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Dr.
Diter von Wettstein
.jpg) 509-335-3635
diter@wsu.edu
R.A.
Nilan Professor, Crop and Soil Sciences. Ph.D. 1953, Univ of
Tübingen; Ph.D. 1953, Univ of Stockholm; D.Sc. 1957, Univ.
of Stockholm.
Research
Currently two research projects are pursued.
1) Celiac sprue patients have to live with total abstinence from
wheat, barley, rye containing food. Their painful erasure of the
brushborder in the small intestine is caused by protein sequences
(epitopes) in grain storage proteins that cannot be digested by
stomach, pancreatic and intestinal enzymes and cause the autoimmune
destruction of the brushborder. The great majority of these epitopes
are located in wheat prolamin proteins called gliadins. A mutant
has been identified that cannot synthesize these type of prolamins.
The mutation prevents the transcription of the corresponding genes
as it inactivates an enzyme that has to remove methyl groups from
the DNA before these genes can be transcribed in the endosperm
into messenger RNA for translation into protein. But the wheat
High Molecular Weight glutenin type protein that alone determines
baking quality is synthesized because it is transcribed and translated
from genes that do not require de-methylation. We are therefore
looking for these type of mutants to get rid of all the gliadins.
Excellent bread roles were baked from flour lacking gliadins but
with an addition of purified High Molecular Weight glutenin produced
in fermenters by yeast containing the corresponding wheat genes.
The dough had outstanding elasticity. Breeding of wheat suitable
for celiac patients is pursued.
2) Transgenic barleys expressing high levels of recombinant proteins
in the storage protein bodies of the barley grain are tested in
the greenhouse and field. Proteins successfully expressed are a
thermotolerant (1,3-1,4)-ß-glucanase (providing the bases
a high-energy barley chicken feed), human lactoferrin and lysozyme.
A project to produce procollagen (gelatin) in the developing grain
has been initiated.
Slides
Recombinant
Wheat
Birds
Lacking (1,3-1,4)-Beta-Glucanase
Selected
Publications
Nirmala, J., S. Dahl, B.J. Steffenson, C.G. Kannangara,
D. von Wettstein, X. Chen & A. Kleinhofs. 2007. Proteolysis
of the barley receptor-like protein kinase RPG1 by a proteasome
pathway is correlated with Rpg1-mediated stem rust resistance.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104:10276-81.
Pollman, S., A. Springer,
F. Buhr, A. Lahroussi, I. Samol, J-M Bonneville, G. Tichtinsky,
D. von Wettstein, C. Reinbothe & S. Reinbothe. 2007. A plant
porphyria related to defects in plastid import of protochloropyllide
oxidoreductase A. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104:2019-2023.
von Wettstein, D.
2007. From analysis of mutants to genetic engineering. Annu.Rev.
Plant Biol. 58:1-19.
Wu, Y-C., D. von Wettstein, C. G.
Kannangara, J. Nirmala & R.J. Cook. 2006. Growth inhibition
of the cereal root pathogens Rhizoctonia solani AG8, R.
oryzae and Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici by a recombinant
endochitinase from Trichoderma harzianum. Biocontrol Sci.
Technol. 16(6):631-646.
Nirmala, J.,
R.Brueggeman, C. Maier, C. Clay, N. Rostoks, C. G. Kannangara,
D. von Wettstein, B.J. Steffenson & A.
Kleinhofs. 2006. Subcellular localization and functions of the
barley stem rust resistance receptor-like serine/threonine-specific
protein kinase RPG1. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 103:7518-7523.
Wettstein,
D. von. 2006. Fascinations with Chloroplasts and Chromosome Pairing.
Introductory Review; Progress in Botany 67:1-28.
Jansen, C.,
D. von Wettstein, W. Schäfer, K-H. Kogel, A.
Felk & F.J. Maier. 2005. Infection patterns in barley and wheat
inoculated with wild-type and trichodiene synthase gene disrupted Fusarium
graminearun. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 102:16892-16897.
Waller,
F., B. Achatz, H. Baltruschat, J. Fodor, K. Becker, M. Fischer,
T. Heier, R. Hückelhoven, C. Neumann, D. von Wettstein, P.
Franken & K.-H.
