Justin K. M. Roberts
Professor of Biochemistry
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Physical Biochemistry Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Ph.D., Stanford University, 1982
VOICE: 951-827-3832 |
I am interested in the mechanisms responsible for regulating primary metabolism. These mechanisms are studied in the context of understanding physiological reactions in plants to anaerobic and salt stresses. Such research is relevant to both improvement of agricultural productivity in marginal environments, and understanding the molecular basis of physiological adaptations. The following metabolic processes are under investigation: fermentation, oxidative phosphorylation, organic acid metabolism, ion transport and protein synthesis. These reactions and factors that may regulate them are studied in living plant tissues using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. This approach can complement, extend and test results from other biochemical studies based on cell extracts.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Xia, J-H., Saglio, P. and Roberts, J.K.M. Nucleotide levels do not critically determine survival of maize root tips acclimated to a low-oxygen environment. Plant Physiology 108:589-595 (1995).
Roberts, J.K.M. and Xia, J-H. High resolution NMR methods for study of higher plants. In: Methods in Plant Cell Biology. Part A. (DW Galbraith, DP Bourque, HJ Bohnert, Eds.) Academic Press, NY. pp. 245-258 (1995)
Roberts, J.K.M. Plant Physiology. In: Encyclopedia of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. (DM Grant, RK Harris, Eds.) John Wiley, New York. pp. 3627-3633 (1996).
Xia, J-H. and Roberts, J.K.M. Regulation of H+ extrusion and cytoplasmic pH in maize root tips acclimated to a low-oxygen environment. Plant Physiology 111:227-233 (1996).
Roberts, J.K.M. and Xia, J-H. NMR contributions to understanding of plant responses to low oxygen stress. In: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in Plant Biology. (Y Shachar-Hill, PE Pfeffer, Eds.) American Society of Plant Physiologists, Rockville, MD. pp. 155-180 (1996).
Roberts, J.K.M., Aubert, S., Gout, E., Bligny, R. and Douce, R. Cooperation and competition between adenylate kinase, nucleoside diphosphokinase, electron transport and ATP synthase in plant mitochondria, studied by 31P-NMR. Plant Physiology 113:191-199 (1997).
Edwards, S., Nguyen, B-T., Do, B., Roberts, J.K.M. Contribution of Malic enzyme, pyruvate kinase, phosphoenlpyruvate carboxylase, and the krebs cycle to respiration and biosynthesis and to intracellular pH regulation during hypoxia in maize root tips observed by nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Plant Physiol. 116:1073-1081 (1998).
Kim, C-Y., Takahashi, K., Nguye, T.B., Roberts, J.K.M. and Webster, C. Identification of a nucleic acid binding domain in eukaryotic initiation factor eIFiso4G from wheat. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 274:10603-10608 (1999).
Roberts J.K.M. NMR adventures in the metabolic labyrinth within plants. Trends in Plant Science 5:30-34 (2000).
Roberts J.K.M. Proteomics and a future generation of plant molecular biologists. Plant Molecular Biology 48:143-154 (2002).