Tom Brutnell

Associate Scientist

Office/Lab: Room 129/116

Contact: tpb8@cornell.edu / 607-254-8656

Affiliations:

Adjunct Associate Professor, Cornell University’s Department of Plant Biology

Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics

Graduate Field: Plant Biology

C4 Photosynthesis: adapting to global climate change

While farmers and gardeners appreciate the fact that plants harvest light energy to drive the machinery that ultimately leads to sugars, amino acids and a host of secondary metabolites that us humans need and enjoy, few of us think about the nuts and bolts of the operation. As growing populations and global climate change place increasing pressure on the world’s food supply, it is essential that we continue to improve crop performance. C4 plants have evolved to thrive in hot, arid environments and offer valuable lessons for crop improvement strategies. To learn more about our work to understand the regulation of photosynthesis in maize click here.

Shade Avoidance Syndrome: does it help or hurt?

The shade avoidance syndrome (SAS) is mechanism that plants have evolved to avoid their encroaching neighbors. Chlorophylls in the green parts of the plant selectively absorb light in the red and blue regions of spectrum letting far-red light through. Plants utilize the phytochrome photoreceptors to perceive this change in light quality and modify plant development accordingly. To find out more about SAS in maize click here.

Transposon Tagging: a gateway to gene discovery.

Since their discovery over 60 years ago by Barbara McClintock, transposons have fascinated geneticists who seek to understand genome evolution. More recently, these jumping genes have been exploited as tools for gene discovery and characterization. Click here to see how we are using the maize transposons Ac and Ds for regional mutagenesis in maize.

Making corn more nutritious.

Vitamin A deficiency is a major world health issue affecting the health of millions of children in the developing world. We have used the Ac/Ds transposons (see above) to identify and characterize genes that encode the biosynthetic enzymes of this pathway and are now working to understand the regulation of this pathway and manipulate the composition of carotenoids in the grain. To learn more about our work to improve carotenoid content of the maize grain click here:

