Barton Lab

The Barton lab studies how plants make new leaves and stems from clusters of undifferentiated cells located at the tips of branches. These clusters of cells are called apical meristems and contain within them a small number of self renewing stem cells. Within the meristem, the decision as to what type of cell a cell ultimately becomes is controlled by a network of transcription factors. Recently, our studies have identified points where environmental signals interact with this intrinsic genetic program to modify growth. We hypothesize this interaction serves to coordinate the production of leaves and stems with the availability of water and nutrients. The understanding of plant growth and development gained from these studies establishes a foundation that can be used to breed resilient plants, thereby increasing food security in the face of a changing environment.

(Members of Barton and Evans Labs Spring 2014. The two labs share lab space at The Carnegie Institution for Science's Department of Plant Biology on the Stanford Campus. Top row (left to right): Lance Cabalona, Matt Evans, Clayton Coker, Antony Chettoor; Standing: Nidhi Sharma and YongXian Lu; Seated: Tie Liu, Adam Longhurst, Kathy Barton, Stephanie May, Franklin Talavera-Rauh. Not shown: Sam Hokin)

Lab Tabs

Our Research

Research Projects

- Establishment of Ad/Abaxial Polarity in the Leaf and Embryo

- Shoot Apical Meristem Formation and Maintenance

- Partitioning fates in the Apical Meristem: Early Steps in Leaf Formation

- Interaction Between Stress Response Pathways and Developmental Pathways

- Control of Vegetative Growth by the Ad/Abaxial Developmental Pathway and the Abscisic Acid Signaling Pathway

- Novel pathways to drought resistance.

- Overlap Between KNOX Regulated Genes and Stress Response Genes.

Vanishing Bananas Blog

- a blog about plants, food and fun in the lab.

Lab PI

Kathy Barton

Senior Staff Scientist

Plant Biology

Carnegie Institution for Science

kbarton@carnegiescience.edu
650-739-4224
Office:
260 Panama Street
Stanford, CA 94305, US

Profile

Affiliation

Carnegie Affiliation:

DPB Collaborators

Labs:

Barton Lab

Teaching

2019

Teaching of Biology

BIO 290

Spring 2019

Graduate Research

Stanford University

Summer 2019: BIO 300

Directed Reading in Biology

Stanford University

Summer 2019: BIO 198

Advanced Research Laboratory in Experimental Biology

Stanford University

Spring 2019: BIO 199

2018

Insulin and carbohydrate metabolism in health and disease a history of advances 1850 to current

Stanford University

Spring 2018: BIO 167

2017

Insulin and carbohydrate metabolism in health and disease a history of advances 1850 to current

Stanford University

Spring 2017: BIO 167

2013

Hunger

Stanford University

Autumn 2013: BIO 34N

The biology of hunger and satiety, disease states that disrupt normal responses to hunger and satiety, starvation responses and adaptations to starvation in a variety of organisms, food production and distribution mechanisms, historic famines and their causes, the challenges of providing adequate food and energy for the Earth's growing population, local and global efforts to alleviate hunger, and hunger in fiction.

RISE Summer Internship Program

Stanford University

Summer: RISE

The RISE (Raising Interest in Science and Engineering) Summer Internship Program for High School Students is sponsored by the Stanford Office of Science Outreach. It’s an intensive 7-week summer program for students interested in science, engineering, math, computer science and psychology. Students work six hours a day, five days a week on the Stanford campus, working in an active research lab under the guidance of a mentor from the lab (typically a graduate student), and attending weekly group sessions that include field trips, presentations, hands-on science activities, and lab tours.

Calendar

Lab Members

Samuel Hokin (Senior Computational Scientist)
Sam received his Ph.D. in plasma physics from MIT, did his post-doc at the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow, and spent the first 10 years of his career on the faculty of the UW-Madison and then KTH in Stockholm. His middle career was in web development, at a small business that he still co-owns in Madison. His third career started when Kathy Barton hired him to analyze a bunch of RNA-seq data in January, 2013.

At Carnegie, Sam does various bioinformatics tasks for anyone that needs help. He started out helping the Barton Lab with RNA-seq analysis and software development, then worked with the Evans Lab and the Maize Gametophyte Project on all sorts of things maize. He is 50% at Carnegie DPB and 50% at NCGR in Santa Fe, where he lives. At NCGR, he works on data warehouse software and is delving into the genomic signatures of human diseases.

