Dr Thomas Martin

Senior Lecturer

Msc PhD Germany

Phone:
Fax:
Email:

+61 8 6488 3331
+61 8 6488 1148
tmartin@cyllene.uwa.edu.au

Research Interests

• Metabolic signalling
• Plant carbohydrate and nitrogen metabolism

Key Research and Expertise

• Sugar and nitrogen sensing and signalling mechanisms
• Regulation of plant carbohydrate and nitrogen metabolism
• Co-ordination of C/N metabolism

Other Expertise

• Carbohydrate and nitrogen metabolism
• Metabolic sensing and signalling
• Molecular genetics

Technical Skills

• Molecular biology, reversed genetics and Arabidopsis mutant analysis
• Biochemistry of carbohydrate and nitrogen metabolism
• Small and large scale gene expression analysis

Current Projects

Plants face many environmental challenges such as nutrient availability, light conditions, abiotic and biotic stresses. These factors greatly influence resource allocation and thus plant productivity. Plants use manifold sensing, signalling and response mechanisms to achieve a fine balancing act in the face of these challenges. The regulatory mechanisms involved have to be co-ordinated with developmental programmes as well as cell and tissue specific requirements. Cross-talk of signalling mechanisms and sharing of signalling components suggests the general principle that signalling pathways operate as complex networks rather than isolated, independent cascades. We are trying to identify and to understand these mechanisms in the quest to improve crop productivity in a sustainable fashion.

A class of plant proteins encoded by the so-called '14-3-3' gene family are considered key players in bringing various sensing, signalling and response pathways together. 14-3-3 proteins interact with and regulate the activity of key enzymes in plant nitrogen and carbohydrate metabolism. These interactions influence enzyme activity at critical steps in primary metabolism and thus alter plant resource allocation on a global scale.

We have isolated a collection of T-DNA knock-out lines with single mutations in a number of 14-3-3 genes. Initially, we are studying the regulation of carbohydrate and nitrogen metabolism and the allocation of resources in these mutants under consideration of metabolic and developmental aspects. To achieve this, we are employing classical molecular, genetic and biochemical techniques in combination with metabolomics and functional genomics technologies. We are identifying specific 14-3-3 isoforms involved in defined regulatory processes such as for example the regulation of nitrate reductase.

Our Aims

• Identify specific 14-3-3 isoforms involved in the regulation of enzymes of carbohydrate and nitrogen metabolism
• Study the impact of 14-3-3 mutations on these metabolic pathways and the subsequent distribution and allocation of resources and storage compounds
• Investigate the signalling mechanisms leading to 14-3-3 regulation of carbon and nitrogen metabolism

Funding Received

• University of Western Australia Research Grant Scheme ‘Expression profiling of 14-3-3 signalling genes in Arabidopsis and of genes affected by 14-3-3 loss of function mutations’ 2005, AUD 12,000
• ARC Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (ARC-LIEF) grant application “Robust High Resolution Gene and Protein Expression Analysis Facilities in WA” Millar, Whelan, Day, Oliver, Stewart, Attwood, Arthur, Powles, Atkins, Martin, Wilcox, 2005, AUD 156,697
• Start-up fund UWA 2004, AUD 150,000
• BBSRC Research Grant P15126 "Characterisation of T-DNA tagged 14-3-3 Arabidopsis mutants, 2001, £174,492
• BBSRC Studentship Grant 01/A1/P/07100 "Characterisation of 14-3-3 Arabidopsis mutants, 2001
• Royal Society Research Grant “Metabolic role of 14-3-3 proteins”, summer 2000, £10,000

Previous Positions

• Lecturer in Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, UK
• Research Fellow, University of Glasgow, UK
• Research Fellow, INRA Versailles, France
• Research Fellow, IGF Berlin, Germany

