Assistant Professor;
Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2000

POSITIONS AVAILABLE for postdoctoral investigators, graduate students, and undergraduate students.

Research and Professional Interests:

My long term goal is to understand how identical genomic sequences can be interpreted to cause distinct expression patterns and phenotypes. I am particularly interested in the regulation of epigenetic modifications that heritably alter the expression of endogenous and transgenic loci, and in the presence and function of alternative transcripts in plants. These phenomena have been shown to be key elements in the growth, development, and gene regulation of a broad range of organisms; I study them predominantly in maize.

McGinnis, K. Use of transgene induced RNAi to regulate endogenous gene expression. Methods in Molecular Biology 526, Transgenic Maize: Methods and Protocols. Edited by M. Paul Scott. Humana Press, 2009.

W. Brad Barbazuk, Yan Fu, and Karen M. McGinnis. Genome-wide analyses of alternative splicing in plants: Opportunities and challenges. Genome Res. 2008 Sep;18(9):1381-92.

K. McGinnis, N. Murphy, A.R. Carlson, A. Akula, C. Akula, H. Basinger, M. Carlson, P. Hermanson, N. Kovacevic, M.A. McGill, V. Seshadri, J. Yoyokie, K. Cone, H.F. Kaeppler, S.M. Kaeppler, and N.M. Springer. Assessing the Efficiency of RNA Interference for Maize Functional Genomics. Plant Physiol. 143: 1441-1451, 2007.

K.M. McGinnis, C. Springer, Y. Lin, C.C. Carey and V.L. Chandler. Transcriptionally Silenced Transgenes in Maize are Activated by Three Mutations Defective in Paramutation. Genetics 173: 1637-1647, 2006.

Alleman, M.A., L. Sidorenko, K. McGinnis, J. White, V. Seshadri, J. Dorweiler, K. Sikkink, and V. Chandler. An RNA-dependent RNA polymerase is required for paramutation in maize. Nature 442: 295-298, 2006.

K. McGinnis, V. Chandler, K. Cone, H. Kaeppler, S. Kaeppler, A. Kerschen, C. Pikaard, E. Richards, L. Sidorenko, T. Smith, N. Springer and T. Wulan. Transgene-Induced RNA Interference as a Tool for Plant Functional Genomics. 2004. Methods In Enzymology 392: 1-24. L.C.

Strader, S. Ritchie, J.D. Soule, K.M. McGinnis and C.M. Steber. Recessive-interfering mutations in the gibberellin signaling gene SLEEPY1 are rescued by overexpression of its homologue, SNEEZY. PNAS, Vol. 101 (34) 12771-12776, 2004.

K.M. McGinnis, S.G. Thomas, J.D. Soule, L.C. Strader, J.M. Zale, T-p Sun and C.M. Steber. The Arabidopsis SLEEPY1 Gene Encodes a Putative F-Box Subunit of an SCF E3 Ubiquitin Ligase. The Plant Cell, Vol. 15, 1120-1130, May 2003.

Madzima, Thelma

Graduate Students:

Boerner, Susan

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