Tuan-Hua Ho

Title:	Professor of Biology Associate Chair, Department of Biology
Degree:	PHD, Michigan State University BS, National Taiwan University
Dept:	Biology
Office:	Busch Lab 151A
Mailbox:	Campus Box 1137 One Brookings Drive St. Louis, MO 63130-4899 Hide Full Mailing Address
Phone:	(314) 935-4632
E-mail:	ho@wustl.edu

Courses
Biochemistry; Biochemistry of Plants

Research Interests
Professor Ho is interested in the mechanisms of developmental transition from embryogenesis to seed germination, a process governed by two phytohormones, gibberellins (GA) and abscisic acid (ABA). Since plant embryos are very resistant to environmental stresses such as drought and cold, the lab also studies the role of stress-induced proteins in the establishment of stress tolerance in plants. Research is focused on (1) hormonal control of gene expression in the aleurone cells of cereal grains and (2) regulation and function of stress-induced genes.

Selected Publications:

Shen, Q., Zhang, P., Ho, T.-H.D. (1996) Modular nature of ABA response complexes: composite promoter units that are necessary and sufficient for ABA-induced gene expression in barley. Plant Cell 7: 1107-1119.

Cercos, M., Aurelio Gomez-Cadenas, A., Ho, T.-H.D. (1999) Hormonal regulation of a cysteine proteinase gene, EPB1, in the aleurone cells of Germinating Barley Seeds: cis- and trans-acting elements involved in the gibberellin induction. Plant J. 19: 107-118.

Gomez-Cadenas, A., Verhey, S.D., Holappa, L.D., Shen, Q., Ho, T.-H.D., Walker-Simmons, M.K. (1999) An abscisic acid-induced protein kinase, PKABA1, mediates abscisic acid-suppressed gene expression in barley aleurone layers. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96: 1767-1772.

Aurelio Gomez-Cadenas, A., Zentella, R., Walker-Simmons, M.K., Ho, T.-H.D. (2001) GA/ABA antagonism in barley aleurone cells: site of action of the protein kinase, PKABA1, in relation to GA signaling molecules. Plant Cell 13: 667-679.