Memberships

• Australian Society of Plant Scientists
• American Society of Plant Biology

Publications

• Love AJ, Martin T, Graham IA and Milner JJ (2005) Carbohydrate partitioning and sugar signalling in Cauliflower mosaic virus-infected turnip and Arabidopsis. Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology, 67: 83-91.
• Comparot S, Lingiah G and Martin T (2003) Function and specificity of 14-3-3 proteins in the regulation of carbohydrate and nitrogen metabolism. J. Exp. Bot. 54: 595-604.
• Martin T, Oswald O, Graham IA (2002) Arabidopsis seedling growth, storage lipid mobilization, and photosynthetic gene expression are regulated by carbon: nitrogen availability. Plant Physiol. 128: 472-481.
• Stewart A.J., Chapman W., Jenkins G.I., Graham I., Martin T. and Crozier A. (2001) The effect of nitrogen and phosphorus deficiency on flavonol accumulation in plant tissues Plant, Cell and Environment 24, 1189-1198.
• Oswald O., Martin T., Dominy P.J. and Graham I.A. (2001) Plastid redox state and sugars: Interactive regulators of nuclear-encoded photosynthetic gene expression. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98, 2047-2052
• Graham, I.A. and Martin T. Carbohydrate regulation of genes associated with photosynthesis, allocation and partitioning. (2000) In Photosynthesis: Physiology and Metabolism Vol.9: 233-248. Ed. Leegood, R., Sharkey T.D., von Caemmerer, S. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
• Martin T., Sotta B., Jullien M., Caboche M. and Faure J.D. (1997) ZEA3: A negative Modulator of Cytokinin Responses in Plant Seedlings. Plant Physiol. 114, 1177-1185.
• Martin T., Hellmann H., Schmidt R., Willmitzer L. and Frommer W.B. (1997) Identification of mutants in metabolically regulated gene expression. Plant J. 11, 52-63.
• Frommer W.B., Khn C., Hirner B., Harms K., Martin T., Riesmeier J.W. and Schulz B. (1996) Sugar transport in higher plants. In: Membranes: Specialized Functions in Plants. (Smallwood M., Knox J.P. and Bowles D.J., eds.) bIOS Sci. Publ., Oxford, pp. 319-335.
• Frommer W.B., Mielchen C. and Martin T. (1994) Metabolic control of patatin promoters from potato in transgenic tobacco and tomato plants. Plant Physiol. (Life Sci. Adv.) 13, 329-334.
• Altmann T., Damm B., Frommer W.B., Martin T., Morris P.C., Schweizer D., Willmitzer L. and Schmidt R. (1994) Easy determination of ploidy level in Arabidopsis thaliana plants by means of pollen size measurement. Plant Cell Rep., 13, 652-656.
• Frommer W.B., Riesmeier J.W., Kwart M., Hirner B., Kuehn C., Martin T., Hummel S., Fischer W.N., Harms K., Woehner R.V., Schulz B. and Willmitzer L. (1993) The role of metabolite transporters in higher plants. IBC Satellite Meeting 'Transport and role of organic carbon/nitrogen in higher plants, Atami, Japan, pp. 1-7 , 1994.
• Martin T., Frommer W.B., Salanoubat, M. and Willmitzer L. (1993) Expression of an Arabidopsis sucrose synthase gene indicates a role in metabolization of sucrose both during phloem loading and in sink organs. Plant J. 4, 367-377.
• Martin T., Schmidt R., Altmann T. and Frommer W.B. (1992) Non-destructive assay systems for detection of b-glucuronidase activity in higher plants. Plant Mol. Biol. Rep. 10, 37-46.
• Willmitzer L., Basner A., Borgmann K., Frommer W.B., Hesse H., Hummel S., Kossmann J., Martin T., Mueller B. and Rocha-Sosa M. (1991) Molecular approaches to understand sink-source relations in higher plants. In: NATO ASI Ser Ser Life Sci., New York, NY, Plenum Press, 212, 461-469.
• Frommer W., Borgmann K., Hesse H., Hildmann T., Hoefgen R., Hummel S., Koester-Toepfer M., Liu X., Martin T., Pena-Cortes H., Prat S., Rocha-Sosa M., Sanchez-Serrano J.J., Schmidt R., Sonnewald U., Stratmann M. and Willmitzer L. (1991) Patatin, a bifunctional protein involved in pathogen defense and nitrogen storage? In: Commission of the European Community, Biological Sciences (Leonard A. and Durieux L. eds.) pp. 49-56
• Schulz B., Banuett F., Dahl M., Schlesinger R., Schaefer W., Martin T., Hershkowitz I. And Kahmann R. (1990) The b alleles of U.maydis, whose combinations program pathogenic development, code for polypeptides containing a homeodomain-related motif. Cell 60, 295-306.
• Walleczek J., Martin T., Redl B., Stoeffler-Meilicke M. and Stoeffler G. (1989) Comparative cross-linking study on the 50S ribosomal subunit from Escherichia coli. Biochemistry 28, 4099-4105.

Useful Links

• Nutriome Website:http://www.acpfg.com.au/nutriomics/30_group/martin_thomas.htm

Languages

• English
• German
• Basic French