Jung Choi, Associate Professor; Faculty Coordinator, Bioinformatics Masters Degree Program
Ph.D., Biology, University of California, 1983
Phone: (404) 894-8423
Fax: (404) 894-0519
Office: (Cherry Emerson) 213/210
Research Interests
Plant molecular genetics, protein kinases and cell surface proteins in plant development and regeneration.
Current Research
Diverse Plant Protein Kinases with Calmodulin-Like Domains
Plants respond to many stimuli such as drought, heat, cold, hormones, insects, and pathogens with intracellular calcium fluxes. These calcium signals are then decoded by a diverse family of calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs) with calmodulin-like domains. The question, then, is how the CDPKs generate appropriate responses to these different stimuli that all evoke calcium as a second messenger.
Our work with CDPKs began with a CDPK isoform and a CDPK-related kinase (CRK) cloned from carrot somatic embryos, and has continued with new CRK isoforms cloned from the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana. CDPK431 is a canonical CDPK with 4 EF-hands in its calmodulin- like domain (Suen and Choi, 1991). CRK421 has no consensus EF-hand motifs (Lindzen and Choi, 1995). We are looking at possible modes of regulation of these kinases, by calcium, lipids, membrane localization, and interactions with other proteins. Long-term, we are also interested in characterizing specific substrates for these kinases.
Selected Publications
Zhang, X.S. and Choi, J.H. 2001. Molecular Evolution of Calmodulin-like Domain Protein Kinases (CDPKs) in Plants and Protists, J. Mol. Evol. 53:214-224.
Lindzen, E. and J.H. Choi, 1995. A carrot cDNA encoding an atypical protein kinase homologous to plant calcium-dependent protein kinases. Plant Mol. Biol. 28:785-797. Koontz, D.A. and J.H. Choi, 1993. Evidence for developmentally regulated phosphorylation of tubulin in carrot suspension cells. Physiol. Plantarum. 87:576-583.
Bradburne, J.A., P. Godfrey, J.H. Choi and J.N. Mathis, 1993. In vivo labeling of Escherichia coli cell envelope proteins with N-hydroxysuccinimide esters of biotin. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 59:663-668.