Biochemistry & Biophysics

John Mullet

mullet Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Director, Institute for Plant Genomics
and Biotechnology
Faculty of Plant Physiology, of Genetics, and of Molecular and Environmental Plant Sciences

Phone: (979) 845-0722
Email: jmullet@tamu.edu
B.S. Colgate University (1976)
Ph.D. University of Illinois, Champaign (1980)
Postdoc. Rockefeller University (1980-83)

Joined Texas A&M University in 1983

Functional Genomics of Plants
Functional genomics, bioinformatics, and DNA chip technology are fundamentally changing research on biological systems. Knowledge of complete genome sequences and high resolution genome technology provide an extraordinary opportunity to understand complex biological processes and to relate detailed understanding of protein structure and biochemical mechanism to the function of whole organisms and biological systems in nature.

Our research team is helping to build genome maps and DNA diagnostic microarrays/chips for analysis of global gene expression and biodiversity. This new technology is being used to explore the molecular basis of several fundamental plant responses: (1) light responsive genetic systems that help protect plants from damage by high intensity UV/blue light; (2) genetic systems that allow plants to adapt to the environment; (3) genes and signal transduction pathways that help protect plants from insects and disease; and (4) genes that regulate plant development (flowering time, fertility restoration, chloroplast development/number).

Recent Publications
  1. Conner JA, Goel S, Gunawan G, Cordonnier-Pratt MM, Johnson VE, Liang C, Wang H, Pratt LH, Mullet JE, Debarry J, Yang L, Bennetzen JL, Klein PE & Ozias-Akins P (2008) Sequence analysis of bacterial artificial chromosome clones from the apospory-specific genomic region of Pennisetum and Cenchrus. Plant Physiol 147: 1396-411
  2. Yim YS, Moak P, Sanchez-Villeda H, Musket TA, Close P, Klein PE, Mullet JE, McMullen MD, Fang Z, Schaeffer ML, Gardiner JM, Coe EH Jr & Davis GL (2007) A BAC pooling strategy combined with PCR-based screenings in a large, highly repetitive genome enables integration of the maize genetic and physical maps. BMC Genomics 8: 47
  3. Gualtieri G, Conner JA, Morishige DT, Moore LD, Mullet JE & Ozias-Akins P (2006) A segment of the apospory-specific genomic region is highly microsyntenic not only between the apomicts Pennisetum squamulatum and buffelgrass, but also with a rice chromosome 11 centromeric-proximal genomic region. Plant Physiol 140: 963-71
  4. Pratt LH, Liang C, Shah M, Sun F, Wang H, Reid SP, Gingle AR, Paterson AH, Wing R, Dean R, Klein R, Nguyen HT, Ma HM, Zhao X, Morishige DT, Mullet JE & Cordonnier-Pratt MM (2005) Sorghum expressed sequence tags identify signature genes for drought, pathogenesis, and skotomorphogenesis from a milestone set of 16,801 unique transcripts. Plant Physiol 139: 869-84
  5. Buchanan CD, Lim S, Salzman RA, Kagiampakis I, Morishige DT, Weers BD, Klein RR, Pratt LH, Cordonnier-Pratt MM, Klein PE & Mullet JE (2005) Sorghum bicolor's transcriptome response to dehydration, high salinity and ABA. Plant Mol Biol 58: 699-720
  6. Kim JS, Islam-Faridi MN, Klein PE, Stelly DM, Price HJ, Klein RR & Mullet JE (2005) Comprehensive molecular cytogenetic analysis of sorghum genome architecture: distribution of euchromatin, heterochromatin, genes and recombination in comparison to rice. Genetics 171: 1963-76
  7. Klein RR, Klein PE, Mullet JE, Minx P, Rooney WL & Schertz KF (2005) Fertility restorer locus Rf1 [corrected] of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) encodes a pentatricopeptide repeat protein not present in the colinear region of rice chromosome 12. Theor Appl Genet 111: 994-1012
  8. Salzman RA, Brady JA, Finlayson SA, Buchanan CD, Summer EJ, Sun F, Klein PE, Klein RR, Pratt LH, Cordonnier-Pratt MM & Mullet JE (2005) Transcriptional profiling of sorghum induced by methyl jasmonate, salicylic acid, and aminocyclopropane carboxylic acid reveals cooperative regulation and novel gene responses. Plant Physiol 138: 352-68
  9. Buchanan CD, Klein PE & Mullet JE (2004) Phylogenetic analysis of 5'-noncoding regions from the ABA-responsive rab16/17 gene family of sorghum, maize and rice provides insight into the composition, organization and function of cis-regulatory modules. Genetics 168: 1639-54
  10. Kim JS, Klein PE, Klein RR, Price HJ, Mullet JE & Stelly DM (2005) Molecular cytogenetic maps of sorghum linkage groups 2 and 8. Genetics 169: 955-65
  11. Kim JS, Klein PE, Klein RR, Price HJ, Mullet JE & Stelly DM (2005) Chromosome identification and nomenclature of Sorghum bicolor. Genetics 169: 1169-73
  12. Akiyama Y, Conner JA, Goel S, Morishige DT, Mullet JE, Hanna WW & Ozias-Akins P (2004) High-resolution physical mapping in Pennisetum squamulatum reveals extensive chromosomal heteromorphism of the genomic region associated with apomixis. Plant Physiol 134: 1733-41
  13. Klein PE, Klein RR, Vrebalov J & Mullet JE (2003) Sequence-based alignment of sorghum chromosome 3 and rice chromosome 1 reveals extensive conservation of gene order and one major chromosomal rearrangement. Plant J 34: 605-21
  14. Kim J & Mullet JE (2003) A mechanism for light-induced translation of the rbcL mRNA encoding the large subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase in barley chloroplasts. Plant Cell Physiol 44: 491-9
  15. Morishige DT, Childs KL, Moore LD & Mullet JE (2002) Targeted analysis of orthologous phytochrome A regions of the sorghum, maize, and rice genomes using comparative gene-island sequencing. Plant Physiol 130: 1614-25
  16. Islam-Faridi MN, Childs KL, Klein PE, Hodnett G, Menz MA, Klein RR, Rooney WL, Mullet JE, Stelly DM & Price HJ (2002) A molecular cytogenetic map of sorghum chromosome 1. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis with mapped bacterial artificial chromosomes. Genetics 161: 345-53
  17. Menz MA, Klein RR, Mullet JE, Obert JA, Unruh NC & Klein PE (2002) A high-density genetic map of Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench based on 2926 AFLP, RFLP and SSR markers. Plant Mol Biol 48: 483-99
  18. Kim JS, Childs KL, Islam-Faridi MN, Menz MA, Klein RR, Klein PE, Price HJ, Mullet JE & Stelly DM (2002) Integrated karyotyping of sorghum by in situ hybridization of landed BACs. Genome 45: 402-12
  19. Mullet JE, Klein RR & Klein PE (2002) Sorghum bicolor - an important species for comparative grass genomics and a source of beneficial genes for agriculture. Curr Opin Plant Biol 5: 118-21
  20. Dahlberg JA, Zhang X, Hart GE & Mullet JE (2002) Comparative Assessment of Variation among Sorghum Germplasm Accessions Using Seed Morphology and RAPD Measurements. Crop Sci 42: 291-296
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