Dr. Bonnie Bartel

Seminar Details

Host: Dr. Juan Dong

Time: 4;00pm-5:00pm

Location: BICH 108

Seminar Abstract

Peroxisomes, essential for life in metazoans and plants, sequester various oxidative reactions to improve metabolic efficiency while protecting cytosolic constituents from oxidative damage. We are studying the dynamics of this vital organelle in Arabidopsis thaliana; the peroxisomal functions, small size, and facile forward and reverse genetics of this plant allow straightforward impairment and enhancement of peroxisomal processes in an intact multicellular organism. Moreover, the large size of seedling peroxisomes (compared to yeast and mammalian peroxisomes) offers unique opportunities to view peroxisome dynamics via live-cell imaging. Arabidopsis peroxisomes have extensive internal membranes that derive from the outer peroxisomal membrane and accumulate over time. Moreover, these intralumenal vesicles do not form normally in certain peroxin mutants or when fatty acid β-oxidation, a core function of peroxisomes, is impaired. Our findings have implications for multiple aspects of peroxisome biogenesis and function. (This research is supported by the National Institutes of Health.)