr. Spalding completed a postdoctoral program at the University of Illinois in 1982 and was a visiting postdoctoral fellow at The Australian National University later that same year. In 1982-1983 Dr. Spalding completed a postdoctoral program at Michigan State University. He joined Iowa State University in 1984 as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Spalding served as chair of the Interdepartmental Plant Physiology program at ISU from 1992 until 2000. In July 2003, he assumed the position of Chair of the GDCB Department. In July 2011, he became Interim Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and on January 1, 2013, formally accepted the position of Associate Dean.

Research Description

My research interests include photosynthetic carbon metabolism and metabolic regulation of gene expression in plants and photosynthetic microbes. A particular focus of my research has been understanding the acclimation response of microalgae to changes in CO2 availability, using Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as a model system. Understanding this acclimation response, includes both understanding how C. reinhardtii recognizes and transduces changes in CO2 availability, as well as the functional aspects of the acclimation response, especially the CO2-concentrating mechanism (CCM) induced by limiting CO2. Recently, we have demonstrated that C. reinhardtii exists in at least two limiting CO2 acclimation states determined by the CO2 concentration, a novel characteristic with regard to nutrient scavenging acclimation. These two limiting CO2 acclimation states, the low (~0.4%-0.03%) CO2 state and the very low (less than 0.01%) CO2 state are clearly defined in a classic inorganic carbon (Ci) transport deficient mutant, pmp1/ad1 that grows normally in high (greater than 0.5%) CO2 or in very low CO2 but dies in low CO2. We recently determined this mutant to be defective in LCIB, one member of a small gene family apparently restricted to the green algae. Thus our current work in this area focuses on the Ci transport function of the C. reinhardtii CCM, an area where virtually no real progress was made prior to the recent completion of the C. reinhardtii genome sequence. In addition to continuing work on the LCIB protein family, my lab also has been using RNAi technology to investigate potential Ci transporters, including HLA3/MRP1, a member of the MRP family of ABC transport proteins. Figure 1 shows a current model for function of Ci transporter candidates in the C. reinhardtii CCM.

Contact Information

1210 Molecular Biology
Ames, IA 50011-3260
515-294-1749 voice
515-294-6755 fax

Education

B.S., Biochemistry, Washington State University, 1974
B.S., Environmental Science, Washington State University, 1974
M.S., Botany, Washington State University, 1976
Ph.D., Plant Physiology, University of Wisconsin, 1979

