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Research Areas

• Plant Signal Transduction
• Plant Abiotic Stress Responses
• Plant Bio-Technology

Research Interests

• Heterotrimeric G protein signalling in plants
• Heterotrimeric G protein in higher and primitive organisms
• Transcriptional networks in plant stress responses
• Metabolomic changes in response to abiotic stresses
• Molecular breeding for indoor agriculture

Selected Publications

1. Leong R, Urano D* (2018) Molecular Breeding for Plant Factory – Strategies and Technology. Smart Plant Factory: The next generation indoor vertical farms.

2. Wu TY*, Urano D* (2018) Genetic and Systematic Approaches Toward G Protein-Coupled Abiotic Stress Signaling in Plants. Frontiers in Plant Science 9: 1378

3. Urano D*, Maruta N, Trusov Y, Stoian R, Wu Q, Liang Y, Jaiswal DK, Thung L, Jackson D, Botella JR, Jones AM* (2016) Saltational evolution of the heterotrimeric G protein signaling mechanisms in the plant kingdom. Science Signaling. 9: ra93.

4. Urano D*, Miura K, Wu Q, Iwasaki Y, Jackson D, Jones AM (2016) Plant morphology of heterotrimeric G protein mutants. Plant and Cell Physiology. 57: 437-445

5. Urano D, Dong T, Bennetzen JL, Jones AM* (2015) Adaptive evolution of signaling partners. Molecular Evolution and Biology. 32: 998-1007.

6. Urano D, Czarnecki O, Wang X, Jones AM, Chen JG* (2015) Arabidopsis receptor of activated C kinase1 phosphorylation by WITH NO LYSINE8 KINASE. Plant Physiology. 167: 507-516

7. Urano D, Jackson D, Jones AM* (2015) A G protein alpha null mutation confers prolificacy potential in maize. Journal of Experimental Botany. 66: 4511-4515. 

8. Urano D, Colaneri A, Jones AM* (2014) Gα modulates salt-induced cellular senescence and cell division in rice and maize. Journal of Experimental Botany. 65: 6553-6561.

9. Urano D, Jones AM* (2014) Heterotrimeric G protein-coupled signaling in plants. Annual Reviews in Plant Biology. 65: 365-384

10. Bradford W, Buckholz A, Morton J, Price C, Jones AM*, Urano D (2013) Eukaryotic G Protein Signaling Evolved to Require G Protein-Coupled Receptors for Activation. Science Signaling. 6: ra37.

11. Urano D, Chen JG, Botella JR, Jones AM* (2013) Heterotrimeric G protein signalling in the plant kingdom. Open Biology. 3: 120186

12. Urano D, Jones AM* (2013) “Round up the usual suspects”: a comment on nonexistent plant G protein-coupled receptors. Plant Physiology. 161: 1097-1102.

13. Urano D, Jones JC, Wang H, Matthews M, Bradford W, Bennetzen JL, Jones AM* (2012) G Protein Activation Without a GEF in the Plant Kingdom. PLoS Genetics. e1002756.

14. Urano D, Phan N, Jones JC, Yang J, Huang J, Grigston J, Taylor JP, Jones AM* (2012) Endocytosis of Seven-Transmembrane RGS Protein Activates G- protein Coupled Signaling in Arabidopsis. Nature Cell Biology. 14: 1079-1088.

15. Urano D, Nakata A, Mizuno N, Tago K, Itoh H (2008) Domain-domain interaction of P-Rex1 is essential for the activation and inhibition by G protein betagamma subunits and PKA. Cellular Signalling. 20: 1545-1554.