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| Name |
Kieber, Joseph J. |
| Location
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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| Primary Field
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Plant Biology |
| Secondary Field
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Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences |
 Election Citation
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Joseph J. Kieber studies how cells communicate with each other to regulate growth and development in plants, focusing on two signaling molecules, ethylene and cytokinin.
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Research Interests
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My lab is interested in how cells communicate with each other to regulate growth and development in plants. We have focused on two signaling molecules, ethylene and cytokinin, which, like other phytohormones, are remarkably pleiotropic, influencing nearly every aspect of growth and development. Much of our work has been done with the model eudicot Arabidopsis thaliana. Our early studies focused on ethylene, for which we helped define a core signaling pathway as well as mechanisms regulating its biosynthesis. We shifted our focus to cytokinin, which was discovered in the 1950s by its ability to promote cell division in plants and was subsequently found to regulate many plant processes. Our studies help define the mechanisms by which cytokinin is perceived by plant cells, including its signaling pathway and the transcriptional changes mediating its response. We went on to characterize multiple diverse roles for cytokinin in both plant development and their response to environmental cues. More recently, we have expanded our studies of cytokinin function to rice, an important crop species and a model monocot. This will allow us to compare cytokinin activity and signaling in diverse plant species. Our early results suggest both shared and novel aspects of cytokinin function in these divergent species. Finally, we are also studying the signaling pathways regulating the synthesis of plant cell walls, again using Arabidopsis as a model. Plant cell walls are remarkably dynamic structures, and understanding how cells control their synthesis and properties is central to understanding plant growth and their response to the environment.
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