Richard Sharpe

Washington State University | WSU · Department of Horticulture

Until about 10 years ago the general accepted textbook knowledge was that terrestrial C4 photosynthesis requires separation of photosynthetic functions into two specialized cell types, the mesophyll and bundle sheath cells forming the distinctive Kranz anatomy typical for C4 plants. This paradigm has been broken with the discovery of Suaeda araloca...

High-throughput sequencing continues to produce an immense volume of information that is processed and assembled into mature sequence data. Data analysis tools are urgently needed that leverage the embedded DNA sequence polymorphisms and consequent changes to restriction sites or sequence motifs in a high-throughput manner to enable biological expe...

Realizing the yield potential of crop plants in the presence of shifting pathogen populations, soil quality, rainfall, and other agro-environmental variables remains a challenge for growers and breeders worldwide. In this review, we discuss current approaches for combatting the soilborne phytopathogenic nematodes, Pratylenchus and Heterodera of whe...

Enhanced levels of antioxidants, phenolic compounds, carotenoids and vitamin C have been reported for several crops grown under organic fertilizer, albeit with yield penalties. As organic agricultural practices continue to grow and find favor it is critical to gain an understanding of the molecular underpinnings of the factors that limit the yields...

The C4 grass Zea mays separates light and light-independent photosynthetic processes into two leaf cell types: bundle sheath (BS) and mesophyll (M). When mature, BS and M cells have anatomically and biochemically distinct chloroplasts that must cooperate to complete the process of photosynthesis. This report compares changes in transcript abundance...

Prunus avium cv. ‘Stella’ total cellular DNA was isolated from emerging leaf tissue and sequenced using Pacific Biosciences RSII, Roche 454 GS FLX Titanium, and Illumina HiSeq 2000 High Throughput Sequencing (HTS) technologies. Sequence data were filtered and trimmed to retain nucleotides corresponding to Phred score 30, and assembled with CLC Geno...

Pisum sativum (pea) yields in the United States have declined significantly over the last decades, predominantly due to susceptibility to root rot diseases. One of the main causal agents of root rot is the fungus Fusarium solani f. sp. pisi (Fsp), leading to yield losses ranging from 15 to 60%. Determining and subsequently incorporating the genetic...

Pisum sativum (pea) yields have declined significantly over the last decades, predominantly due to susceptibility to root rot diseases. One of the main causal agents of root rot is the fungus Fusarium solani f. sp. pisi ( Fsp ), leading to yield losses ranging from 15 to 60%. Determining and subsequently incorporating the genetic basis for resistan...

Background: Chloroplast genome information is critical to understanding forms of photosynthesis in the plant kingdom. During the evolutionary process, plants have developed different photosynthetic strategies that are accompanied by complementary biochemical and anatomical features. Members of family Chenopodiaceae have species with C3 photosynthe...

Pisum sativum (pea) is rapidly emerging as an inexpensive and significant contributor to the plant-derived protein market. Due to its nitrogen-fixation capability, short life cycle, and low water usage, pea is a useful cover-and-break crop that requires minimal external inputs. It is critical for sustainable agriculture and indispensable for future...

Pisum sativum (pea) is rapidly emerging as an inexpensive and major contributor to the plant-derived protein market. Due to its nitrogen-fixation capability, short life cycle, and low water usage, pea is a useful cover-and-break crop that requires minimal external inputs. It is critical for sustainable agriculture and indispensable for future food...

Background Chloroplast genome information is critical to understanding taxonomic relationships in the plant kingdom. During the evolutionary process, plants have developed different photosynthetic strategies that are accompanied by complementary biochemical and anatomical features. Members of family Chenopodiaceae have species with C3 photosynthesi...

Background Chloroplast genome information is critical to understanding forms of photosynthesis in the plant kingdom. During the evolutionary process, plants have developed different photosynthetic strategies that are accompanied by complementary biochemical and anatomical features. Members of family Chenopodiaceae have species with C 3 photosynthes...

Enhanced levels of antioxidants, phenolic compounds, carotenoids and vitamin C have been reported for several crops grown under organic fertilizer, albeit with yield penalties. As organic agricultural practices continue to grow and find favor it is critical to gain an understanding of the molecular underpinnings of the factors that limit the yields...

SNParray STRUCTURE input file.

WGS STRUCTURE input file.

Validation of NTSys output for SNParray using pairwise SNP counts.

Preparation of WGS Stacks output for STRUCTURE and NTSys.

Verification of SNParray derived polymorphisms.

Original SNParray data.

WGS NTSys input file.

Identification of genetic polymorphisms and subsequent development of molecular markers is important for marker assisted breeding of superior cultivars of economically important species. Sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) is an economically important non-climacteric tree fruit crop in the Rosaceae family and has undergone a genetic bottleneck due to br...

CisSERS program in .jar format available for download. (JAR)

Sequences used for CAPS marker development in this study. (PDF)

CisSERS User Manual. (PDF)

CisSERS Overview and Usage Document. (PDF)

CisSERS source code. (ZIP)

Kranz C4 species strictly depend on separation of primary and secondary carbon fixation reactions in different cell types. In contrast, the single-cell C4 (SCC4) species Bienertia sinuspersici utilizes intracellular compartmentation including two physiologically and biochemically different chloroplast types. However, information on identity, locali...

Photosynthetic performance of plants is crucially dependent on the mobility of the molecular complexes that catalyze conversion of sunlight to metabolic energy equivalents in the thylakoid membrane network inside chloroplasts. The role of the extensive folding of thylakoid membranes leading to structural differentiation into stacked grana regions a...

In this paper, we describe the complete chloroplast genome of Lolium arundinaceum. This sequence is the culmination of a long-term project completed by >400 undergraduates who took general genetics at Middle Tennessee State University from 2004-2007. It was undertaken in an attempt to introduce these students to an open-ended experiential/explorato...

Quantitative Real Time RT-PCR (q2(RT)PCR) is a maturing technique which gives researchers the ability to quantify and compare very small amounts of nucleic acids. Primer design and optimization is an essential yet time consuming aspect of using q2(RT)PCR. In this paper we describe the design and empirical optimization of primers to amplify and quan...

in silico comparison of maize primers to other plastome sequences. Primer sequences were compared to representative plastomes from the BEP and PACCAD clades, as well as Arabidopsis. Success was gauged by overall percent homology and the presence of mismatched bases at the 3' end of the primers. These data are summarized in Figure 3.

q2(RT)PCR primer pairs with their corresponding genes, category, and optimal elongation time, and annealing temperatures. All primers were initially designed to produce amplicons between 75 and 150 base pairs from specific maize RNAs. Primer pair "category" is based on the specificity of the reaction conditions required to produce a single amplicon...

In maize, the chloroplast chromosome encodes 104 genes whose roles are primarily in photosynthesis and gene expression. The 2,000-3,000 nuclear gene products that localize to plastids are required both to encode and regulate plastid gene expression as well as to underpin each aspect of plastid physiology and development. We used a new "three-genome...

Recent evidence suggests that organic soil management improves nutritional attributes of fruit, such as phytochemical concentrations and antioxidant capacity. In greenhouse studies of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) plants grown with organic or inorganic fertilizers and exposed to herbivory by green peach aphids (Myzus persicae Sulver) we found po...

Suaedoideae is the only known subfamily to contain single cell C4, Kranz C4 and C3 photosynthetic type species. This provides a unique opportunity to investigate gene expression of photosynthetic processes, dimorphic chloroplast development and chloroplast/nuclear interaction. Lack of sequence information for the single cell C4 species Bienertia si...