Publications

  • Fang, W, Y Si, S Douglass, D Casero SS Merchant, M Pellegrini, I Ladunga, P Liu, MH Spalding. 2012. Transcriptome-wide Changes in Chlamydomonas Gene Expression Regulated by Carbon Dioxide and the CO2 Concentrating Mechanism Regulator CIA5/CCM. Plant Cell 24:1876–1893.
  • Li, T, B Liu, MH Spalding, D Weeks, B Yang. 2012. High efficiency TALEN-based gene editing for producing disease resistance in crop plants. Nature. Biotechnology 30:390-392.
  • Duanmu, D, MH Spalding. 2011. Insertional suppressors of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that restore growth of air-dier lcib mutants in low CO2. Photosyn Res 109:123-132.
  • Wang, Y, D Duanmu, D, MH Spalding. 2011. Carbon dioxide concentrating mechanism in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: inorganic carbon transport and CO2 recapture. Photosynthesis Research 109:115-122. Duanmu, D, MH Spalding. 2011. Insertional suppressors of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that restore growth of air-dier lcib mutants in low CO2. Photosynthesis Research 109:123-132.
  • Dillard, SR, K Van, MH Spalding. 2011. Acclimation to low or limiting CO2 in non-synchronous Chlamydomonas causes a transient synchronization of the cell division cycle. Photosynthesis Research 109:161-168.
  • Li T, S Huang, X Zhao, DA Wright, S Carpenter, MH Spalding, DP Weeks, B Yang. 2011. Modularly-assembled designer TAL effector nucleases for targeted gene knockout and gene replacement in eukaryotes. Nucleic Acids Research 39:6315-6325.
  • Li, T, S Huang, W Jiang, D Wright, MH Spalding, D Weeks, B Yang. 2010. TAL nucleases (TALNs): hybrid proteins composed of TAL effectors and FokI DNA-cleavage domain. Nucleic Acids Research 39:359-72.
  • Duanmu, D, AR Miller, KM Horken, DP Weeks, MH Spalding. 2009. Knockdown of a limiting-CO2-inducible gene HLA3 decreases bicarbonate transport and photosynthetic Ci-affinity in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 106:5990-5995.
  • Duanmu, D, Y Wang, MH Spalding. 2009. Thylakoid lumen carbonic anhydrase (CAH3) mutation suppresses air-dier phenotype of LCIB mutant in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Plant Physiology 149:929-937.
  • Vallon, O, MH Spalding . 2009. Amino acid metabolism. The Chlamydomonas Sourcebook 2nd Edition, Volume 2: Organellar and Metabolic Processes (D Stern, ed, E Harris, Series ed) . Elsevier Publishers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Chp 4, pp 115-158.
  • Spalding, MH. 2009. CO2-concentrating mechanism and carbon assimilation. The Chlamydomonas Sourcebook 2nd Edition, Volume 2: Organellar and Metabolic Processes (D Stern, ed, E Harris, Series ed). Elsevier Publishers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Chp 8, pp 257-301.
  • Spalding, MH. 2008. Microalgal carbon-dioxide-concentrating mechanisms: Chlamydomonas inorganic carbon transporters. Journal of Experimental Botany 59:1463-1473.
  • Wang, Y, MH Spalding. 2007. CO2 concentrating mechanisms in photosynthetic microorganisms. Functional Plant Science and Biotechnology 1:120-128.
  • Merchant, S, SE Prochnik, O Vallon, EH Harris, SJ Karpowicz, GB Witman, A Terry, A Salamov, LK Fritz-Laylin, L Maréchal-Drouard, WF Marshall, L-H Qu, DR Nelson, AA Sanderfoot, MH Spalding, et al., DS Rokhsar, AR Grossman. 2007. The Chlamydomonas genome reveals evolutionary insights into key animal and plant functions. Science 318:245-250.
  • Yoo, S-H, C Keppel, MH Spalding, J Jane. 2007. Effects of growth conditions on the yield and structure of glycogen in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 40:498-504.
  • Grossman, AR, M Croft, VN Gladyshev, SS Merchant, MC Posewitz, S Prochnik, MH Spalding. 2007. Novel metabolism in Chlamydomonas through the lens of genomics. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 10:190-198.
  • Aluru, MR, DJ Stessman, MH Spalding, S Rodermel. 2007. Source-Sink Regulation by Oxidative Stress and Sink Demand in Leaves of the Arabidopsis immutans Mutant. Photosynthesis Research 91:11-23.
  • Wang, Y, MH Spalding. 2006. An inorganic carbon transport system responsible for acclimation specific to air levels of CO2 in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 103:10110-10115.
  • Vance, Peter, MH Spalding. 2005. Growth, photosynthesis and gene expression in Chlamydomonas over a range of CO2 concentrations and CO2/O2 ratios: CO2 regulates multiple acclimation states. Canadian Journal of Botany 83:820-833.
  • Nakamura, Y, S Kanakagiri, K Van, W He, MH Spalding. 2005. Disruption of a glycolate dehydrogenase gene in a high-CO2-requiring mutant of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Canadian Journal of Botany 83:796-809.
  • Sriram, G, DB Fulton, JM Peterson, ME Westgate, MH Spalding, JV Shanks. 2004. Development of a carbon bond labeling NMR experiment for the evaluation of metabolic fluxes in developing soybean (Glycine max) embryos. Plant Physiology 136:1-15.