Faculty Home > Tom Brutnell
Dr. Tom Brutnell
Scientist

Office/Lab: Room 127/116
Email tpb8@cornell.edu
Office: 607-254-8656
Lab: 607-254-6747


Affiliations

Adjunct Associate Professor, Cornell University’s Department of Plant Biology Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics

Graduate Field

Plant Biology

Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research
Tower Road Ithaca, New York 14853-1801 U.S.A.

  1. Research Summary
  2. Selected Publications
  3. Features
  4. News
  5. Links
  6. Lab Members
  7. PGRP

C4 Photosynthesis: adapting to global climate change

While farmers and gardeners appreciate the fact that plants harvest light energy to drive the machinery that ultimately leads to sugars, amino acids and a host of secondary metabolites that us humans need and enjoy, few of us think about the nuts and bolts of the operation. As growing populations and global climate change place increasing pressure on the world’s food supply, it is essential that we continue to improve crop performance. C4 plants have evolved to thrive in hot, arid environments and offer valuable lessons for crop improvement strategies. To learn more about our work to understand the regulation of photosynthesis in maize click here.

Shade Avoidance Syndrome: does it help or hurt?

The shade avoidance syndrome (SAS) is mechanism that plants have evolved to avoid their encroaching neighbors. Chlorophylls in the green parts of the plant selectively absorb light in the red and blue regions of spectrum letting far-red light through. Plants utilize the phytochrome photoreceptors to perceive this change in light quality and modify plant development accordingly. To find out more about SAS in maize click here.

Transposon Tagging: a gateway to gene discovery.

Since their discovery over 60 years ago by Barbara McClintock, transposons have fascinated geneticists who seek to understand genome evolution. More recently, these jumping genes have been exploited as tools for gene discovery and characterization. Click here to see how we are using the maize transposons Ac and Ds for regional mutagenesis in maize.

Making corn more nutritious.

Vitamin A deficiency is a major world health issue affecting the health of millions of children in the developing world. We have used the Ac/Ds transposons (see above) to identify and characterize genes that encode the biosynthetic enzymes of this pathway and are now working to understand the regulation of this pathway and manipulate the composition of carotenoids in the grain. To learn more about our work to improve carotenoid content of the maize grain click here:

