Dr. Allan Showalter’s lab is studying Arabidopsis thaliana, a plant commonly used as a model organism for genetic studies.
By Heather Willard, PACE Writer Environmental and Plant Biology
Dr. Allan Showalter, Professor Environmental & Plant Biology, traveled to Crete, Greece, this summer for the XIV Cell Wall Meeting to present his research on hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins, more specifically the enzymes associated with the sugars on those proteins.
Showalter used two methods to study the enzyme’s effects: purifying the enzyme and examining its biochemical characteristics by creating enzyme mutants and studying the effect those mutants have on the plant’s appearance. The ways in which they differ provides clues to the researchers as to what the protein is doing.
“We look at the phenotype of the mutant compared to the wild type plant, and then based on the differences we see, we make conclusions about what this enzyme is functionally doing,” he said.
Conferences provide opportunities to interact with other researchers, as well.
“A person gives a presentation and you sit in the audience, but when that’s done, you have lunch together and talk about things that go beyond what they presented,” Showalter said. “You get something out of their lectures, but I think equally important are the times when you sit down and talk.
“Science takes you places you would normally never go. Because of past research projects, I went to Pakistan, Islamabad, Dubai and Qatar,” he said. “I never thought I’d travel to these places, but that’s where science took me.”
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