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Plant Biology Home

Phone: (612) 625-1234
Fax: (612) 625-1738

Department of Plant Biology
University of Minnesota
250 Biological Science Center
1445 Gortner Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55108

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Sue Gibson

Associate Professor, Department of Plant Biology
Ph.D. Cornell University, 1989

Contact Information

Mailing Address:

Dr. Sue Gibson
Department of Plant Biology
University of Minnesota
322 Cargill Building for Microbial and Plant Genomics
1500 Gortner Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55108

Office: 322 Cargill Building
Phone: 612-624-7408
Fax: 612-624-6264
E-mail: gibso043@umn.edu

Scholarly Areas

Molecular genetics; isolation and characterization of plant mutants defective in the ability to respond to soluble sugar levels; use of "DNAchips" to identify sugar-regulated genes; manipulation of starch and indole alkaloid metabolism to raise crop productivity and production of anti-cancer agents, respectively.

Research Interests

Our lab is taking a molecular-genetic approach to investigating the role of endogenous sugar levels in regulating plant gene expression and development. Sugars may be considered to be similar to hormones in that they are synthesized in one part of the plant and then transported to other parts of the plant where they affect gene expression, time of flowering, early seedling development and other plant processes. To learn more about the role of soluble sugar levels in regulating plant development, and to identify the signal transduction pathways between sugar and gene expression, we have isolated two groups of mutants that are defective in their response to sugar. Currently, we are characterizing these mutants and are cloning the affected genes. In addition to addressing basic scientific questions, a long term goal of our research is to engineer more productive plants by altering the way that plants respond to sugar.

A second project in our lab is aimed at using genetic engineering to increase the levels of two anti-cancer agents, vincristine and vinblastine, in C. roseus (periwinkle).

Selected Publications

Hong, S.-B., Peebles, C.A.M., Shanks, J.V., San, K.-Y., and Gibson, S.I. (2006). Terpenoid indole alkaloid production by Catharanthus roseus hairy roots induced by Agrobacterium tumefaciens harboring rol ABC genes. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 93, 386-390.

Hong, S.-B., Peebles, C.A.M., Shanks, J.V., San, K.-Y., and Gibson, S.I. (2006). Expression of the Arabidopsis feedback-insensitive anthranilate synthase holoenzyme and tryptophan decarboxylase genes in Catharanthus roseus hairy roots. J. Biotechnol. 122, 28-38.

Peebles, C.A.M., Hong, S.-B., Gibson, S.I., Shanks, J.V., and San, K.-Y. (2006). Effects of terpenoid precursor feeding on Catharanthus roseus hairy roots over-expressing the alpha or the alpha and beta subunits of anthranilate synthase. Biotechnol Bioeng 93, 534-540.

Peebles, C.A.M., Hong, S.-B., Gibson, S.I., Shanks, J.V., and San, K.-Y. (2005). Transient effects of over-expressing anthranilate synthase ? and ß subunits in Catharanthus roseus hairy roots. Biotech. Prog. 21, 1572-1576.

Gibson, S.I. (2005). Control of plant development and gene expression by sugar signaling. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 8 , 93-102.

Gibson, S.I. (2004). Sugar and phytohormone response pathways: navigating a signaling network. J. Exp. Bot. 55 , 253-264.

Hughes, E.H., Hong, S.B., Gibson, S.I. , Shanks, J.V. and San, K.Y. (2004). Expression of a feedback-resistant anthranilate synthase in Catharanthus roseus hairy roots provides evidence for tight regulation of terpenoid indole alkaloid levels. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 86 , 718-727.

Hughes, E.H., Hong, S.B., Gibson, S.I. , Shanks, J.V. and San, K.Y. (2004). Metabolic engineering of the indole pathway in Catharanthus roseus hairy roots and increased accumulation of tryptamine and serpentine. Metab. Eng. 6 , 268-276.

Hong, S.-B., Hughes, E.H., Shanks, J.V., San, K.-Y. and Gibson, S.I. (2003). Role of the non-mevalonate pathway in indole alkaloid production by Catharanthus roseus hairy roots. Biotechnol. Prog. 19 , 1105-1108.

To, J.P.C., Reiter, W.-D. and Gibson, S.I. (2003). Chloroplast biogenesis by Arabidopsis seedlings is impaired in the presence of exogenous glucose. Physiol. Plant. 118 , 456-463.

Finkelstein, R.R. and Gibson, S.I. (2002). ABA and sugar interactions regulating development: cross-talk or voices in a crowd? Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 5 , 26-32.

Hughes, E.H., Hong, S.-B., San, K.-Y., Shanks, J.V. and Gibson, S.I. (2002). Characterization of an inducible promoter system in Catharanthus roseus hairy roots. Biotech. Prog. 18 , 1183-1186.

To, J.P.C., Reiter, W.-D. and Gibson, S.I. (2002). Mobilization of seed storage lipid by Arabidopsis seedlings is retarded in the presence of exogenous sugars. BMC Plant Biol. 2 , 4.

Gibson, S.I. , Laby, R.J. and Kim, D. (2001). The sugar-insensitive1 ( sis1 ) mutant of Arabidopsis is allelic to ctr1 . Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 280 , 196-203.

Laby, R.J., Kim, D. and Gibson, S.I. (2001). The ram1 mutant of Arabidopsis exhibits severely decreased b -amylase activity. Plant Physiol. 127 , 1798-1807.

Chia, D.W., Yoder, T.J., Reiter, W.-D. and Gibson, S.I. (2000). Fumaric acid: an overlooked form of fixed carbon in Arabidopsis and other plant species. Planta 211 , 743-751.

Gibson, S.I. (2000). Plant sugar-response pathways. Part of a complex regulatory web. Plant Physiol. 124 , 1532-1539.

Laby, R.J., Kincaid, M.S., Kim, D. and Gibson, S.I. (2000). The Arabidopsis sugar-insensitive mutants sis4 and sis5 are defective in abscisic acid synthesis and response. Plant J. 23 , 587-596.

Gibson, S.I. and Graham, I.A. (1999). Another player joins the complex field of sugar-regulated gene expression in plants. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96 , 4746-4748.