  • Bai, L. and Brutnell, T.P. 2011. The Activator/Dissociation transposable elements comprise a two-component gene regulatory switch that controls endogenous gene expression in maize. Genetics 187: 749-759
  • Brkljacic, J., Grotewold, E., Scholl, R., Mockler, T., Garvin, D.F., Vain, P., Brutnell, T., Sibout, R., Bevan, M., Budak, H., Caicedo, A.L., Gao, C.X., Gu, Y., Hazen, S.P., Holt, B.F., Hong, S.Y., Jordan, M., Manzaneda, A.J., Mitchell-Olds, T., Mochida, K., Mur, L.A.J., Park, C.M., Sedbrook, J., Watt, M., Zheng, S.J. and Vogel, J.P. 2011. Brachypodium as a model for the grasses: Today and the future. Plant Physiol 157: 3-13
  • Li, P. and Brutnell, T.P. 2011. Setaria viridis and Setaria italica, model genetic systems for the Panicoid grasses. J Exp Bot 62: 3031-3037
  • Sharma, M., Cortes-Cruz, M., Ahern, K.R., McMullen, M., Brutnell, T.P. and Chopra, S. 2011. Identification of the Pr1 gene product completes the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway of maize. Genetics 188: 69-U110
  • Wang, L., Peterson, R.B. and Brutnell, T.P. 2011. Regulatory mechanisms underlying C(4) photosynthesis. New Phytol 190: 9-20
  • Wang, L., Si, Y., Dedow, L.K., Shao, Y., Liu, P. and Brutnell, T.P. 2011. A low-cost library construction protocol and data analysis pipeline for Illumina-based strand-specific multiplex RNA-seq. Plos One 6: e26426
  • Whipple, C.J., Kebrom, T.H., Weber, A.L., Yang, F., Hall, D., Meeley, R., Schmidt, R., Doebley, J., Brutnell, T.P. and Jackson, D.P. 2011. grassy tillers1 promotes apical dominance in maize and responds to shade signals in the grasses. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 108: E506-E512
  • Bai, L. and Brutnell, T.P. 2010. The Activator/Dissociation (Ac/Ds) transposable elements comprise a two-component gene regulatory switch that control endogenous gene expression in maize. Genetics :
  • Brutnell, T.P. 2010. Phytochrome and light control of plant development. In Plant Physiology (Taiz, L. and Zeiger, E. eds). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc :
  • Brutnell, T.P., Wang, L., Swartwood, K., Goldschmidt, A., Jackson, D., Zhu, X.G., Kellogg, E. and Van Eck, J. 2010. Setaria viridis: a model for C4 photosynthesis. Plant Cell 22: 2537-2544
  • Dubois, P.G., Olsefski, G.T., Flint-Garcia, S., Setter, T.L., Hoekenga, O.A. and Brutnell, T.P. 2010. Physiological and genetic characterization of end-of-day far-red light response in maize seedlings. Plant Physiology 154: 173-186
  • Kebrom, T.H., Brutnell, T.P. and Finlayson, S.A. 2010. Suppression of sorghum axillary bud outgrowth by shade, phyB and defoliation signalling pathways. Plant Cell Environ 33: 48-58
  • Kebrom, T.H., Brutnell, T.P., Hays, D.B. and Finlayson, S.A. 2010. Vegetative axillary bud dormancy induced by shade and defoliation signals in the grasses. Plant Signal Behav 5: 317-319
  • Kikuchi, K., Chesnai, C., Regan, S. and Brutnell, T.P. 2010. In Principles and Practices of Plant Genomics - Advanced Genomics (Kole, C. and Abbott, A.G. eds). CRC Press :
  • Li, P., Ponnala, L., Gandotra, N., Wang, L., Si, Y., Tausta, S.L., Kebrom, T.H., Provart, N., Patel, R., Myers, C.R., Reidel, E.J., Turgeon, R., Liu, P., Sun, Q., Nelson, T. and Brutnell, T.P. 2010. The developmental dynamics of the maize leaf transcriptome. Nature Genetics 42: 1060-1067
  • Vollbrecht, E., Duvick, J., Schares, J.P., Ahern, K.R., Deewatthanawong, P., Xu, L., Conrad, L.J., Kikuchi, K., Kubinec, T.A., Hall, B.D., Weeks, R., Unger-Wallace, E., Muszynski, M., Brendel, V.P. and Brutnell, T.P. 2010. Genome-wide distribution of transposed dissociation elements in maize. Plant Cell 22: 1667-1685
  • Wang, L., Li, P. and Brutnell, T.P. 2010. Exploring plant transcriptomes using ultra high-throughput sequencing. Brief Funct Genomics 9: 118-128
  • Yan, J.B., Kandianis, C.B., Harjes, C.E., Bai, L., Kim, E.H., Yang, X.H., Skinner, D.J., Fu, Z.Y., Mitchell, S., Li, Q., Fernandez, M.G.S., Zaharieva, M., Babu, R., Fu, Y., Palacios, N., Li, J.S., DellaPenna, D., Brutnell, T., Buckler, E.S., Warburton, M.L. and Rocheford, T. 2010. Rare genetic variation at Zea mays crtRB1 increases beta-carotene in maize grain. Nature Genetics 42: 322-U374
