Emeritus Professor David Smyth

Emeritus Professor

Telephone: +61-3-9905-3861
Fax: +61-3-9905-5613
E-mail: david.smyth@monash.edu

• We are interested in how genes regulate the morphogenesis of flowers. We use a small mustard species Arabidopsis thaliana as a model to uncover regulatory genes.
• One set of genes is involved in specifying internal parts of carpels, the female reproductive component of flowers. The SPATULA gene promotes development of the tract through which fertilizing pollen tubes grow. It encodes a bHLH transcription factor, and its role is shared by two other family members, ALCATRA and INDEHISCENT. Study of their joint action has revealed that SPATULA also acts with each of these genes later during seed pod development. Together they help establish the dehiscence zone that allows the ripe seeds to escape.
• Our current focus is another gene, PETAL LOSS, involved in regulating the development of petals and sepals, the perianth organs of the flower. PETAL LOSS functions to repress growth between newly arising sepals, allowing petal initiation signals to act nearby. The gene encodes a trihelix transcription factor, one of 30 in Arabidopsis. We are now working to understand the structure and function of the PETAL LOSS protein, its regulation, and to uncover the signals involved in petal initiation.

• Kaplan-Levy, R.N., Brewer, P.B., Quon, T. & Smyth, D.R. 2012 The trihelix transcription factor family - light, stress and development. Trends in Plant Science 17: 163-171
  
  
• Girin, T., Paicu, T., Stephenson, P., Fuentes, S., Körner, E., O'Brien, M., Sorefan, K., Wood, T.A., Balanzá, V., Ferrándiz, C., Smyth, D.R. and Østergaard, L. 2011 INDEHISCENT and SPATULA interact to specify carpel and valve margin tissue and thus promote seed dispersal in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 23: 3641-3653
  
  
• Groszmann, M., Paicu, T., Alvarez, J.P., Swain, S.M and Smyth, D.R. 2011 SPATULA and ALCATRAZ, are partially redundant, functionally diverging bHLH genes required for Arabidopsis gynoecium and fruit development. Plant Journal 68: 816-829
  
  
• Groszmann, M., Bylstra, Y., Lampugnani, E.R & Smyth, D.R. 2010 Regulation of tissue-specific expression of SPATULA, a bHLH gene involved in carpel development, seedling germination, and lateral organ growth in Arabidopsis. Journal of Experimental Botany 61: 1495-1508
  
  
• Smyth, D.R. 2010 Stamens. In Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (ELS). John Wiley & Sons, Chichester. DOI:10.1002/9780470015902.a0002066.pub2 [www.els.net]
  
  
• Groszmann, M., Paicu, T. & Smyth, D.R. 2008 Functional domains of SPATULA, a bHLH transcription factor involved in carpel and fruit development in Arabidopsis. Plant Journal 55: 40-52
  
  
• Smyth, D. R. & Berleth, T. 2006 Growth and development: Integrating signals and differentiating tissues - the 'calculus' of plant development. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 9: 1-4
  
  
• Smyth, D.R. 2006 Carpels. In Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (ELS), John Wiley & Sons, Chichester. DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a002067.pub2 [www.els.net]
  
  
• Becker, A., Gleissberg, S. & Smyth, D.R. 2005 Floral and vegetative morphogenesis in California poppy (Eschscholzia californica Cham.). International Journal of Plant Sciences 166: 537-555
  
  
• Smyth, D. R. 2005 Morphogenesis of flowers - our evolving view. Plant Cell 17: 330-341
  

Publication list

• Aydin Kilinc, PhD candidate (BSc (Hons) Monash University)
• Martin O'Brien, ARC Post-doctoral Fellow (PhD Universite de Montreal, Montreal, Canada)
• Tezz Quon, PhD candidate (BSc (Hons) Monash University)

Recent graduates

• Ruth N Kaplan-Levy PhD 2011
• Edwin Lampugnani PhD 2011