Kogel. 2005. The endophytic fungus Piriformospora indica reprograms
barley to salt-stress tolerance, disease resistance, and higher
yield. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102:13386-13391.
Rzeznicka, K.,
C.J. Walker, T. Westergren, C.G. Kannangara, D.von Wettstein,
S. Merchant, S.P. Gough & M. Hansson. 2005. Xantha-l encodes
a membrane protein subunit of the aerobic Mg-protoporphyrin
IX monomethyl ester cyclase in the chlorophyll biosynthetic pathway.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102:5886-5891.
Wettstein, D. von. 2004. Transgenic Barley. In: Proc. 9th Internat.
Barley Genetics Symposium, Brno, Czech Republ. Czech J. Genet.
Plant Breed. 40:79.
Wettstein, D.
von, J.S. Cochran, S.E. Ullrich, C.G. Kannangara, V.A. Jitkov,
J.W. Burns, P.E. Reisenauer, X. Chen, and B.L. Jones. 2004. Registration
of ‘Radiant’ Barley.
Crop Science 44:1859-1860.
Wettstein, D.von,
J. Warner & C.G. Kannangara. 2003. Supplements
of transgenic malt or grain containing (1,3-1,4)-β-glucanase
to barley based broiler diets lift their nutritive value to that
of corn. Brit. J. Poultry Sci. 44:438-449.
Druka A., D.
Kudrna, N. Rostoks, R. Brueggeman, D. von Wettstein & A.
Kleinhofs. 2003. Chalcone isomerase gene from rice (Oryza sativa)
and barley (Hordeum vulgare): physical, genetic and mutation
mapping. Gene 302:171-178.
Horvath H.,
N. Rostoks, R. Brueggeman, B. Steffenson, D.von Wettstein & A.Kleinhofs.
2003. Genetically engineered stem rust resistance in barley using
the Rpg1 gene. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100:364-369.
Druka, A., Kudrna,
D., Kannangara, C.G., von Wettstein, D. and Kleinhofs, A. 2002. Physical
and genetic mapping of barley (Hordeum vulgare) germin-like
cDNAs. Proc.
Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99:850-855.
Stahl, R., Horvath,
H., van Fleet, J., Voetz, M., von Wettstein, D. and Wolf, N. 2002. T-DNA integration into the barley
genome from single and double cassette vectors. Proc. Natl.
Acad. Sci. USA 99:2146-2151.
Zakhrabekova,
S., Kannangara, C.G., von Wettstein, D. and Hansson, M. 2002. A microarray approach for identifying mutated
genes. Plant. Physiol. Biochem. 40:189-197.
Horvath, H.,
Jensen, L.G., Wong, O.T., Kohl, E., Ullrich, S.E., Cochran, J.,
Kannangara, C.G. and von Wettstein, D. 2001. Stability
of transgene expression, field performance and recombination breeding
of transformed barley lines. Theor. Appl. Genet. 102:1-11,
2001.
Horvath, H.,
Huang, J., Wong, O.T., Kohl, E., Okita, T., Kannangara, C.G.
and von Wettstein, D. 2000. The production of
recombinant proteins in transgenic barley grains. Proc. Natl. Acad.
Sci. USA 97:1914-1919.
von Wettstein,
D. Chlorophyll Biosynthesis I: From analysis
of mutants to genetic engineering of the pathway. In: Discoveries
in Plant Biology. S-D. Kung and S-F Yang eds. (World Scientific,
Singapore) Vol. 3:75-93, 2000.
von Wettstein,
D. Chlorophyll Biosynthesis II: Adventures
with native and recombinant enzymes. In: Discoveries in Plant Biology.
S-D. Kung and S-F Yang eds. (World Scientific, Singapore) Vol. 3:95-139,
2000.
von Wettstein,
D., Mikhaylenko, G., Froseth, J.A. and Kannangara, C.G. 2000. Improved barley broiler feed with transgenic
malt containing heat-stable (1,3-1,4)-β-glucanase. Proc. Natl.
Acad. Sci. USA 97:13512-13517. |
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