trevor

I am a doctoral student in the field of Plant Biology at Cornell. I graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2005 with a BS in biochemistry. While there, I gravitated towards work in plants and ended up doing research on the plant cuticle in the lab of Dr. Reinhard Jetter. This work focused on the biosynthesis of triterpenoid waxes that are found in great abundance in the cuticles of several plant species, including tomato fruits. More specifically, I helped to clone and characterize a lupeol synthase from Ricinus communis (castor bean) (1) and a novel multifunctional triterpenoid synthase from Kalanchoe daigremontiana (unpublished results). The Kalanchoe enzyme represented the first known enzyme to synthesize a number of less common triterpenoids, including the triterpenoid ketone friedelin. I continued my study of this enzyme with some homology modeling and site directed mutagenesis experiments aimed at elucidating the mechanisms of product specificity in this family of enzymes. Through this work I identified several polymorphic residues that were responsible for shifting the product profile of this enzyme relative to other triterpenoid synthases.

I recently joined the Rose lab, and I hope to pursue research that draws on both my interest in understanding the relationship between molecular structure and function and in the cuticle as an important interface between the plant and its environment.

Reference:

1. Guhling, O., Hobl, B., Yeats, T. & Jetter, R. Cloning and characterization of a lupeol synthase involved in the synthesis of epicuticular wax crystals on stem and hypocotyl surfaces of Ricinus communis. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 448, 60-72 (2006).