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James A. Birchler

Professor of Biological Sciences

E-mail:	birchlerj@missouri.edu
Office Phone:	(573) 882-4905
Lab Phone:	(573) 882-4871
Fax:	(573) 882-0123
Office:	117 Tucker Hall
Mailing Address:	Biological Sciences 105 Tucker Hall University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia, MO 65211
Research Areas:	Regulatory gene balance, dosage compensation, gene silencing, centromere activity and artificial chromosomes.

Research Description

We are studying the implications of dosage dependent regulatory hierarchies for their impact on the phenotype and evolutionary processes. This is being studied via gene expression in aneuploid plants. We have also generated tetraploid derivatives of diverse inbred lines and are using these in conjunction with microarray analysis to understand how regulatory gene dosage effects the phenotype with particular reference to hybrid vigor.

Our laboratory has recently developed a chromosome painting protocol for maize chromosomes that allows each member of the karyotype to be distinguished from the others. We are using this procedure to study chromosome structure and behavior, the nature of organellar genome insertions into the nucleus and the distribution of various types of transposabe elements in the genome. The technique is also useful for identifying chromosomal aberrations and locating transgenes to chromosomal position.

The structure and evolution of abnormal chromosomes in maize are also being investigated. These supernumerary B chromosomes are inactive and nondisjoin at certain mitoses in the life cycle. We have cloned sequences from the maize B chromosome in an effort to understand its behavior and evolution on the molecular level. These sequences include the centromere of the B chromosome, which we are analyzing to understand the organization and function of this critical chromosomal structure. The major effort is to use derivatives of the B chromosome of maize to develop an artificial chromosome vector that can be used to accept multiple genes. In this way, it may become possible to add whole biochemical pathways to confer new properties to maize or to use maize as a factory for the production of foreign proteins of interest.

Selected Publications

Akio Kato and James A. Birchler, 2006. Induction of tetraploid derivatives of maize inbred lines by nitrous oxide gas treatment. Journal of Heredity 97: 39-44.

Fangpu Han, Jonathan C. Lamb and James A. Birchler, 2006. High frequency of centromere inactivation resulting in stable dicentric chromosomes of maize. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103: 3238-3243.

Matthew J. Bauer and James A. Birchler, 2006. Organization of endoreduplicated chromosomes in the endosperm of Zea mays L. Chromosoma 115: 383-394.

Akio Kato, Patrice S. Albert, Juan M. Vega and James A. Birchler, 2006. Sensitive FISH signal detection in maize using directly labeled probes produced by high concentration DNA polymerase nick translation. Biotechnic & Histochemistry 81: 71-78.

Jonathan C. Lamb and James A. Birchler, 2006. Retroelement Genome Painting: Cytological visualization of retroelement expansions in the genera Zea and Tripsacum. Genetics 173: 1007-1021.

Weichang Yu, Fangpu Han, Akio Kato and James A. Birchler, 2006. Characterization of a maize isochromosome 8S.8S. Genome 49: 700-706.

Nicole C. Riddle, Akio Kato and James A. Birchler, 2006. Genetic variation for the response to ploidy change in Zea mays L. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 114: 101-111.

James A. Birchler, Hong Yao and Sivanandan Chudalayandi, 2006. Unraveling the genetic basis of hybrid vigor. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103: 12957-12958.

Weichang Yu, Jonathan C. Lamb, Fangpu Han and James A. Birchler, 2006. Telomere-mediated chromosomal truncation in maize. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103: 17331-17336.

Jonathan C. Lamb, Julie M. Meyer, Blake Corcoran, Akio Kato, Fangpu Han and James A. Birchler, 2007. Distinct chromosomal distributions of highly repetitive sequences in maize. Chromosome Research 15: 33-49.

Weichang Yu, Jonathan C. Lamb, Fanpu Han and James A. Birchler, 2007. Cytological visualization of DNA transposons and their transposition pattern in somatic cells of maize. Genetics 175: 31-39.

Jonathan C. Lamb, Tatiana Danilova, Matthew J. Bauer, Julie Meyer, Jennifer J. Holland, Michael D. Jensen and James A. Birchler, 2007. Single gene detection and karyotyping using small target FISH on maize somatic chromosomes. Genetics 175: 1047-1058.

Fangpu Han, Jonathan C. Lamb, Weichang Yu, Zhi Gao and James A. Birchler, 2007. Centromere function and nondisjunction are independent components of the maize B chromosome accumulation mechanism. The Plant Cell 19: 524-533.

Jonathan C. Lamb, Julie M. Meyer and James A. Birchler, 2007. A hemicentric inversion in the maize line knobless Tama flint created two sites of centromeric elements and moved the kinetochore-forming region. Chromosoma 116: 237-247.

Jonathan C. Lamb, Nicole C. Riddle, Ya-ming Cheng, James Theuri and James A. Birchler, 2007. Localization and transcription of a retrotransposon-derived element on the maize B chromosome. Chromosome Research 15: 33-49.

James A. Birchler and Reiner A. Veitia, 2007. The gene balance hypothesis: From classical genetics to modern genomics. The Plant Cell 19: 395-402.

Weichang Yu, Fangpu Han, Zhi Gao, Juan M. Vega and James A. Birchler, 2007. Construction and behavior of engineered minichromosomes in maize. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA 104: 8924-8929.