Chris Wolverton

Albert M. Austin Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences

Education

B.S., Miami University
Ph.D., The Ohio State University

郭肱利

Chris Wolverton's research interests include how plants integrate signals such as light, touch, and gravity to influence growth and development. His lab uses a combination of mutants, transgenic approaches, and reporter gene studies along with a custom hardware and software system that combines real-time image analysis with motor control to study the dynamics of sensory output and growth regulation. He is currently funded by NASA for a spaceflight experiment investigating the threshold for gravity perception and to characterize the cellular systems that transduce the gravity signal into cellular information.

Courses

Plant Physiology
Introduction to Cell Biology
Genetics
Advanced Molecular Techniques

Areas of Interest / Expertise

Primary root gravitropism (directional growth response related to gravity)
Lateral root gravitropic signaling and root system architecture
Root phototropism
Plant development
Plant molecular genetics
Confocal microscopy

Publications

Roychoudhry, Suruchi, Katelyn Sageman-Furnas, Chris Wolverton, Peter Grones, Shutang Tan, Gergely Molnár, Martina De Angelis, et al. "Antigravitropic PIN Polarization Maintains Non-Vertical Growth in Lateral Roots." Nature Plants, September 4, 2023, 1–14. .
Barker, Richard, Colin P. S. Kruse, Christina Johnson, Amanda Saravia-Butler, Homer Fogle, Hyun-Seok Chang, Ralph Møller Trane, et al. "Meta-Analysis of the Space Flight and Microgravity Response of the Arabidopsis Plant Transcriptome." npj Microgravity 9, no. 1 (March 20, 2023): 21. .
Meyers, Alexander, Nathan Scinto-Madonich, Sarah E. Wyatt, and Chris Wolverton. "Arabidopsis Growth and Dissection on Polyethersulfone (PES) Membranes for Gravitropic Studies." In Plant Gravitropism: Methods and Protocols, edited by Elison B. Blancaflor, 2368:233–39. Methods in Molecular Biology. New York, NY: Springer US, 2022. .
Overbey, Eliah G., Amanda M. Saravia-Butler, Zhe Zhang, Komal S. Rathi, Homer Fogle, Willian A. da Silveira, Richard J. Barker, et al. (2021) NASA GeneLab RNA-Seq Consensus Pipeline: Standardized Processing of Short-Read RNA-Seq Data. iScience 24, no. 4 (April 23, 2021). .
Kiss, J. Z., Wolverton, S. C., Wyatt, S. E., Hasenstein, K. H., & van Loon, J. J. W. A. (2019). Comparison of Microgravity Analogs to Spaceflight in Studies of Plant Growth and Development. Frontiers in Plant Science, 10.
Roberts, B. R., & Wolverton, C. (2018) Transpiration and Drought Stress Recovery of Three Zinnia Cultivars. Journal of Environmental Horticulture, 36(3), 108-113.
Roberts, B. R., Wolverton, C., & Janowicz, L. (2017). The impact of substrate and irrigation interval on the post-transplant root growth of container-grown zinnia and tomato. Journal of Environmental Horticulture, 35(1), 1–5.
Roberts, B. R., Wolverton, C., & West, S. (2015). Evaluation of a Substrate-applied Humectant to Mitigate Drought Stress in Young, Container-grown Plants. J Environ. Hort., 33(3), 137–141.
Wolverton, C. (2015). Quantification of Root Gravitropic Response Using a Constant Stimulus Feedback System. In E. B. Blancaflor (Ed.), Plant Gravitropism (Vol. 1309, pp. 23–30). New York: Springer.
Bai, H., Murali, B., Barber, K., & Wolverton, C. (2013). Low phosphate alters lateral root setpoint angle and gravitropism. American Journal of Botany, 100(1), 175–182.
Bai, H., & Wolverton, C. (2011). Gravitropism in lateral roots of Arabidopsis pgm-1 mutants is indistinguishable from that of wild-type. Plant Signaling & Behavior, 6(10), 1423–1424.
Wolverton, C., Paya, A. M., & Toska, J. (2011). Root cap angle and gravitropic response rate are uncoupled in the Arabidopsis pgm-1 mutant. Physiologia Plantarum, 141(4), 373–382.
Wolverton, C., & Kiss, J. Z. (2009). An Update on Plant Space Biology. Gravitational and Space Biology Bulletin, 22(2).

Winner of the 2023 Bishop Herbert Welch Award for Scholarly or Artistic Achievement