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Ruth Finkelstein

Professor

Contact Information

Phone: (805) 893-4800
Email: finkelst@lifesci.ucsb.edu
Office: 2127 Bio II
Website: Finkelstein Lab

Address

Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9625

Bio

Dr. Finkelstein received her Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology in 1986 from Indiana University at Bloomington. Her doctoral thesis examined the role of environmental and hormonal signals in regulating gene expression and physiological changes during plant embryo maturation. As an NSF postdoctoral fellow at the Michigan State University-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory from 1986 to 1988, she added a genetic approach, studying mutants with reduced sensitivity to the phytohormone abscisic acid. She has expanded her studies of ABA response loci since joining the UCSB faculty in 1989. Dr. Finkelstein served as a Monitoring Editor for the journal Plant Physiology from 2000-2005, and as an Associate Dean for the Division of Mathematical, Life, and Physical Sciences from 2006-2008.

Research

My laboratory studies signal transduction in response to abscisic acid (ABA), a hormone that affects many agronomically important features of plant growth: embryo development, seed and bud dormancy, water relations, tolerance of a variety of environmental stresses, and senescence. We have used mutants of Arabidopsis with reduced sensitivity to ABA to identify genes required for response. Characterization of these mutants suggests that the products of the ABA-insensitive (ABI) and other ABA response loci operate in a web of interconnected recognition/response pathways that includes "cross-talk" with signaling in response to other hormones, nutrient status, abiotic stresses, light and developmental cues. By integrating molecular, genetic and physiological data, we hope to develop a coherent model of ABA action that could have applications in modifying seed quality and yield or stress tolerance of plants.

Selected Publications

  • Cutler SR, Rodriguez PL, Finkelstein RR, Abrams SR (2010) Abscisic Acid: Emergence of a Core Signaling Network Annual Review of Plant Biology 61:651–79
  • Park S-Y, Fung P, Nishimura N, Jensen DR, Fujii H, Zhao Y, Lumba S, Santiago J, Rodrigues A, Chow, T-f F, Alfred, SE, Bonetta D, Finkelstein R, Provart NJ, Desveaux D, Rodriguez PL, McCourt P, Zhu J-K, Schroeder JI, Volkman BF, Cutler SR (2009) Abscisic Acid Inhibits Type 2C Protein Phosphatases via the PYR/PYL Family of START Proteins. Science 324:1068 - 1071 http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/324/5930/1068
  • Finkelstein R, Reeves W, Ariizumi T, Steber C (2008) Molecular aspects of seed dormancy. Ann. Rev. Plant Biol. 59: 387-415
  • Finkelstein R, Gampala SSL, Lynch TJ, Thomas TL, Rock CD (2005) Redundant and Distinct Functions of the ABA Response Loci ABA-INSENSITIVE(ABI)5 and ABRE-BINDING FACTOR (ABF)3. Plant Mol. Biol. 59:253-267
  • Brocard-Gifford IM, Lynch TJ, Garcia ME , Malhotra B, Finkelstein RR (2004) The Arabidopsis thaliana ABSCISIC ACID-INSENSITIVE8 Locus Encodes a Novel Protein Mediating Abscisic Acid and Sugar Responses Essential for Growth. Plant Cell 16: 406-421
  • Brocard-Gifford IM, Lynch TJ, Finkelstein RR (2003) Regulatory networks in seeds integrating developmental, ABA, sugar and light signaling. Plant Physiol. 131: 78-92
  • Brocard, I., Lynch, T., Finkelstein, R. (2002). Regulation and role of the Arabidopsis ABA-insensitive (ABI)5 gene in ABA, sugar and stress response. Plant Physiol. 129: 1533-1543.
  • Finkelstein R.R., Gampala S.S.L., Rock C.D. (2002) ABA signaling in seeds and seedlings. Plant Cell 13, S15-S45
  • Nakamura S., Lynch T.J., Finkelstein R.R. (2001) Physical interactions between ABA response loci of Arabidopsis. Plant Journal 26:627-635
  • Finkelstein, R.R., Lynch, T.J. (2000) The Arabidopsis abscisic acid response gene ABI5 encodes a basic leucine zipper transcription factor. Plant Cell 12: 599-609.