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Personal Information
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Joel Griffitts Microbiology & Molecular Biology Email: joelg@byu.edu 788 WIDB Assistant Professor
B.S., Stanford University, 1999 |
| Education |
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| Research |
Our group studies molecular mechanisms of host-microbe interactions, specifically in the rhizobium-legume interaction. When a free-living rhizobium cell encounters the root of a compatible host plant, a permissive infection process gives rise to a new organ (the root nodule) where the bacteria reside and enrich the plant with fixed nitrogen in return for photosynthetic products. This is an example of two organisms with very different biochemical specializations coming together as a formidable symbiotic pair. We use various bacterial genetic tools to discover signaling systems in this symbiosis, and genes that control compatibility between rhizobium strains and plant hosts in nature. This research has broad implications in medicine, agriculture, and ecology. |
| Selected Publications |
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Articles Griffitts JS, Long SR. "A symbiotic mutant of Sinorhizobium meliloti reveals a novel genetic pathway involving succinoglycan biosynthetic functions." Molecular Microbiology. 67.6 (2008). Griffitts JS, Carlyon RE, Erickson JH, Moulton JL, Barnett MJ, Toman CJ, Long SR. "A Sinorhizobium meliloti osmosensory two-component system required for cyclic glucan export and symbiosis." Molecular Microbiology. 69.2 (2008): 479-490. Steele TT, Fowler CW, Griffitts JS. "Control of gluconate utilization in Sinorhizobium meliloti." Journal of Bacteriology. (In Press) (2008). Barrows BD, Griffitts JS, Aroian RV. "Resistance is non-futile: Resistance to Cry5B in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans." J Invertebr Pathol. 95.3 (2007): 198-200. M Capello, RD Bungiro, LM Harrison, LJ Bischof, JS Griffitts, BD Barrows, RV Aroian. "A purified Bacillus thuringiensis crystal protein with therapeutic activity against the hookworm parasite Ancylostoma ceylanicum." Proc Natl Acad Sci. 103 (2006): 15154-9. BD Barrows, JS Griffitts, RV Aroian. "Caenorhabditis elegans carbohydrates in bacterial toxin resistance." Methods Enzymol. 417 (2006): 340-58. JS Griffitts, SM Haslam, T Yang, S Garczynski, B Mulloy, PS Cremer, A Dell, MJ Adang and RV Aroian. "Glycolipids as receptors for Bacillus thuringiensis Crystal toxin." Science. 307 (2005): 922-5. JS Griffitts and RV Aroian. "Many roads to resistance: How invertebrates adapt to Bt toxins." Bioessays. 27 (2005): 614-24. JS Griffitts, DL Huffman, JL Whitacre, BD Barrows, LD Marroquin, R Muller, JR Brown, T Hennet, JD Esko and RV Aroian. "Resistance to a bacterial toxin is mediated by removal of a conserved glycosylation pathway required for toxin-host interactions." J Biol Chem. 278 (2003): 45594-602. JS Griffitts, JL Whitacre, DE Stevens and RV Aroian. "Bt toxin resistance from loss of a putative carbohydrate-modifying enzyme." Science. 293 (2001): 860-4. |
| Courses Taught |
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MMBIO 695R
:
Research
MMBIO 691R : Graduate Seminar LFSCI 494R : Mentored Research MMBIO 494R : Mentored Research MMBIO 460 : Microbial Genetics MMBIO 490R : Molecular Biology Seminar |
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