bree

I received my bachelor's degree with Honors from Purdue University in Molecular Biology and Genetics. At Purdue I was a research assistant in Dr. Nick Carpita's lab in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology. I contributed to a number of projects involving the biosynthesis and architecture of Arabidopsis thaliana and Zea mays cell walls. My principal project in the Carpita lab was elucidating the mechanism of biosynthesis of mixed-linkage (1 -> 3),(1 -> 4)- b -D-glucan ( b -glucan) in Zea mays . I also did some early work that involved correlating shifts in Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of maize cell walls from seedlings at different time points during development with the chemical changes in primary wall composition.

Currently I am graduate student in the Department of Plant Biology funded by a USDA/MGET Fellowship . My project involves the characterization of a novel tomato endo-ß-1,4-glucanase that has an unusual carbohydrate-binding domain and that is expressed during tomato cell expansion and fruit ripening. My research focuses on identifying the substrates for this enzyme, characterizing its mechanism of action and evaluating its role in vivo. Recently, we have shown that this new CBM does indeed bind to crystalline cellulose, making this the first time a plant EGase has been shown to exhibit such properties. Ongoing studies include an investigation of the activities of purified domains from a tomato EGase on various plant polysaccharide substrates and an evaluation of the functions of this class of proteins in Arabidopsis in which expression of orthologous EGases is suppressed.

P UBLICATIONS:
Urbanowicz, B.R., Davidson, S.N. and Rose, J.K.C. (2005) Plant cell walls. In. McGraw-Hill 2006 Yearbook of Science & Technology. Pub. McGraw-Hill Professional (in press).

Urbanowicz BR , Rayon C and Carpita NC. (2004) Topology of the maize mixed-linkage (1 -> 3),(1 -> 4)- b -D-glucan synthase at the Golgi membrane. Plant Physiology 134: 758-768.

Buckeridge MS, Rayon C, Urbanowicz B , Tine MAS and Carpita NC. (2004) The mixed linkage (1 -> 3), (1 ->4)- b -D-glucans of grasses. Cereal Chemistry 81: 115-127.

Urbanowicz B , Rayon C and Carpita NC. (2002) "Biochemical mechanisms of synthesis of (1 ->3),(1 -> 4) b -D-glucan synthase: Cellulose synthase with an added twist?" In: Plant Biopolymer Science: Food and Non-Food Applications (D. Renard and P. Lefer, eds.), Royal Society London, U. K., pp 3-12.