Patrick Gulick, PhD

Education

PhD (California)

Research interests

Genetic analysis of environmental stress-tolerance in plants


Each year there are extensive losses in crop productivity caused by abiotic stresses. Limited tolerance to extremes in temperatures, drought, salinity and nutrient imbalances have traditionally restricted the cropping alternatives available to growers and threatened the sustainability of agriculture. Understanding the genetic basis of environmental stress tolerance and genetic improvement of crop species can enhance productivity, expand crop production into previously non-economically viable areas and reduce the need for expensive inputs with possible environmentally damaging consequences.

Many plant species show remarkable tolerance to environmental stresses, including high salinity, drought and temperatures below -20°C. The molecular analysis of the plant's response to drought, salt stress, and freezing have shown that there is a large number of genes that are up-regulated in response to these stresses. Some of stress-responsive genes are regulated by common signalling pathways that act in response to different stresses and others are regulated by pathways that are unique to specific stresses. Many of the stress-regulated genes are themselves regulatory genes.

We study the adaptation to environmental stress in wheat, Triticum aestivum, one of the most important crops world-wide. We carry out both molecular analysis of stress-regulated genes and genomic analysis of the stress response for large-scale gene discovery. Our current work focuses on signalling pathways that are mediated by the interaction of GTP binding proteins (G proteins), calcium binding proteins and phospholipase C's. These stress regulated genes encoding these proteins initially were discovered in wheat, and in a closely related and highly salt-tolerant wild wheatgrass Lophopyrum elongatum. To further characterize the effects of these genes on plant growth and resistance to environmental stress we characterize the homologs of the cereal genes in Arabidopsis lines in which the genes have been mutated or over-expressed.

Our second major area of research is in genomic research of wheat and closely related species in the tribe Triticeae. We characterize expressed sequence tags (ESTs) generated from large-scale first and second generation sequencing of cDNA. Gene discovery is directed toward the identification of signalling and regulatory genes whose expression is induced or repressed by environmental stress and the characterization of homeologous gene expression in polyploidy plants.

Khalil, H.B., Brunetti, S.C., Pham, U.M., Maret, D., Laroche, A., Gulick, P.J. (2014) Characterization of the caleosin gene family in the Triticeae. BMC Genomics 15:239



Hussein, Z., Dryanova, A., Maret, D., Gulick P.J. (2014) Gene expression analysis in the roots of salt stressed wheat and the cytogenetic derivatives of wheat combined with the salt-tolerant wheatgrass, Lophopyrum elongatum. Plant Cell Rep. 33: 189-201 DOI: 10.1007/s00299-013-1522-2



Khalil H.B, Wang, Z., Wright, J.A., Ralevski, A., Donayo A.O., Gulick, P.J. (2011) Heterotrimeric  subunit from wheat (Triticum aestivum), GA3, interacts with the calcium-binding protein, Clo3, and the phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C, PI-PLC1. Plant Mol. Biol. 77:145-158



Dryanova, A, Zakharov, A., Gulick, P.J (2008) Data mining for miRNAs and their targets in the Triticeae. Genome 51: 433-443

Monroy, A.F., Dryanova, A., Malette, B., Oren, D.H., Ridha Farajalla, M., Wucheng Liu, W., Danyluk, J., Ubayasena, L.W.C., Kane, K., Scoles, G.J., Sarhan, F., Gulick, P.J. (2007) Regulatory gene candidates and gene expression analysis of cold acclimation in winter and spring wheat. Plant Mol. Biol. 64:409-23

Ridha Farajalla, M. and Gulick, PJ (2007) Members of the -tubulin gene family in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) have differential expression during cold acclimation. Genome 50:502-510


Tardif, G., Kane, N.A., Adam, H., Labrie, L., Major, G., Gulick, P., Sarhan, F., and Laliberté, J-F.. (2007) Interaction Network of Proteins Associated with Abiotic Stress and Development in Wheat. Plant Mol. Biol 63:703-718



