Stephen Randall

Associate Professor of Biology, Biology

Current Research

My laboratory uses biochemistry and molecular genetics to characterize molecular mechanisms by which plants respond and adapt to environmental stresses such as cold and drought conditions.  Thus we are conducting proteomic and genetic analysis to identify cellular components important for these processes. We focus on Arabidopsis, cultivated strawberry, and soybean. Some plants are able to develop stress tolerance (to cold, drought, salt, etc.) but many, including most crop plants are unable to adapt. Dehydrins are proteins whose expression is associated with embryonic and vegetative developmental pathways that involve osmotic, water, and salt stress.  Indeed, when they are overexpressed in plants, they confer increased stress tolerance. They are found in all higher plants, being expressed in a variety of cell and tissue types. Much of my work focuses on study of the roles and functions of the dehydrin family, particularly in response to cold and drought stress. Our experimental goal is to understand the biochemical and physiological mechanisms that underlie the role of these proteins, in particular, the impact of regulation of calcium-binding activity of these proteins by phosphorylation.

Select Publications

Alsheikh, MK, Svensson, JT, and Randall, SK 2005 Phosphorylation regulated ion-binding is a property shared by the acidic subclass dehydrins. Plant, Cell and Environment 28, 1114-1122

Dumaual, CM, Sandusky, GE, Crowell, PL, and Randall, SK 2006 Cellular localization of PRL-1 and PRL-2 gene expression in normal adult human tissues. J. Histochemistry and Cytochemistry, (J Histochem Cytochem. 2006 Sep 6; [Epub ahead of print]) published in print: J. Histochem. Cytochem. 2006; 54: 1401

Koehler, G,  Weisel, TJ, and Randall SK, 2007 Transcript Expression Analysis Indicates Distinct Roles for Dehydrin Subclasses, Current Topics in Phytochemistry. 8, 73-83

B. Teske, S. Taramino, M.S.A. Bhuiyan, N.S. Kumaraswami, S.K. Randall, R. Barbuch,  J. Eckstein, G. Balliano, M. Bard, (2008) Genetic analyses involving interactions between the ergosterol biosynthetic enzymes, lanosterol synthase (Erg7p) and 3-ketoreductase (Erg27p), in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, BBA – Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids, Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids Volume 1781, Issue 8, August 2008, Pages 359-366  doi: 10.1016/j.bbalip.2008.04.017

Rohloff, J., Kopka, J., Erban, A., Bones, A.M., Winge, P., Sparstad, Jørstad, T., Randall, S.K., Wilson, R., Davik, J., and Alsheikh, M. 2009 Metabolic, transcriptional, and proteomic profiling of cold response in Fragaria vesca. Act Hort 842:785-788

Koehler, G., Winge, P., Rohloff, J., Wilson, R., Alsheikh, M., Randall, S., 2010 Molecular cold responses for two strawberry cultivars: Comparison of proteomic and microarray analysis. Acta Hort. (ISHS)  [in press]

Dumaual, C.M., Sandusky, G.E., Soo, H-W., Werner, S.R., Crowell, P.L. and Randall, S.K. 2012 Tissue specific alterations of PRL-1 and PRL-2 expression in cancer. Am J Transl Res 4 (1): 83-101. www.ajtr.org /ISSN:1943-8141/AJTR1112002

Rohloff, J., Kopka, J., Erban, A., Winge, P., Wilson, R.C., Bones, A.M., Davik, J., Randall, S.K., Alsheikh, M.K. 2012 Metabolite profiling reveals novel multi-level cold responses in the diploid model Fragaria vesca (woodland strawberry).  Phytochemistry Volume 77:99–109. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031942212000532

Koehler, G., Wilson, R.C., Goodpaster, J.V., Sønsteby, A., Lai, X., Witzmann, F.A., You, J-S., Randall, S.K., and Alsheikh, M.K. 2012 Proteomic Study of Low Temperature Responses in Strawberry Cultivars (Fragaria x ananassa) that Differ in Cold Tolerance. Plant Physiology 159: 1787-1805

Davik, J., From, B., Koehler, G., Torp, T., Rohloff, J., Eidem, P., Wilson, R.C., Sønsteby, A., Randall, S.K., Alsheikh, M.K. 2012 Dehydrin, alcohol dehydrogenase, and central metabolite levels are associated with cold tolerance in diploid strawberry (Fragaria spp.) Planta (in Press)