Publications

Liu, T., Longhurst, A., Hokin, S. and M.K. Barton, 2016, The Arabidopsis transcription factor ABIG1 relays ABA signaled growth inhibition and drought induced senescence. eLife 5:e13768.
Magnani, E., Longhurst, A., Cabalona, L., Sharma, N., Reinhart, B.J., Liu, T., Talavera-Rauh, F., Huang, T., Hokin, S.A., Kerstetter, R.A. and Barton, M.K. The Abscisic Acid Signaling Pathway and the Ad/Abaxial Developmental Pathway Interact to Regulate Germination and Vegetative Growth in Arabidopsis. (under review).
Huang, T., Harrar, Y., Lin, C., Reinhart, B., Newell, N.R., Talavera-Rauh, F., Hokin, S.A., Barton, M.K. and Kerstetter, R.A., 2014, Arabidopsis KANADI1 acts as a transcriptional repressor by interacting with a specific cis-element and regulates auxin biosynthesis, transport and signaling in opposition to HD-ZIPIII factors. Plant Cell 26:1-17.
Reinhart, B.J., Liu, T., Newell, N.R., Magnani, E., Huang, T., Kerstetter, R., Michaels, S. and Barton, M.K., 2013, Establishing a Framework for the Ad/Abaxial Regulatory Network of Arabidopsis – ascertaining targets of HD-ZIPIII and KANADI regulation. Plant Cell 25:3228-3249.
Barton, M.K., 2012, Plan B for stimulating stem cell division. Plos Genetics 8:e1003117.
Gendron, J. M., Liu, J.-S., Fan, M., Bai, M.-Y., Wenkel, S., Springer, P.S., Barton, M.K. and Wang, Z.-Y. 2012 Brassinosteroids regulate organ boundary formation in the shoot apical meristem of Arabidopsis. PNAS 10.1073/pnas.1210799110
Liu, T., Magnani, E., Huang, T., Reinhart, B.J., Kerstetter, R. and M.K. Barton, 2012, Of Blades and Branches: Understanding and Expanding the Arabidopsis ad/abaxial Regulatory Network Through Target Identification. Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology Volume 77:31-46.
Ronny Brandt, Mercè Salla-Martret, Jordi Bou-Torrent,Thomas Musielak, Mark Stahl, Christa Lanz, Felix Ott, Markus Schmid, Thomas Greb, Martina Schwarz, Sang-Bong Choi, M. Kathryn Barton, Brenda J. Reinhart, Tie Liu, Marcel Quint, Jean-Christophe Palauqui, Jaime F Martínez-García and Stephan Wenkel, 2012, Genome-wide binding-site analysis of REVOLUTA reveals a link between leaf patterning and light-mediated growth responses. The Plant Journal 72:31-42.
Magnani, E. and M. K. Barton, 2011, A Per-ARNT-Sim-Like Sensor Domain Uniquely Regulates the Activity of the Homeodomain Leucine-Zipper Transcription Factor REVOLUTA in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell: 23: 567-582.
Barton, M.K., 2010, Twenty years on: The inner workings of the shoot apical meristem, a developmental dynamo. Developmental Biology 341:95-113.
Jurkuta, R.J., Kaplinsky, N.J., Spindel, J.E. and M.K. Barton, 2009, Partitioning the apical domain of the Arabidopsis embryo requires the BOBBER1 NudC domain protein. Plant Cell 21:1957-1971.
Wenkel, S., Emery, J., Evans, M., Hou, B.H. and M. K. Barton, 2007, A feedback regulatory module formed by LITTLE ZIPPER and HD-ZIPIII genes. Plant Cell 19:3379-3390.
Barton, M.K. 2007, The Ins and Outs of Arabidopsis Embryogenesis. Developmental Cell 12: 849-850.
Barton, M.K. 2007, Making holes in leaves: promoting cell state transitions in stomatal development. Plant Cell 19:1140-1143.
Jenik, P.D., Jurkuta, R.E.J. and Barton, M.K. 2005, Interactions between the cell cycle and embryonic patterning in Arabidopsis uncovered by a mutation in DNA polymerase. Plant Cell 17:3362-3377.
Jenik, P.D. and Barton, M.K. 2005, Surge and destroy: the role of auxin in plant embryogenesis. Development 132:3577-3585.
Kaplinsky, N.J. and Barton, M.K. 2004, Plant Acupuncture: sticking PINs in the right places. Science 306:82-823.
Mallory, A.C., Reinhart, B.J., Jones-Rhoades, M.W., Tang, G., Zamore, P.D., Barton, M.K. and Bartel, D.P. 2004, MicroRNA control of PHABULOSA in leaf development:importance of pairing to the microRNA 5’ region. EMBO J. 23:2256-3364.
