More Information

Professor Bassham received her B.Sc. (Honours) in Biochemistry from the University of Birmingham, England and a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of Warwick, England. Dr. Bassham completed a post-doctoral appointment at the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, and joined the faculty at Iowa State University in 2001. In 2013, Dr. Bassham was chosen as the first Walter E. and Helen Parke Loomis Professor of Plant Physiology in GDCB. In 2020 she was named a Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists and in 2021 a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Research Description

My research interests focus on understanding the function and regulation of vacuolar autophagy in plant abiotic stress responses. Autophagy is a pathway for uptake of proteins, protein aggregates, other macromolecules, and organelles into the vacuole for degradation during environmental stress and senescence. Plants defective in this pathway are more sensitive to stress conditions and show premature leaf senescence. We are studying the effects of loss or increase in autophagy on plant stress tolerance, the transcriptional regulation of auotphagy-related genes, and the signaling pathways involved in its activation. We are also interested in the substrate specificity of autophagic degradation and have identified an autophagy-related pathway that functions in RNA salvage. 

Recent Publications

2024

Petersen M, T Avin-Wittenberg, DC Bassham, Y Dagdas, C Fan, AR Fernie, L Jiang, D Mishra, MS Otegui, E Rodriguez and D Hofius. 2024. Autophagy in plants. Autophagy Reports 3: 2395731.

Eckardt NA, T Avin-Wittenberg, DC Bassham, P Chen, Q Chen, J Fang, P Genschik, AS Ghifari, AM Guercio, DJ Gibbs, M Heese, RP Jarvis, S Michaeli, MW Murcha, S Mursalimov, S Noir, M Palayam, B Peixoto, PL Rodriguez, A Schaller, A Schnittger, G Serino, N Shabek, A Stintzi, FL Theodoulou, S Üstün, K J van Wijk, N Wei, Q Xie, F Yu, and H Zhang. 2024. The lowdown on breakdown: Open questions in plant proteolysis. Plant Cell 36: 2931–2975.

Kacprzyk J, R Burke, L Armengot, M Coppola, SB Tattrie, H Vahldick, DC Bassham, M Bosch, N Brereton, J-L Cacas, NS Coll, P Gallois, K Kuchitsu, MK Nowack, HJ Rogers, F Van Breusegem, AN Gunawardena, PF McCabe. 2024. Roadmap for the next decade of plant programmed cell death research. New Phytol. 242: 1865–1875.

Leon RG and DC Bassham. 2024. PROTAC for agriculture: learning from human medicine to generate new biotechnological weed control solutions. Pest Manag Sci 80: 262-266.

2023

Zou J, X Chen, C Liu, M Guo, MK Kanwar, Z Qi, P Yang, G Wang, Y Bao, DC Bassham, J Yu and J Zhou. 2023. Autophagy promotes jasmonate-mediated defense against nematodes. Nat Comms 14: 4769.

Yang C, X Li, L Yang, S Chen, J Liao, K Li, J Zhou, W Shen, X Zhuang, M Bai, DC Bassham and C Gao. 2023. A positive feedback regulation of SnRK1 signaling by autophagy in plants. Mol Plant 16: 1206–1225.

Mugume Y, R Roy, W Agbemafle, GN Shepard, Y Vue and DC Bassham. 2023. VPS45 is required for both diffuse and tip growth of Arabidopsis thaliana cells. Front Plant Sci 14: 1120307.

Ding G, Y Mugume, ME Dueñas, YJ Lee, M Liu, DS Nettleton, X Zhao, L Li, DC Bassham, BJ Nikolau. 2023. Biological Insights from Multi-omics Analysis Strategies: Complex Pleotropic Effects Associated with Autophagy. Front Plant Sci 14: 1093358.

Liao CY, Y Pu, TM Nolan, C Montes, H Guo, JW Walley, Y Yin, and DC Bassham. 2023. Brassinosteroids modulate autophagy through phosphorylation of RAPTOR1B by the GSK3-like kinase BIN2 in Arabidopsis. Autophagy 19: 1293-1310.

Qi H, Y Wang, Y Bao, DC Bassham, L Chen, QF Chen, S Hou, I Hwang, L Huang, Z Lai, F Li, Y Liu, R Qiu, H Wang, P Wang, Q Xie, Y Zeng, X Zhuang, C Gao, L Jiang and S Xiao. 2023. Studying plant autophagy: challenges and recommended methodologies. Advanced Biotechnology 1: 2. 

Agbemafle W, MM Wong and DC Bassham. 2023. Transcriptional and post-translational regulation of plant autophagy. J Exp Bot 74: 6006–6022.

Wang J, Q Zhang, Y Bao and DC Bassham. 2023. Autophagic degradation of membrane-bound organelles in plants. Biosci Rep 43: BSR20221204.

2022

Montes C, P Wang, CY Liao, TM Nolan, G Song, NM Clark, JM Elmore, H Guo, DC Bassham, Y Yin, JW Walley. 2022. Integration of multi-omics data reveals interplay between brassinosteroid and TORC signaling in Arabidopsis. New Phytol: 236: 893–910.

Wang P, NM Clark, TM Nolan, G Song, OG Whitham, CY Liao, C Montes-Serey, DC Bassham, JW Walley, Y Yin and H Guo. 2022. FERONIA functions through Target of Rapamycin (TOR) to negatively regulate autophagy. Front Plant Sci 13: 961096.

Wang P, NM Clark, TM Nolan, G Song, PM Bartz, CY Liao, C Montes-Serey, E Katz, JK Polko, JJ Kieber, DJ Kliebenstein, DC Bassham, JW Walley, Y Yin and H Guo. 2022. Integrated omics reveal novel functions and underlying mechanisms of FERONIA receptor kinase in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell 34: 2594–2614.

Balfagón D, A Gómez-Cadenas, JL Rambla, A Granell, C de Ollas, DC Bassham, R Mittler and SI Zandalinas. 2022. GABA plays a key role in plant acclimation to a combination of high light and heat stress. Plant Physiol 188: 2026-2038.

Mugume Y, G Ding, ME Dueñas, M Liu, YJ Lee, BJ Nikolau and DC Bassham. 2022. Complex changes in membrane lipids associated with the modification of autophagy in Arabidopsis. Metabolites 12: 190.

Bassham DC. 2022. Editorial: Plant autophagy and intracellular trafficking. FEBS Letts 596: 2089–2092

Liao C-Y, P Wang, Y Yin and DC Bassham. 2022. Interactions between autophagy and phytohormone signaling pathways in plants. FEBS Letts 596: 2198–2214.

Zhang L, DC Bassham and BR Pittendrigh. 2022. Editorial: ER stress and the UPR signaling pathways. Front Plant Sci 13: 968353.

Bassham DC. 2022. An unexpected function for an ESCRT protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 119: e2207055119.

Tang J and DC Bassham. 2022. Autophagy during drought: Function, regulation, and potential application. Plant J 109: 390-401.