MAURICIO M. BUSTOS

Associate Professor
Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 1986
Postdoctoral, Texas A&M University

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bustos@umbc.edu; FAX (410) 455-3875; Voice (410) 455-2769

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Research Interests

The embryos of higher plants must make a number of critical decisions that affect the way in which they develop. Normally, after morphogenesis is complete the embryo enters a period of maturation (see diagram). However, mutations or laboratory conditions exist that interfere with the normal transition to a maturation program and, instead, cause premature germination. For several years I have studied the regulation of maturation-specific genes in a large-seeded legume (P. vulgaris). These studies have revealed that the information necessary to express genes during maturation resides within short DNA sequences acting as enhancer elements. Presently, my laboratory is investigating how embryonic cells decide which way to proceed (e.g. through the action hormones) and which signals control the function of maturation-specific transcription factors.

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Selected Publications

Chern, M-S., H.G. Eiben and M.M. Bustos. 1996. The developmentally regulated bZIP factor ROM1 modulates transcription from lectin and storage protein genes in bean embryos. Plant J., 10: 135-148. (abstract)

Chern, M-S. Bobb, A.J.and M.M. Bustos. 1996. The Regulator of MAT2 (ROM2) protein binds to early maturation promoters and represses PvALF-activated transcription. Plant Cell, 8:305-321. (abstract)

Bobb, A.J., Eiben, H.G. and M. M. Bustos. 1995. PvAlf, an embryo-specific acidic transcriptional activator enhances gene expression from phaseolin and phytohemagglutinin promoters. Plant J.. 8:331-343. (abstract)

Bustos, M., Kalkan, F., Vandenbosch, K. and Hall, T.C. 1991. Differential accumulation of four phaseolin glycoforms in transgenic tobacco. Plant Molecular Biology 16:381-395.

Bustos, M.M., Begum, D., Kalkan, F.A., Battraw, M.J., and Hall, T.C. 1991. Positive and negative cis-acting DNA domains are required for spatial and temporal regulation of gene expression by a seed storage protein promoter. The EMBO Journal, 10:1469-1479.

Bustos, M.M., Guiltinan, M.J., Jordano, J., Begum, D., Kalkan, F.A., and Hall, T.C. 1989. Regulation ofb-glucuronidase expression in transgenic tobacco plants by an A/T-rich, cis-acting sequence found upstream of a French bean b-phaseolin gene. The Plant Cell, 1 : 839-853.