Craig Stuart Pikaard Carlos O. Miller Professor

My lab is interested in how genes can be selectively inactivated and how the silent state can be perpetuated through multiple rounds of cell division, and even from one generation to the next. One longstanding interest of the lab is the uniparental silencing of 45S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes in genetic hybrids, an epigenetic phenomenon known as nucleolar dominance.

A second focus of my lab is to understand the functions of RNA polymerases IV and V in the RNA-directed DNA methylation pathway.

Research areas:

• Chromatin, Chromosomes, and Genome Integrity
• Developmental Mechanisms and Regulation in Eukaryotic Systems
• Genomics and Bioinformatics
• Plant Molecular Biology.

In the Pikaard lab, we study how genes are turned on or off, using techniques of genetics, genomics, biochemistry, cell biology and molecular biology. Our current research projects are focused on the roles of chromatin modifying enzymes and noncoding RNAs in gene silencing and epigenetic phenomena.

Understanding how specific genes are silenced in plants could help elucidate how these processes go awry in human development-associated diseases, including cancer.

Research:

• Proteins of the RNA-directed DNA methylation pathway in an Arabidopsis nucleus.
• RNA polymerases IV (green) and II (red) in an Arabidopsis nucleus.

Subject Area:

• Biology.

Research Interests:

• mechanisms of RNA-mediated gene silencing and large-scale epigenetic control.