Peter B Goldsbrough

Professor and Department Head

Department: Botany and Plant Pathology
Phone: 765.494.4615
Fax: 765.494.0363
Office: Lilly Hall, Room 1-343
E-mail: goldsbrough@purdue.edu

Area of Expertise: Plant Molecular Biology - physiology and genetics of adaptation to environmental stress.

Dr. Goldsbrough is currently not accepting new graduate students into his program.

Our research is focused on understanding how plants respond and adapt to a variety of environmental stresses, including heavy metals and xenobiotics such as herbicides.

Some heavy metals, such as copper and zinc, are required for normal metabolic function while others, including cadmium and lead, are toxic. Plants use a variety of methods to prevent heavy metals from affecting their growth. Ligands such as phytochelatins and metallothioneins bind heavy metals within the cell thereby reducing the damage these metals would otherwise cause. We are currently examining the functions of phytochelatins and metallothioneins, in both metal tolerance and normal metal ion homeostasis. We are also using a genetic approach to understand how plants acquire heavy metals from the soil and regulate the distribution of metals among different tissues.

Plants are exposed to a wide variety of toxic chemicals, either from other organisms (e.g. allelochemicals) or by man (such as herbicides). Plants are equipped with a variety of mechanisms to detoxify these compounds and prevent damage. One mechanism involves conjugation to glutathione (GSH) and this is catalyzed by a family of enzymes knows as glutathiane S. transfereses (GSTs). In plants GSTs are encoded by a family of approximately 50 genes. We are interested in learning about the functions of these genes. Their regulation by various environmental factors, and how their genetic manipulation might be used to improve crop plants.

- Recent Publications

Vazquez, S. P., P. B. Goldsbrough, & R. O. Carpena (2009). Comparative analysis of the contribution of phytochelatins to cadmium and arsenic tolerance in soybean and white lupin. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, 47, 63-67.

Guo, W. J., M. Meetam, & P. B. Goldsbrough (2008). Examining the specific contributions of individual Arabidopsis metallothioneins to copper distribution and metal tolerance. Plant Physiology, 146, 1697-1706.

DeRidder, B. P., & P. B. Goldsbrough (2006). Organ-specific expression of glutathione S-transferases and the efficacy of herbicide safeners in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology, 140, 167-175.

Goldsbrough, P. B. (2005). Agricultural biotechnology - mainstream or misguided?. Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University.

Schor-Fumbarov, T., P. B. Goldsbrough, Z. Adam, & E. Tel-Or (2005). Characterization and expression of a metallothionein gene in the aquatic fern Axolla filiculoides under heavy metal stress. Planta, 223, 69-76.

Goldsbrough, P. B. (2005). Metallothioneins in Arabidopsis: their role in metal tolerance and metal ion distribution. University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, Program in Physiological and Molecular Plant Biology.

Goldsbrough, P. B. (2004). A tale of two gene families: the role of metallothioneins and glutathione S-transferases in plant stress responses. 2004 International Environmental Biology Symposium.

Goldsbrough, P. B. (2004). A tale of two gene families: the role of metallothioneins and glutathione S-transferases in plant stress responses. Faculty of Agriculture.

Shupert, D. A., A. P. Smith, J. Janick, P. B. Goldsbrough, & P. M. Hirst (2004). Segregation of scab resistance in three apple populations: molecular marker and phenotypic analysis. HortScience, 39, 1183-1184.

Goldsbrough, P. B. (2004). Metallothioneins in plants: metal tolerance and more?. Indiana State University.