Education:
Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of California - Berkeley - 2000 (Microbiology)
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Hebrew University of Jerusalem - 1999 (Protein Structure and Function)
Ph.D. , Yale University School of Medicine - 1998 (Cell Biology)
B.S., Haverford College - 1993 (Cell and Molecular Biology)
Areas of Expertise:
Microbiology--host pathogen interactions. His research interest is in A. tumefaciens, which causes crown gall disease, which affects several varieties of fruit trees and grapes. A. tumefaciens transfers virulence genes and proteins into susceptible host cells. The transferred virulence genes and proteins cause infected cells to form undifferentiated tumors. Recently this unique ability of A. tumefaciens to transform plants has been used by researchers to generate important transgenic crops.
Books and Publications
Duffield, A., M.J. Caplan and T.R. Muth. "Protein Trafficking in Epithelial Cells." International Review of Cell and Molecular Biology. Manuscript in press. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2008
Brown, A., T.R. Muth and M.J. Caplan. "The C-teminal Tail of the GAT-2 GABA Transporter Contains a Novel Basolateral Targeting Signal." American Journal of Physiology 286.5: C1071-77. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2004
Muth, T.R. and M.J. Caplan. "Sorting of Ion Transporters in Polarized Cells." Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology 19: 333-66. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2003
Deen, P.M., B.W. Van Balkom, P.J. Savelkoul, E.J. Kamsteeg, M. Van Raak, M.L. Jennings, T.R. Muth, V. Rajendran and M.J. Caplan. "Aquaporin-2: COOH Terminus Is Necessary But Not Sufficient for Routing to the Apical Membrane." American Journal of Physiology 282: F330-40. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2002
Muth, T.R. and S. Schuldiner. "A Single Membrane-Embedded Glutamate Influences Binding of a High-Affinity Ligand to the Multidrug Transporter EmrE." The EMBO Journal 19.2: 234-40. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2000
Zupan, J., T.R. Muth, O. Draper and P. Zambryski. "The Transfer of DNA From Agrobacterium tumefaciens Into Plants: A Feast of Fundamental Insights." The Plant Journal 23.1: 1-18. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2000
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
BARD Fellowship - Binational Agricultural and Research Development, to support research while on sabbatical as a visiting scientist at The Weizmann Institute. (Awards and Honors) 2007
NSF grant, for Course Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement Authentic Research Experience in Microbiology for Undergraduate Students at Brooklyn College. This proposal will transform the current undergraduate microbiology laboratory curriculum into a cutting-edge lab that conducts authentic research on projects related to the PI's studies with the plant pathogen, Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Principal investigator. $197,000; 2007-10. (Grants and Fellowships) 2007
Research student in the lab, S.A. Newell, was awarded as American Society for Microbiology Summer Research Fellowship. (Awards and Honors) 2007
NSF Major Research Instrumentation Funding, to purchase a BD Biosciences FACSCanto Benchtop Flow Cytometer. The flow cytometer will be used in assays performed by undergraduates to monitor and quantify the attachment of fluorescently labeled A. tumefaciens bacteria to plant cell protoplasts. Co-prinicipal investigator. $210,582; 2005-06. (Grants and Fellowships) 2005
Research Activities
Examination of Arabidopsis Plants Containing Mutations in Arabinogalactan Genes: Arabinogalactans proteins (AGPs) are a family of extensively glycosylated plant proteins. Several AGPs have been found associated with the plant cell wall, and sequence motifs suggest that the majority of AGPs are secreted, and that several may be incorporated into the cell wall, or membrane, via GPI moieties. Functional roles for any of the AGPs have yet to be clearly identified, although several recent studies suggest that AGPs are involved in plant cell growth, division and differentiation as well as in structural roles. We have searched a collection of Arabidopsis mutants from The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) and identified at least 10 mutant lines harboring T-DNA disruptions within AGP loci. We have obtained these mutant lines and begun to examine them for phenotypes. 2007
Expression of AGP17 in BY-2 Tobacco Cells: Arabinogalactan proteins make up a family of extensively glycosylated plant cell wall associated components. Our modified AGP17 construct contains a Strep-tag at the C-terminus, and we have eliminated the site predicted to be modified by GPI addition. As a result of not having the GPI addition, the modified construct will be secreted from the BY-2 plant cells as opposed to bound to the cell membrane or cell wall. We hope this approach will allow us to isolate correctly glycosylated, highly purified, AGP17 that we can use directly in binding assays with A. tumefaciens bacteria. 2007
Isolation of Bacteriophage Specific for Agrobacterium vitis: Agrobacterium vitis is a pathogen of grape vines and is very closely related to Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Wine producers in California, Long Island, the Finger Lakes, Europe and elsewhere suffer significant damage, and economic losses, as a result of A. vitis infections. An A. vitis-specific bacteriophage could serve as a safe and effective biocontrol agent for limiting A. vitis damage within vineyards. 2007
Transgenic AGP17-Expressing BL-1 Arabidopsis Lines: The Arabidopsis BL1 ecotype is poorly transformed by virulent A. tumefaciens. The BL1 ecotype also exhibits reduced attachment of A. tumefaciens bacteria to its roots. In collaboration with Dr. Stanton Gelvin at Purdue University, we have generated eight independent transgenic Arabidopsis BL1 lines expressing the AGP17 arabinogalactan protein. Recent evidence suggests that AGP17 may serve as a host cell receptor for A. tumefaciens. We hypothesize that expressing this putative receptor in the BL1 ecotype of Arabidopsis will result in improved transformation efficiency and increased attachment to roots. These experiments will allow us to demonstrate more directly the role of AGP17 in the infection of plants by A. tumefaciens. 2007
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
"Agrobacterium tumefaciens: Nature's Own Genetic Engineer." University of Haifa, Israel. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008
"Infection of Suspension Culture Plant Cells by A. tumefaciens." The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008
"Agrobacterium tumefaciens: Nature's Own Genetic Engineer." Muhlenberg College. Allentown, Pa. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
Newell, S.A. and T. Muth. "The Role of AtAGP17 in the Attachment of A. tumefaciens to Host Plants." American Society for Microbiology Annual Meeting. Toronto. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
Petrovicheva, A. and T. Muth. "Approaches to Identifying Factors Mediating the Attachment of A. tumefaciens to Host Cells." International Crown Gall Conference Meeting. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
Petrovicheva, A. and T. Muth. "The Role of AtAGP17 in A. tumefaciens Attachment to Host Plant Cells." XIII International Congress on Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions. Sorrento, Italy. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
Pedagogical Achievements
Selected as a Project Kaleidoscope Faculty for the 21st Century member. 2005
