David Stern

Scientist, President

Office/Lab: Room 301/302

Contact: ds28@cornell.edu / 607-254-1306

Affiliations:

Adjunct Professor in Cornell University’s Department of Plant Biology

Graduate Fields: Plant Biology; Genetics and Development; Biochemistry, Cell, and Molecular Biology

Research Summary

The underlying research theme in the Stern laboratory is nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions. Within this framework, we study how chloroplast genes and metabolic activities are regulated by the products of nuclear genes, usually acting at the transcriptional or post-transcriptional level. Chloroplasts, as the site of photosynthesis as well as other metabolic pathways, have numerous roles in plant development, and responses to environmental stimuli. Our laboratory focuses on how these roles are modulated through intensive studies of global and individual gene regulation under normal growth or stress conditions. We use different techniques including genetics, plant transformation, and biochemistry to unravel these processes.

Publications

PubMed
View Publications

Newton KJ, Stern DB and Gabay-Laughnan S. 2009. Mitochondria and Chloroplasts. In Bennetzen JL and Hake SC (eds), Handbook of Maize, Springer, pp : 481-503
Zimmer SL, Fei Z, Stern DB. 2008. Genome-based analysis of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii proteins involved in RNA 5’ and 3’ end metabolism predicts unexpected organellar and exosomal features. Genetics 179: 125-136
Bollenbach, T., Schuster, G., Portnoy V, and Stern, D.B. 2008. Processing, degradation and polyadenylation of chloroplast transcripts. Topics Curr. Genet 19: 175-211
Bollenbach TJ, Sharwood RE, Gutierrez R, Lerbs-Mache S, Stern DB. 2008. The RNA-binding proteins CSP41a and CSP41b may regulate transcription and translation of chloroplast-encoded RNAs in Arabidopsis. Plant Mol. Biol : in press
Yehudai-Resheff S, Zimmer SL, Komine Y, Stern DB. 2007. Integration of chloroplast nucleic acid metabolism into the phosphate deprivation response in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Plant Cell 19: 1023-1038
Cahoon AB, Takacs EM, Sharpe RM, Stern DB. 2007. Nuclear, chloroplast, and mitochondrial transcript abundance along a maize leaf developmental gradient. Plant Mol. Biol 66: 33-46
Wostrikoff K and, Stern DB. 2007. Rubisco large subunit translation is autoregulated in response to its assembly state in tobacco chloroplasts. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 6466-6471
Merchant SS, Prochnik SE et al. 2007. The evolution of key animal and plant functions is revealed by analysis of the Chlamydomonas genome. Science 318: 245-250
Bohne, A. V., V. Ihrimovitch, A. Weihe, D. B. Stern. 2006. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Encodes a Single sigma70-like Factor Which Likely Functions in Chloroplast Transcription. Current Genetics 49: 333-340
Cui, L., J. Leebens-Mack, L. S. Wang, J. Tang, L. Rymarquis, D. B. Stern, C. W. dePamphilis. 2006. Adaptive Evolution of Chloroplast Genome Structure Inferred Using a Parametric Bootstrap Approach. BMC Evolutionary Biology 6: 13
Rymarquis, L. A., D. C. Higgs, D. B. Stern. 2006. Nuclear Suppressors Define Three Factors that Participate in Both 5’ and 3’ End Processing of mRNAs in Chlamydomonas chloroplasts. The Plant Journal 46: 448-461
Irihimovitch, V., D. B. Stern. 2006. The sulfur acclimation SAC3 kinase is required for chloroplast transcriptional repression under sulfur limitation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103(20): 7911-7916
Cohen, I., J. A. Knopf, V. Irihimovitch, M. Shapira. 2005. A Proposed Mechanism for the Inhibitory Effects of Oxidative Stress on Rubisco Assembly and Its Subunit Expression. Plant Physiology 137: 738-746
Murakami, S., K. Kuehnle, D. B. Stern. 2005. A Spontaneous tRNA Suppressor of a Mutation in the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Nuclear MCD1 Gene Required for Stability of the Chloroplast petD mRNA. Nucleic Acids Research 33(10): 3372-3380
Rymarquis, L. A., J. M. Handley, M. Thomas, D. B. Stern. 2005. Beyond Complementation: Map-Based Cloning in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Plant Physiology 137(2): 557-566
Erickson, B., D. B. Stern, D. C. Higgs. 2005. Microarray Analysis Confirms the Specificity of a Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Chloroplast RNA Stability Mutant. Plant Physiology 137: 534-544
Bollenbach, T. J., H. Lange, R. Gutierrez, D. B. Stern, D. Gagliardi. 2005. RNR1, a 3’-5’ Exoribonuclease Belonging to the RNR Superfamily, Catalyzes 3’ Maturation of Chloroplast Ribosomal RNAs in Arabidopsis thaliana. Nucleic Acids Research 33: 2751-2763
Nishimura, Y., E. A. Kikis, S. L. Zimmer, Y. Komine, D. B. Stern. 2004. Antisense Transcript and RNA Processing Alterations Suppress Instability of Polyadenylated mRNA in Chlamydomonas chloroplasts. Plant Cell 16(11): 2849-2869
Stern, D. B., M. R. Hanson, A. Barkan. 2004. Genetics and Genomics of Chloroplast Biogenesis: Maize as a Model System. Trends in Plant Science 9(6): 293-301