Brad Binder, Ph.D.   Phone: 608-262-1543 bmbinder at wisc.edu

Research Focus:
    I am interested in understanding the control of growth and development in plants. My research focuses on several areas related to the role of the plant hormone ethylene. One is to uncover new details about the signal transduction pathway. Since ethylene signaling involves at least two rounds of transcriptional changes, we have profiled genes that change during growth inhibition. We are targeting several of these genes that change expression for further study. A second area of interest is to characterize the growth and development changes caused by ethylene using a computer-driven, time-lapse image acquisition system to study the kinetics of growth changes in etiolated seedlings. With this system, we are gaining new insights into the role of individual ethylene receptor isoforms and the role of phosphotransfer. In addition, it is now clear from these experiments that the ethylene signal transduction pathway involves feedback mechanisms which we are attempting to unravel.  We are also using this imaging system coupled with genetics and molecular biology to evaluate the roles that ethylene plays in the growth, development, and survival of young seedlings.

I am now also initiating experiments to examine the unique roles that various components of the ethylene signaling pathway might have in other developmental processes such as senescence, abscission, and fruit ripening.

Some movies of etiolated seedlings treated with ethylene:  Arabidopsis and other species

Recent Publications

O'Malley, R.C., Rodriguez, F.I., Esch, J.J., Binder, B.M., O'Donnell, P., Klee, H.J., and Bleecker, A.B. (2005). Ethylene-binding activity, gene expression levels, and receptor system output for ethylene receptor family members from Arabidopsis and tomato. The Plant Journal. 41: 651-659. [Abstract]

Binder, B.M., O'Malley, R.C., Moore, J.M., Parks, B.M., Spalding, E.P., and Bleecker, A.B. (2004) Seedling Growth Response and Recovery to Ethylene: a Kinetic Analysis. Plant Physiology 136: 2913-2920. [Abstract ]

Binder, B.M., Mortimore, L.A., Stepanova, A.N., Ecker, J.R., and Bleecker, A.B. (2004) Short term growth responses to ethylene in Arabidopsis seedlings are EIN3/EIL1 independent. Plant Physiology 136: 2921-2927. [Abstract]

Binder, B.M. and Bleecker , A.B. (2003) A Model for Ethylene Receptor Function and 1-Methylcyclopropene Action. ACTA Horticulturae 628: 177-187.

Rodriguez, F., Esch,J., Hall, A., Binder, B. Schaller, G.E., and Bleecker, A.B. (1999) A copper cofactor for the ETR1 receptor from Arabidopsis. Science 283: 996-998. [Abstract]