Vierstra Lab

Samuel York

B.S. Biology, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities 2009

Contact

I am using Arabidopsis thaliana as a model organism to study the role of the Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier (SUMO) in stress response. The SUMO proteins are structurally similar to Ubiquitin and are post-translationally conjugated to target proteins via a similar E1-E2-E3 mechanism. The attachment of SUMO can have a variety of affects on protein function, localization, and turnover. In Arabidopsis, exposure to any of multiple stressors results in SUMO being covalently attached to a variety of high molecular weight proteins. My goal is to use both genetic and biochemical tools to establish how the SUMO response is related to stress tolerance and elucidate the mechanism responsible for triggering the response.