Lynda S. Plamann
Associate Professor, CBB
Ph.D. University of Iowa
Office: 015 BSB
Phone: (816) 235-1827
E-mail: PlamannL
Research Areas
Cell-cell communication during fruiting body formation and sporulation in the soil bacterium Myxococcus xanthus; exploration of intracellular and intercellular signal transduction mechanisms in M. xanthus.
Current Interests
"The ability to detect and respond to signals from the environment and neighboring cells is of fundamental biological importance. Adaptation requires detection of the environmental stimulus, processing of the signal, and production of an appropriate response. Myxococcus xanthus, a rod-shaped soil bacterium, provides an attractive model system for studies of intracellular and intercellular signaling. When M. xanthus cells sense that they are starving, the cells begin to construct multicellular, spore-filled fruiting bodies. Successful fruiting body formation requires a high cell density; if too few cells are present, the cells will fail to progress through the earliest stages of fruiting body formation. An extracellular signal, A-signal, is produced and sensed by M. xanthus as a means to monitor the cell density. We are studying three genes (asgA, asgB , and asgC) that participate in the A-signal-generating pathway. Molecular genetic and biochemical analyses indicate that these genes are likely to be involved in environmental sensing and regulating gene expression. Through our studies of the asg genes, we hope to gain a clearer understanding of the signal transduction mechanisms and cell-cell interactions that promote the multicellular state."
Research Support
This work is supported by the National Institutes of Health.