Bao, N., Lye, K.-W., and Barton, M.K., 2004, MicroRNA binding sites in Arabidopsis class III HD-ZIP mRNAs are required for methylation of the template chromosome. Developmental Cell 7:653-662.
McConnell, J.R. and M.K. Barton, 2003, Leaf development takes shape. Science, 299:1328-1329.
Newman, K.L., Fernandez , A.G. and M. K Barton. 2002 Regulation of axis determinacy by the Arabidopsis PINHEAD gene. Plant Cell 14:3029-3042.
Barton, M.K., 2001, Giving meaning to movement, Cell 107:129-132.
Long, J., Woody, S., Poethig, S. and Barton, M.K., 2002, Transformation of shoots into roots in Arabidopsis embryos mutant at the TOPLESS locus., Development 129:2797-2806.
McConnell, J. J. Eshed, Y., Emory, J., Bowman, J.and M.K. Barton, 2001, Role of PHABULOSA and PHAVOLUTA in radial patterning in shoots, Nature 411:709-713..
Barton, M.K., 2001, Leaving the Meristem Behind – Regulation of KNOX Genes. Genome Biology 2:1002.1-1002.3.
Barton, K. and Scheres, B., 2000, Plants from genes: toward the information network. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 3:13-16.
Long, J, and M.K. Barton, 2000, Initiation of axillary and floral meristems in Arabidopsis. Developmental Biology, 218: 341-353.
Lynn, K., Aida, M., Sedbrook, J., Masson, P., Tasaka, M. and M.K. Barton, 1999, The PINHEAD/ZWILLE gene acts pleiotropically in Arabidopsis development and has overlapping functions with the ARGONAUTE 1 gene. Development 126:469-481.
Long, J. and M.K.Barton, 1998, The development of apical embryonic pattern in Arabidopsis. Development, 125:3027-3035.
McConnell, J. and M.K.Barton,1998, Leaf polarity and meristem formation in Arabidopsis thaliana. Development 125:2935-2942.
Barton, M.K., 1998, Cell type specification and self renewal in the vegetative shoot apical meristem. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 1:37-42.
Evans, M.M.S. and M.K.Barton, 1997, Genetics of Angiosperm Shoot Apical Meristem Development. Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology 48:673-701.
Fisher, R.H., Barton, M.K., Cohen, J. and T.J.Cooke, 1996, Hormonal studies of fass, an Arabidopsis mutant that is altered in organ elongation. Plant Physiol.110:1109-1121.
Long, J, E. Moan, J. Medford and M. K. Barton, 1996, The Arabidopsis SHOOTMERISTEMLESS gene encodes a member of the KNOTTED class of homeodomain proteins. Nature 379:66-69.
McConnell, J.R. and M. K. Barton, 1995, Effect of mutations in the PINHEAD gene of Arabidopsis on the formation of the shoot apical meristem. Dev. Genetics 16:358-366.
Francis,R., M.K.Barton, J. Kimble and T. Schedl, 1995, gld-1, a tumor suppressor gene required for oocyte development in C. elegans. Genetics 139:579-606.
Barton, M. K. and S. Poethig, 1993, Formation of the shoot apical meristem in Arabidopsis thaliana: an analysis of development in the wild type and in the shoot meristemless mutant. Development 119:823-831.
Barton, M.K.,1992, Genetic analysis of meristem structure and function in Arabidopsis thaliana. in Cellular Communication in Plants, Steenbock Symposium, Plenum Publishing Corp, New York.
Barton, M. K. and J. Kimble, 1990, fog-1, a regulatory gene required for specification of spermatogenesis in the germ line of Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics 125: 29-39.
Rosenquist, T., Ahringer, J., Barton, M.K., Graham, P., Okkema, P. and J. Kimble, 1990, Genetic control of sex determination in the hermaphrodite germ line of Caenorhabditis elegans. In A.P.Mahowald (ed): "Symposium of the Society for Developmental Biology", Vol.44, pp.91-102. New York: Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Schedl, T., P.L.Graham, M.K.Barton and J. Kimble,1989, Analysis of the role of tra-1 in germline sex determination in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics 123: 755-769.
Barton, M.K., Schedl, T.B. and J. Kimble,1987, Gain-of-function mutations of fem-3, a sex-determination gene in Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics 115:107-119.