Barkan Lab Web Site (currently under construction)

Research in the Barkan lab is directed at understanding how the genetic machineries in the chloroplast and nucleus communicate to produce a chloroplast that is responsive to environmental and developmental cues. We study mechanisms by which nuclear genes influence the synthesis of chloroplast proteins, with a focus on post-transcriptional control and RNA/protein interactions. Our research is grounded in a genetic approach, in which we identify nuclear genes that function in chloroplast biogenesis through the analysis of mutations in the nuclear genome that disrupt photosynthesis. We have generated a collection of >2000 non-photosynthetic maize mutants caused by the insertion of Mu transposons. We use the collection as both a forward- and reverse-genetic resource, to guide us to nuclear genes that participate in specific aspects of chloroplast biogenesis and to determine the functions of genes of known sequence but unknown function.

Current projects focus on protein-facilitated group II intron splicing, and on two recently recognized protein families, the CRM and PPR families, that are largely plant-specific and that play essential roles in chloroplast and mitochondrial gene expression. Tools we have developed for this work include the Photosynthetic Mutant Library (PML), a RIP-chip assay that allows us to identify the RNA ligands of organellar RNA binding proteins, and POGs/PlantRBP, a database that groups predicted Arabidopsis, rice, and maize proteins into Putative Orthologous Groups (POGs), with an annotation emphasis on predicted RNA Binding Proteins (RBPs).