  • Ahern, K.R., Deewatthanawong, P., Schares, J., Muszynski, M., Weeks, R., Vollbrecht, E., Duvick, J., Brendel, V.P. and Brutnell, T.P. 2009. Regional mutagenesis using Dissociation in maize. Methods 49: 248-254
  • Bai, L., Kim, E.H., DellaPenna, D. and Brutnell, T.P. 2009. Novel lycopene epsilon cyclase activities in maize revealed through perturbation of carotenoid biosynthesis. Plant Journal 59: 588-599
  • Gray, J., Bevan, M., Brutnell, T., Buell, C.R., Cone, K., Hake, S., Jackson, D., Kellogg, E., Lawrence, C., McCouch, S., Mockler, T., Moose, S., Paterson, A., Peterson, T., Rokshar, D., Souza, G.M., Springer, N., Stein, N., Timmermans, M., Wang, G.L. and Grotewold, E. 2009. A recommendation for naming transcription factor proteins in the grasses. Plant Physiology 149: 4-6
  • Schnable, P.S., Ware, D., Fulton, R.S., Stein, J.C., Wei, F.S., Pasternak, S., Liang, C.Z., Zhang, J.W., Fulton, L., Graves, T.A., Minx, P., Reily, A.D., Courtney, L., Kruchowski, S.S., Tomlinson, C., Strong, C., Delehaunty, K., Fronick, C., Courtney, B., Rock, S.M., Belter, E., Du, F.Y., Kim, K., Abbott, R.M., Cotton, M., Levy, A., Marchetto, P., Ochoa, K., Jackson, S.M., Gillam, B., Chen, W.Z., Yan, L., Higginbotham, J., Cardenas, M., Waligorski, J., Applebaum, E., Phelps, L., Falcone, J., Kanchi, K., Thane, T., Scimone, A., Thane, N., Henke, J., Wang, T., Ruppert, J., Shah, N., Rotter, K., Hodges, J., Ingenthron, E., Cordes, M., Kohlberg, S., Sgro, J., Delgado, B., Mead, K., Chinwalla, A., Leonard, S., Crouse, K., Collura, K., Kudrna, D., Currie, J., He, R.F., Angelova, A., Rajasekar, S., Mueller, T., Lomeli, R., Scara, G., Ko, A., Delaney, K., Wissotski, M., Lopez, G., Campos, D., Braidotti, M., Ashley, E., Golser, W., Kim, H., Lee, S., Lin, J.K., Dujmic, Z., Kim, W., Talag, J., Zuccolo, A., Fan, C., Sebastian, A., Kramer, M., Spiegel, L., Nascimento, L., Zutavern, T., Miller, B., Ambroise, C., Muller, S., Spooner, W., Narechania, A., Ren, L.Y., Wei, S., Kumari, S., Faga, B., Levy, M.J., McMahan, L., Van Buren, P., Vaughn, M.W., Ying, K., Yeh, C.T., Emrich, S.J., Jia, Y., Kalyanaraman, A., Hsia, A.P., Barbazuk, W.B., Baucom, R.S., Brutnell, T.P., Carpita, N.C., Chaparro, C., Chia, J.M., Deragon, J.M., Estill, J.C., Fu, Y., Jeddeloh, J.A., Han, Y.J., Lee, H., Li, P.H., Lisch, D.R., Liu, S.Z., Liu, Z.J., Nagel, D.H., McCann, M.C., SanMiguel, P., Myers, A.M., Nettleton, D., Nguyen, J., Penning, B.W., Ponnala, L., Schneider, K.L., Schwartz, D.C., Sharma, A., Soderlund, C., Springer, N.M., Sun, Q., Wang, H., Waterman, M., Westerman, R., Wolfgruber, T.K., Yang, L.X., Yu, Y., Zhang, L.F., Zhou, S.G., Zhu, Q., Bennetzen, J.L., Dawe, R.K., Jiang, J.M., Jiang, N., Presting, G.G., Wessler, S.R., Aluru, S., Martienssen, R.A., Clifton, S.W., McCombie, W.R., Wing, R.A. and Wilson, R.K. 2009. The B73 maize genome: complexity, diversity, and dynamics. Science 326: 1112-1115
  • Zelitch, I., Schultes, N.P., Peterson, R.B., Brown, P. and Brutnell, T.P. 2009. High glycolate oxidase activity is required for survival of maize in normal air. Plant Physiology 149: 195-204
  • Conrad, L.J., Kikuchi , K. and Brutnell, T.P. 2008. Transposon tagging in cereal crops. In The Handbook of Plant Functional Genomics: Concepts and Protocols (Kahl, G. and Khalid, M. eds). Weinheim: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co., pp : 267-290
  • Covshoff, S., Majeran, W., Liu, P., Kolkman, J.M., van Wijk, K.J. and Brutnell, T.P. 2008. Deregulation of maize C-4 photosynthetic development in a mesophyll cell-defective mutant. Plant Physiology 146: 1469-1481
  • Dubois, P.G. and Brutnell, T.P. 2008. Light signal transduction networks in maize. In The Maize Handbook (Hake, S. and Bennetzen, J.L. eds) : Springer Verlag
  • Harjes, C.E., Rocheford, T.R., Bai, L., Brutnell, T.P., Kandianis, C.B., Sowinski, S.G., Stapleton, A.E., Vallabhaneni, R., Williams, M., Wurtzel, E.T., Yan, J.B. and Buckler, E.S. 2008. Natural genetic variation in lycopene epsilon cyclase tapped for maize biofortification. Science 319: 330-333
