Research Focus
The Meinke lab at Oklahoma State University explores the genetic control of seed development in plants through the isolation and characterization of embryo-defective (emb) mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana. The lab currently focuses on: (1) large-scale genomic analysis of several hundred EMB genes with a loss-of-function mutant phenotype in the seed; (2) analysis of titan mutants with enlarged endosperm nuclei and defects in chromosome mechanics and cytoskeletal organization; (3) analysis of a subset of essential genes with unknown cellular functions during seed development; and (4) comparative studies on putative orthologs of EMB genes in the model legume Medicago truncatula, initiated in collaboration with the Plant Biology Division of the S.R. Noble Foundation.
Please follow these links for a list of lab publications and information on lab personnel.
Embryo-Defective Mutants
Please visit our SeedGenes web site for detailed information on embryo-defective mutants of Arabidopsis with known gene identities. This public database provides information on mutants isolated and characterized in a collaborative project funded by the National Science Foundation Arabidopsis 2010 Project. Additional SeedGenes participants are located at Syngenta and the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute.
Please click here for archival information on embryo-defective mutants isolated and characterized in the Meinke laboratory. Many of these gene identities remain to be determined.
Registration of Gene Class Symbols
This function has been moved to the central Arabidopsis database (TAIR). Please click here to access the Gene Class Symbol Registration Page at TAIR. For additional information on Arabidopsis gene nomenclature, consult Meinke and Koornneef (1997) Plant Journal 12: 247-253.
Classical and Sequence-Based Map of Mutant Genes
Please click here for archival information on the classical genetic map of Arabidopsis. For information on the placement of genes with mutant phenotypes on a sequence-based map of the Arabidopsis genome, consult Meinke et al. (2003) Plant Physiology 131: 409-418. Updated versions of this sequence-based map will be available through TAIR in the near future.
Oklahoma State University Plant Biotechnology Network
The Meinke laboratory is located in the Department of Botany and is a member of the Plant Biotechnology Network (BioNet) at Oklahoma State University. Please click here to learn more about other labs and individuals at OSU that study plant cell and molecular biology.
Contact Information
David W. Meinke, Regents Professor, Department of Botany, 104 Life Sciences East, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 74078, USA. Phone: 405-744-6549; FAX: 405-744-7074; Email: meinke@okstate.edu.
Construction and maintenance of this web page have been funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and the S.R. Noble Foundation. Last updated: February, 2004.