• BIOL 101 (Principles of Biology)

Current research is directed towards the biochemistry and molecular biology of the sucrose-hydrolysing enzyme, invertase. Different forms of this enzyme respond variously after treatment of dwarf pea seedlings with gibberellin or after wounding pea stem or leaf tissue. To date three 'soluble' and three 'insoluble' isoforms have been identified. For two of these, cDNA sequence information has been obtained (Wu et al., 1993; Zhang et al., 1996b) and gene sequence information has been obtained for one (Zhang et al., 1996a; Zhang et al., 1997). The goal is to separate the array of isoenzymes, identify the gene or genes responsible for their synthesis and examine the regulation of these genes as that relates to the role of the enzymes in the growth and development of the plant.

• Katembe, J., I.A. Ungar, and J.P. Mitchell. 1998. Effect of salinity on germination and seedling growth of two Atriplex species. Annals of Botany 82:487-492.
• Zhang, L., N.S. Cohn and J.P. Mitchell. 1997. A pea cell-wall invertase gene (PsInv-1) with tissue specific expression. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 35:751-760
• Moran, D. L., N.S. Cohn, and J.P. Mitchell. 1996. cDNA (Accession No. X65155) and gene (Accession No. X97322) sequences of a pea homologue of eukaryotic ribosome protein L9. (PGR96-086) Plant Physiology 112:863.
• Zhang, L., N.S. Cohn, and J.P. Mitchell. 1996. A cDNA clone encoding a cell wall invertase from pea (Accession No. X85327). Plant Physiology 110:1048.
• Zhang, L., N.S. Cohn, and J.P. Mitchell. 1996. Induction of a pea cell wall invertase by wounding and its localized expression. Plant Physiology 112:1111-1117.
• Mitchell, J. P., D. Kim, and N.S. Cohn. 1996. Localization of invertase isoforms in seedlings of the garden pea, Pisum sativum L. Proceedings of the Royal Microscopical Society 31:149.
• Cohn, N.S., L. Zhang, J.P. Mitchell, and C.-Z. Jian Vierheller. 1994. Gibberellin stimulated changes in abundance of two mRNAs in the developing shoot of dwarf peas (Pisum sativum L.). International Journal of Plant Science 155:498-505.
• Wu, L-L., J.P. Mitchell, N.S. Cohn, and P.B. Kaufman. 1993. Gibberellin enhances cell wall invertase activity and mRNA levels in elongating dwarf pea (Pisum sativum) shoots. International Journal of Plant Science 154:280-289.