Publications

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Covshoff S, Majeran W, Liu P, Kolkman JM, van Wijk KJ, Brutnell TP. 2008. Deregulation of maize C4 photosynthetic development in a mesophyll cell-defective mutant. Plant Physiol 146: 1469-1481
Dubois, PG, and Brutnell TP. 2008. Light signal transduction networks in maize. in The Maize Handbook, eds. Hake and Bennetzen, Springer : In Press
Harjes CE, Rocheford TR, Bai L, Brutnell TP, Kandianis CB, Sowinski SG, Stapleton AE, Vallabhaneni R, Williams M, Wurtzel ET, Yan J, Buckler ES. 2008. Natural genetic variation in lycopene epsilon cyclase tapped for maize biofortification. Science 319: 330-333
Conrad LJ, Kikuchi K and Brutnell TP. 2008. Transposon tagging in cereal crops. in Handbook of Functional Genomics, eds. Kahl and Meksem, Wiley Press : In Press
Qiu Q-S, Hardin SC, Mace J, Brutnell TP and Huber SC. 2007. Light and metabolic signals control the selective degradation of sucrose synthase in maize leaves during de-etiolation. Plant Physiol 144: 468-478
Conrad LJ, Bai L, Ahern KR, Dusinberre KJ, Kane DP and Brutnell TP. 2007. State II Dissociation (Ds) element formation following Activator (Ac) excision in maize. Genetics 177: 737-747
Sheehan MJ, Kennedy LM, Costich DE and Brutnell TP. 2007. Subfunctionalization of PhyB1 and PhyB2 in the control of seedling and mature plant traits in maize. Plant J 49: 338-353
Kebrom TH, and Brutnell TP. 2007. The molecular analysis of the shade avoidance syndrome in the grasses has begun. J Ex Bot 58: 3079-3089
Sawers RJH, Farmer PR, Moffett P and Brutnell TP. 2006. In planta transient expression as a system for genetic and biochemical analyses of chlorophyll biosynthesis. Plant Methods 2: 15
Garg, A. K., R. J. Sawers, H. Wang, J. K. Kim, J. M. Walker, T. P. Brutnell, M. V. Parthasarathy, R. D. Vierstra, R. J. Wu. 2006. Light-regulated Overexpression of an Arabidopsis Phytochrome A Gene in Rice Alters Plant Architecture and Increases Grain Yield. Planta 223: 627-636
Brutnell TP, . 2006. Phytochrome and light control of plant development. in Plant Physiology IV edition, eds Taiz and Zeiger, Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, MA :
Sawers, R. J., J. Viney, P. R. Farmer, R. R. Bussey, G. Olsefski, K. Anufrikova, C. N. Hunter, T. P. Brutnell. 2006. The Maize Oil Yellow1 (oy1) Gene Encodes the I Subunit of Magnesium Chelatase. Plant Molecular Biology 60(1): 95-106
Conrad, L. J., T. P. Brutnell. 2005. Ac-immobilized, a Stable Source of Activator Transposase that Mediates Sporophytic and Gametophytic Excision of Dissociation Elements in Maize. Genetics 171: 1999-2012
Sawers, R. J., M. J. Sheehan, T. P. Brutnell. 2005. Cereal Phytochromes: Targets of Selection, Targets for Manipulation?. Trends in Plant Science 10(3): 138-143
Kolkman, J. M., L. J. Conrad, P. R. Farmer, K. Hardeman, K. R. Ahern, P. E. Lewis, R. J. Sawers, S. Lebejko, P. Chomet, T. P. Brutnell. 2005. Distribution of Activator (Ac) Throughout the Maize Genome for Use in Regional Mutagenesis. Genetics 169(2): 981-995
Sheehan, M. J., P. R. Farmer, T. P. Brutnell. 2004. Structure and Expression of Maize Phytochrome Family Homeologs. Genetics 167: 1395-1405
Timmermans, M. C., T. P. Brutnell, P. W. Becraft. 2004. The 46th Annual Maize Genetics Conference: Unlocking the Secrets of the Maize Genome. Plant Physiology 136(1): 2633-2640
Sawers, R. J., P. J. Linley, J. F. Gutierrez-Marcos, T. Delli-Bovi, P. R. Farmer, T. Kohchi, M. J. Terry, T. P. Brutnell. 2004. The Elm1 (ZmHy2) Gene of Maize Encodes a Phytochromobilin Synthase. Plant Physiology 136(1): 2771-2781
Singh, M., P. E. Lewis, K. Hardeman, L. Bai, J. K. C. Rose, M. Mazourek, P. Chomet, T. P. Brutnell. 2003. Activator mutagenesis of the Pink scutellum1/viviparous7 locus of maize. Plant Cell 15(4): 874-884
Markelz, N. H., D. E. Costich, T. P. Brutnell. 2003. Photomorphogenic responses in maize seedling development. Plant Physiology 133(4): 1578-1591
Costa, L. M., J. F. Gutierrez-Marcos, T. P. Brutnell, A. J. Greenland, H. G. Dickinson. 2003. The globby1-1 (glo1-1) Mutation Disrupts Nuclear and Cell Division in the Developing Maize Seed Causing Alterations in Endosperm Cell Fate and Tissue Differentiation. Development 130: 5009-5017
Brutnell, T. P., L. J. Conrad. 2003. Transposon Tagging Using Activator (Ac) in Maize. Plant Functional Genomics: Methods and Protocols 236: 157-176
Sawers, R. J. H., P. J. Linley, P. R. Farmer, N. P. Hanley, D. E. Costich, M. J. Terry, T. P. Brutnell. 2002. Elongated mesocotyl1, a phytochrome-deficient mutant of maize. Plant Physiology 130: 155-163
Brutnell, T. P., . 2002. Transposon tagging in maize. Functional & Integrative Genomics 2: 4-12