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Joanne Chory

 

Joanne Chory

Joanne Chory

Professor and Director
Howard H. and Maryam R. Newman Chair in Plant Biology
Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory

"Our lab is interested in identifying the mechanisms that plants use to respond to changes in their environment, particularly light. Our hope is that by discovering the molecular triggers that determine whether a plant matures into a spindly or robust specimen, we can contribute to efforts to increase crop yield and alleviate hunger."

Stuck where the seed germinates, plants have to make the best of their real estate. They rely on an impressive arsenal of light-sensitive photoreceptors to decide when to germinate and flower to ensure the next generation of seeds. For more than 20 years, the Chory laboratory has studied the signaling pathways plants use to detect changes in the sunlight that hits their leaves, not only when seasons change but also when they grow in shady, crowded conditions. During the course of their studies, she and her group have assigned specific functions to a number of photoreceptors that regulate plant growth, identified components of the light signaling pathways, and shown that photoreceptors link the local light environment to hormone biosynthesis and signaling pathways within the plant.

Lately, Chory and her team have been expanding their studies to a collection of natural isolates of the thale cress Arabidopsis thaliana, which have been gathered all over the Northern Hemisphere, to investigate how genetic variation in light-sensitive pathways ensures that plants in light-starved northern latitudes are more sensitive to light than their counterparts growing in the sun-drenched Mediterranean. Using a reference strain of Arabidopsis, they have embarked on a systematic genome-wide reverse genetics screen to assess the contribution of almost every gene to light sensing and signaling in a variety of light environments.

Knowing the full spectrum of genes that can be altered in the laboratory to affect an adaptive trait–and how this compares with the genes that affect plants' appearance in the wild–will advance understanding of how genes evolve together to make an efficient, coordinated network. This prospect is of direct and obvious importance not only to evolutionary biologists and plant breeders, but also to human biology, where similar experiments cannot be carried out. Moreover, Chory's research may eventually enable researchers to develop plants that are particularly well-adapted to challenging environments, boosting the yields of agricultural crops.

Lab Photo

Left to right
First row: Hong Ren (blue shirt), Emilia Pires, Eirini Kaiserli, Fang Yang, Willie Chen, Lin Li, Joanne Chory, Rebecca Kasl, Michelle Row

Second row: Prasanta Dash (grey shirt), Zuyu Zheng, Tsegaye Dabi, Jesse Woodson, Juan Perez Ruiz, Ullas Pedmale, Yvon Jaillais, Ben Cole, Lynn Artale, Michael Hothorn, Hou-Sung Jung

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Joanne Chory

Faculty

Joanne Chory

Joanne Chory

Professor and Director
Howard H. and Maryam R. Newman Chair in Plant Biology
Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory

Joanne Chory, a Professor in the Plant Biology Laboratory, is interested in identifying the mechanisms by which plants respond to changes in their light environment. She and her colleagues use genetic, genomic and biochemical approaches in the reference plant, Arabidopsis,  to identify components of the phototransduction pathways, with emphasis placed on the events mediated through a family of red/far-red-light-absorbing receptors. Her laboratory has identified mutants in these photoreceptors and in nuclear-localized signal transduction components. Work in Dr. Chory's lab has also led to the discovery of a steroid hormone, brassinolide, that controls plant development in response to light, and has identified the plant steroid receptor and signaling pathway.

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