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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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Peter LeFebvre

Professor, Department of Plant Biology
Ph.D., Yale, 1980

Cytoskeleton and cell motility

Contact Information

Mailing Address:

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

Office: 454 Biological Sciences Center, (612) 624-4706
Lab: 447 Biological Sciences Center, (612) 624-1219
Fax: (612) 625-5754
E-mail: pete@umn.edu

Research Techniques

Chlamydomonas genetics DNA cloning and sequencing; Protein localization

Research Interests

Research in my laboratory seeks to understand the assembly and function of the eukaryotic flagellum. We use as our model system for these studies the unicellular green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, the most commonly used genetic system for the study of flagella.

The goal of the laboratory is to isolate mutants with defective flagellar assembly and function, then to clone and characterize the affected genes, in order to eventually define all of the protein components of the flagella and their interactions. Some of the investigators in the laboratory are studying mutants with defective flagellar assembly, such as mutants with no flagella, the wrong number of flagella, or flagella which have lost control of flagellar length. A particularly interesting class of mutants cannot control the extent of flagellar assembly, and grow flagella of up to four times normal length. Such mutants are defective either in the mechanism which senses flagellar length, or in the mechanism which enforces correct length. Other investigators are studying mutants with paralyzed flagella, especially mutants with defects in the central pair of microtubules in the flagellar axoneme. Given the conservation in flagellar protein composition and structure in all eukaryotic cells, from Chlamydomonas to mammals, it is not surprising that we have already found human homologues for the novel Chlamydomonas genes identified in our early experiments.

Selected Publications

Nguyen, R.L., Tam, L.W., and Lefebvre, P.A. 2005. The LF1Gene of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Encodes a Novel Protein Required for Flagellar Length Control. Genetics, 169:1415-1424.

Lefebvre, P.A. and Silflow, C.D. 1999. Chlamydomonas: The Cell and It's Genomes. Genetics 151:9-14

Smith, E. F. and P. A. Lefebvre. 1996. PF16 encodes a protein with armadillo repeats and localizes to a single microtubule of the central apparatus in Chlamydomonas flagella. J. Cell Biol. 132: 359-370.

Tam, L-W. and P. A. Lefebvre. 1993. Cloning of flagellar genes in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by DNA insertional mutagenesis. Genetics 135:375-384.

Nelson, J.A.E. and P. A. Lefebvre. 1995. Targeted disruption of the NIT8 gene in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Mol. Cell. Biol. 15: 5762-5769.