Center for Molecular Agriculture

Robert J. Schmidt

Dr. Schmidt received his Ph.D. from Duke University in 1984. As an NSF Postoctoral Fellow in Plant Biology he pursued research at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He joined the Department of Biology at UCSD in 1987 and received a McKnight Individual Research Project Award in Plant Biology. He has served on the grants advisory panel for the US Department of Agriculture and has been a member of the editorial board of The Plant Cell since 1994.

Research Focus: Seed storage protein gene expression and reproductive development. Research in the Schmidt laboratory is directed towards understanding the mechanisms regulating seed storage protein gene expression in maize. In addition, his laboratory has been investigating genes controlling grass floral organ development and inflorescence architecture. 
  Technologies Developed in the Schmidt Lab

• Genes controlling seed protein expression
• Seed-specific promoters
• Modifying storage protein composition in seeds
• Genes affecting grass flower development

Recent Publications:

• Gupta, S., A. Gallavotti, G.A. Stryker, R.J. Schmidt and S.K. Lal (2005) A novel class of Helitron-related transposable elements in maize contain portions of multiple pseudogenes. Plant Mol. Biol. 57:115-127.
• Gallavotti, A., Q. Zhao, J. Kyozuka, R. B. Meley, M.K. Ritter, J.F. Doebley, M. E. Pe and R. J. Schmidt (2004) The role of barren stalk1 in the architecture of maize. Nature 432:630-635.
• Whipple, C., P. Ciceri, C.M. Padilla, B.A. Ambrose, S.L. Bandong and R.J. Schmidt (2004) Conservation of B-class floral homeotic gene function between maize and Arabidopsis. Development 131:6083-6091.
• Hwang, Y-S., P. Ciceri, R. L. Parsons, S.P. Moose, R. J. Schmidt and N. Huang (2004) The maize O2 and PBF proteins act additively to promote transcription from storage protein gene promoters in rice endosperm cells. Plant Cell Physiol. 45:1509-1518.
• Bomblies, K., R-L Wang, B. A. Ambrose, R. J. Schmidt, R.B. Meeley, and J. Doebley (2003) Duplicate FLORICAULA/LEAFY homologs zfl1 and zfl2 control inflorescence architecture and flower patterning in maize. Development 130:2385-2395.

More details on current work in the Schmidt Laboratory.