  • Conrad LJ, Bai L, Ahern KR, Dusinberre KJ, Kane DP and Brutnell TP. 2007. State II Dissociation (Ds) element formation following Activator (Ac) excision in maize. Genetics 177: 737-747
  • Kebrom TH, and Brutnell TP. 2007. The molecular analysis of the shade avoidance syndrome in the grasses has begun. J Ex Bot 58: 3079-3089
  • Qiu Q-S, Hardin SC, Mace J, Brutnell TP and Huber SC. 2007. Light and metabolic signals control the selective degradation of sucrose synthase in maize leaves during de-etiolation. Plant Physiol 144: 468-478
  • Sheehan MJ, Kennedy LM, Costich DE and Brutnell TP. 2007. Subfunctionalization of PhyB1 and PhyB2 in the control of seedling and mature plant traits in maize. Plant J 49: 338-353
  • Brutnell TP, . 2006. Phytochrome and light control of plant development. in Plant Physiology IV edition, eds Taiz and Zeiger, Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, MA :
  • Garg, A. K., R. J. Sawers, H. Wang, J. K. Kim, J. M. Walker, T. P. Brutnell, M. V. Parthasarathy, R. D. Vierstra, R. J. Wu. 2006. Light-regulated Overexpression of an Arabidopsis Phytochrome A Gene in Rice Alters Plant Architecture and Increases Grain Yield. Planta 223: 627-636
  • Sawers RJH, Farmer PR, Moffett P and Brutnell TP. 2006. In planta transient expression as a system for genetic and biochemical analyses of chlorophyll biosynthesis. Plant Methods 2: 15
  • Sawers, R. J., J. Viney, P. R. Farmer, R. R. Bussey, G. Olsefski, K. Anufrikova, C. N. Hunter, T. P. Brutnell. 2006. The Maize Oil Yellow1 (oy1) Gene Encodes the I Subunit of Magnesium Chelatase. Plant Molecular Biology 60(1): 95-106
  • Conrad, L. J., T. P. Brutnell. 2005. Ac-immobilized, a Stable Source of Activator Transposase that Mediates Sporophytic and Gametophytic Excision of Dissociation Elements in Maize. Genetics 171: 1999-2012
  • Kolkman, J. M., L. J. Conrad, P. R. Farmer, K. Hardeman, K. R. Ahern, P. E. Lewis, R. J. Sawers, S. Lebejko, P. Chomet, T. P. Brutnell. 2005. Distribution of Activator (Ac) Throughout the Maize Genome for Use in Regional Mutagenesis. Genetics 169(2): 981-995
  • Sawers, R. J., M. J. Sheehan, T. P. Brutnell. 2005. Cereal Phytochromes: Targets of Selection, Targets for Manipulation?. Trends in Plant Science 10(3): 138-143
  • Sawers, R. J., P. J. Linley, J. F. Gutierrez-Marcos, T. Delli-Bovi, P. R. Farmer, T. Kohchi, M. J. Terry, T. P. Brutnell. 2004. The Elm1 (ZmHy2) Gene of Maize Encodes a Phytochromobilin Synthase. Plant Physiology 136(1): 2771-2781
  • Sheehan, M. J., P. R. Farmer, T. P. Brutnell. 2004. Structure and Expression of Maize Phytochrome Family Homeologs. Genetics 167: 1395-1405
  • Timmermans, M. C., T. P. Brutnell, P. W. Becraft. 2004. The 46th Annual Maize Genetics Conference: Unlocking the Secrets of the Maize Genome. Plant Physiology 136(1): 2633-2640
  • Brutnell, T. P., L. J. Conrad. 2003. Transposon Tagging Using Activator (Ac) in Maize. Plant Functional Genomics: Methods and Protocols 236: 157-176
  • Costa, L. M., J. F. Gutierrez-Marcos, T. P. Brutnell, A. J. Greenland, H. G. Dickinson. 2003. The globby1-1 (glo1-1) Mutation Disrupts Nuclear and Cell Division in the Developing Maize Seed Causing Alterations in Endosperm Cell Fate and Tissue Differentiation. Development 130: 5009-5017
  • Markelz, N. H., D. E. Costich, T. P. Brutnell. 2003. Photomorphogenic responses in maize seedling development. Plant Physiology 133(4): 1578-1591
  • Singh, M., P. E. Lewis, K. Hardeman, L. Bai, J. K. C. Rose, M. Mazourek, P. Chomet, T. P. Brutnell. 2003. Activator mutagenesis of the Pink scutellum1/viviparous7 locus of maize. Plant Cell 15(4): 874-884
  • Brutnell, T. P., . 2002. Transposon tagging in maize. Functional & Integrative Genomics 2: 4-12
  • Sawers, R. J. H., P. J. Linley, P. R. Farmer, N. P. Hanley, D. E. Costich, M. J. Terry, T. P. Brutnell. 2002. Elongated mesocotyl1, a phytochrome-deficient mutant of maize. Plant Physiology 130: 155-163

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