Email: anassuth@uoguelph.ca

Office: SCIE 4459
Ext: 58787
Lab: SCIE 4405-6
Ext: 58302

Profile

I was introduced to some intriguing metabolic pathways as an undergraduate student at the Free University in Amsterdam. To better understand the biochemical and molecular aspects of metabolism, I completed an MSc degree at the Free University. I used this training to investigate the interaction between plants and viruses, first as a PhD student at the University of Leiden, then as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich. My knowledge of plant metabolism increased while I was a Research Associate at the University of Ottawa. I have since continued this work at the University of Guelph.

I am a member of a number of scientific societies, including the Canadian Phytopathological Society, the Canadian Society of Plant Physiologists, the International Society for Plant Molecular Biology and the American Society for Virology. I am the Virology Section Editor for the Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology. I have served as a referee for scientific journals and for granting agencies.

Education

BSc, MSc -Free University, Amsterdam
PhD - University of Leiden
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich

Research

My research group investigates biotic and abiotic stress on plants at the cellular and sub-cellular biochemical and molecular levels. The objective is to identify what changes occur in plant cells upon exposure to stress and which of these changes aid the plant to increase its tolerance to the stress.

A major focus is the investigation of stress tolerance in grapevines. Winters in Ontario can cause substantial damage to the cultivated grapes used in the Wine Industry, whereas wild grapes have no problems. We try to find out what the molecular basis is for this phenomenon. In particular, what genes switch "on" or "off" and what is different between these genes in the different grapes or other members of the Vitaceae family? The goal is to use this knowledge to improve freezing and drought stress tolerance in the cultivated grapes I am a member of the Guelph Grape and Wine Research Group.

A second focus is on plant-virus interactions. My lab has developed and optimized molecular-based techniques for the early and reliable detection of viruses in several plants, including grapes and tomatoes. The presence of a virus is often not visible because the virus can be present in a latent state or shows symptoms only in certain tissues (e.g. fruits). Such tests are of special interest to the Horticulture Industry, for the control of viral disease, and to the Centre of Plant Health, for the certification of plants for import and export purposes. We investigate the defence reactions of the plant, such as silencing, and how one might use such defence reactions to produce virus-resistant or virus-tolerant plants.

Selected Publications

Research Papers

Xiao, H., Tattersall, E.A.R., Siddiqua, M.K., Cramer, G.R. and Nassuth, A. 2008. CBF4 is a unique member of the CBF transcription factor family of Vitis vinifera and Vitis riparia. Plant, Cell and Environment 31: 1-10 (doi:10.1111/j.1365-3040.2007.01741.x)

Xiao, H., and A. Nassuth. 2006. Stress- and development-induced expression of spliced and unspliced transcripts from two highly similar dehydrin 1 genes in V. riparia and V. vinifera. 2006. Plant Cell Reports 25 (9): 968-977.

Xiao, H., Siddiqua, M., Braybrook, S., and A. Nassuth. 2006. Three grape CBF/DREB1 genes are regulated by low temperature, drought and abscisic acid. Plant, Cell and Environment 29 (7): 1410-1421.

Roy, Y. and A. Nassuth. 2005. Detection of Plant Genes, Gene Expression and Viral RNA from Tissue Prints on FTA® Cards. Plant Molecular Biology Reporter 23 (4): 383-395.

Prigoda, N.L., Nassuth, A., and B. Mable. 2005. Phenotypic and genotypic expression of self-incompatibility haplotypes in Arabidopsis lyrata suggests unique origin of alleles in different dominance classes. Mol. Biol. Evol. 22: 1609-20.

Boland, G.J., Melzer, M.S., Hopkin, A., Higgins, and A. Nassuth. 2004. Climate change and plant disease in Ontario. Can. J. Plant Pathol. 26: 335-350.

Stewart, S. and Nassuth, A. 2001. RT-PCR based detection of Rupestris stem pitting associated virus within field-grown grapevines throughout the year. Plant Disease 85: 617-620

Rupestris stem pitting virus (RSPaV) can cause a severe disease in grapevines if present in combination with other viruses, however alone it is symptomless and thus can go unnoticed. This paper shows that the detection procedure developed in our lab can detect RSPaV in infected plants throughout the year.

Myslik, J. T. and Nassuth, A. 2001. Rapid detection of viruses, transgenes, and mRNAs in small plant leaf samples. Plant Molecular Biology Reporter 13(4).

Nassuth, A., E. Pollari, K. Helmeczy, S. Stewart, Kofalvi, S.A. 2000. Improved RNA extraction and one-tube RT-PCR assay for simultaneous detection of control plant RNA plus several viruses in plant extracts. J. Virol. Methods 90: 37-49.

Detection of nucleic acids has been difficult because of problems with inhibitors of the detection assay especially in woody tissues. These papers report on the development of rapid procedures which allow us to detect viruses, plant-encoded mRNAs and genes in a variety of plants, including those with woody tissues.

Teaching

As a teacher, my goal is to create an environment that allows and stimulates scientific discovery and learning to each student's best ability. I teach the undergraduate courses Introduction to Biology (BIOL*1020), Metabolism in the Whole Life of Plants (BOT*4380), and Molecular and Cellular Aspects of Plant-Microbe Interactions (PBIO*4000). Undergraduate students have the opportunity to work on a research project in my lab through the course Research Opportunities in Botany (BOT*4820/4830 or MBG*4500/4510). At the graduate level, I teach the course Molecular Basis of Plant-Microbe Interactions (BOT*6601), Metabolism in the Whole Life of Plants (BOT*6438), and Communicating Plant Biology (BOT*6000).

My teaching approach is to present and discuss examples from day-to-day life (especially in introductory courses) and from research papers (more in senior courses) in order to stimulate students to think critically and to discover how pieces of information can be interpreted to make up a larger picture.

My teaching approach is to present and discuss examples from day-to-day life (especially in introductory courses) and from research papers (more in senior courses) in order to stimulate students to think critically and to discover how pieces of information can be interpreted to make up a larger picture.

Graduate Students

Moody, Michelle (M.Sc.)

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