Mario Houde, M., Belcaid, M., Ouellet, F., Danyluk, J., Monroy, A.F., Dryanova, A., Gulick, P., Bergeron, A., Laroche, A., Links, M., MaCarthy, L., Crosby, W.L., Sarhan, F.  (2006) Wheat EST resources for functional genomics of abiotic stress. BMC Genomics 7:149

Shen, W., Gómez-Cadenas, A., Routly, E., Ho, T-H. D., Simmonds, J. and Gulick, P.J. (2001) The Salt-Stress-Inducible Protein Kinase Gene, Esi47, from the Salt-Tolerant Wheatgrass Lophopyrum elongatum Is Involved in Plant Hormone Signaling. Plant Physiol. 125 1429-1441

Bantignies B., J. Séguin, I. Muzac, F. Dédaldéchamp, P.J. Gulick and Ragai K. Ibrahim. (2000) Direct Evidence for ribonucleolytic activity of a PR-10-like protein from white lupin roots. Plant Mol. Biol. 42: 871-881
Khalil, H.B., Brunetti, S.C., Pham, U.M., Maret, D., Laroche, A., Gulick, P.J. (2014) Characterization of the caleosin gene family in the Triticeae. BMC Genomics 15:239



Hussein, Z., Dryanova, A., Maret, D., Gulick P.J. (2014) Gene expression analysis in the roots of salt stressed wheat and the cytogenetic derivatives of wheat combined with the salt-tolerant wheatgrass, Lophopyrum elongatum. Plant Cell Rep. 33: 189-201 DOI: 10.1007/s00299-013-1522-2



Khalil H.B, Wang, Z., Wright, J.A., Ralevski, A., Donayo A.O., Gulick, P.J. (2011) Heterotrimeric  subunit from wheat (Triticum aestivum), GA3, interacts with the calcium-binding protein, Clo3, and the phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C, PI-PLC1. Plant Mol. Biol. 77:145-158



Dryanova, A, Zakharov, A., Gulick, P.J (2008) Data mining for miRNAs and their targets in the Triticeae. Genome 51: 433-443

Monroy, A.F., Dryanova, A., Malette, B., Oren, D.H., Ridha Farajalla, M., Wucheng Liu, W., Danyluk, J., Ubayasena, L.W.C., Kane, K., Scoles, G.J., Sarhan, F., Gulick, P.J. (2007) Regulatory gene candidates and gene expression analysis of cold acclimation in winter and spring wheat. Plant Mol. Biol. 64:409-23

Ridha Farajalla, M. and Gulick, PJ (2007) Members of the alpha-tubulin gene family in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) have differential expression during cold acclimation. Genome 50:502-510


Tardif, G., Kane, N.A., Adam, H., Labrie, L., Major, G., Gulick, P., Sarhan, F., and Laliberté, J-F. (2007) Interaction Network of Proteins Associated with Abiotic Stress and Development in Wheat. Plant Mol. Biol 63:703-718



Mario Houde, M., Belcaid, M., Ouellet, F., Danyluk, J., Monroy, A.F., Dryanova, A., Gulick, P., Bergeron, A., Laroche, A., Links, M., MaCarthy, L., Crosby, W.L., Sarhan, F.  (2006) Wheat EST resources for functional genomics of abiotic stress. BMC Genomics 7:149

Shen, W., Gómez-Cadenas, A., Routly, E., Ho, T-H. D., Simmonds, J. and Gulick, P.J. (2001) The Salt-Stress-Inducible Protein Kinase Gene, Esi47, from the Salt-Tolerant Wheatgrass Lophopyrum elongatum Is Involved in Plant Hormone Signaling. Plant Physiol. 125 1429-1441

Bantignies B., J. Séguin, I. Muzac, F. Dédaldéchamp, P.J. Gulick and Ragai K. Ibrahim. (2000) Direct Evidence for ribonucleolytic activity of a PR-10-like protein from white lupin roots. Plant Mol. Biol. 42: 871-881