Fitzpatrick lab

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Technologies:

Yeast two-hybrid system
Membrane-based yeast two-hybrid system
Other genomic and proteomic approaches, e.g. DNA and protein microarrays; cloning systems, e.g. Gateway technology

Biological focus on:

Membrane transport in plants
Cytokinin function, signalling and metabolism
GPCR function in animals and plants
Vitamin B6 function and metabolism in plants and in Plasmodium

EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

December 1993 - December 1994

Diploma thesis at the Free University of Berlin and at the Institute for Gene-biological Research Berlin GmbH (IGF) working on sucrose transporters in plants

May 1995 - July 1996

Scholarschip of the Max-Planck-Society at the Max-Planck-Institute of Biology, Tübingen

January 1997 - April 2001

Ph.D. thesis at the Centre of Plant Molecular Biology (ZMBP) University of Tübingen Title: Characterisation of cytokinin and purine transporter genes from Arabidopsis thaliana

July 2001 - January 2004

Post-doctoral fellow in the Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics Berlin, Dept. of Prof. Lehrach. Development of an "automated yeast two hybrid system" in Arabidopsis thaliana and participant of the EU project "Compendium of Arabidopsis Gene Expression by DNA microarray analysis"

April 2004 - August 2005

Post-doctoral fellow at the University of Zürich, Switzerland, at the Institute of Veterinary Biochemistry and Molecular Biology-working on the construction of a "G-protein coupled receptors" - interactome using the membrane-based yeast two-hybrid system (MbYTH)

since September 2005

Post-doctoral fellow at ETH Zürich, Institute of Plant Sciences, Plant Biochemistry and Physiology- working on vitamin B6 biosynthesis in plants and in the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

PUBLICATIONS

Bürkle L., Miller J.P., Auerbach D. and Stagljar I. (2005) The split-ubiquitin membrane-based yeast two hybrid system. In Protein-Protein Interactions: A Molecular Cloning Manual 2nd edition. Ed. Erica A. Golemis / Peter D. Adams. Cold Spring Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA. 469-498.

Brenner W.G., Romanov G., Köllmer I., Bürkle L. and Schmülling T. (2005) Immediate-early and delayed cytokinin response genes of Arabidopsis thaliana identified by genome-wide expression profiling reveal novel cytokinin-sensitive processes and suggest cytokinin action through transcriptional cascades. Plant J. 44, 314-333.

Bürkle L., Meyer S., Dortay H., Lehrach H. and Heyl A. (2005) In vitro recombination cloning of entire cDNA libraries in Arabidopsis thaliana and its application to the yeast two hybrid system. Funct. Integr. Genomics 5, 175-183.

Iyer K., Bürkle L., Auerbach D., Thaminy S., Dinkel M., Engels K. and Stagljar I. (2005) Utilizing the split ubiquitin membrane yeast two-hybrid system to identify protein-protein interactions of integral membrane proteins. Sci. STKE 275, pI3.

Kramer A., Feilner T., Possling A., Radchuk V., Weschke W., Bürkle L. and Kersten B. (2004) Identification of barley CK2α targets by using the protein microarray technology. Phytochemistry 65, 1777-1784.

Kersten B., Feilner T., Brenner W., Giavalisco P., Angenendt P., Lehrach H. and Bürkle L. (2004) Proteomic approaches in plant biology. Curr. Proteomics 1, 131-144.

Bürkle L., Cedzich A., Döpke C., Stransky H., Okumoto S., Gillissen B., Kühn C. and Frommer W.B. (2003) Transport of cytokinins mediated by purine transporters of the PUP family expressed in phloem, hydathodes and pollen of Arabidopsis. Plant J. 34, 13-2

Kersten B., Bürkle L., Kuhn E.J., Giavalisco P., Konthur Z., Lueking A., Walter G., Eickhoff H. and Schneider U. (2002) Large-scale plant proteomics. Plant Mol. Biol. 48, 133-141.

Kuhn E.J. and Bürkle L. (2001) Ein automatisiertes Yeast Two-Hybrid System für Arabidopsis thaliana. In: Functional Genomics - Methodensprung für die Ertrags- und Stressphysiologie. Vortr. Pflanzenzüchtg. 52, 43-49.

Gillissen B., Bürkle L., André B., Kühn C., Rentsch D., Brandl. B. and Frommer W.B. (2000) A new family of transporters for adenine, cytosine and purine derivatives in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 12, 291-300.

Kühn C., Barker L., Bürkle L. and Frommer W.B. (1999) An update on sucrose transport in plants. J. Exp. Bot. 50, 935-953.

Lemoine R., Bürkle L., Barker L., Sakr S., Kühn C., Regnacq M., Gaillard C., Delrot S. and Frommer W.B. (1999) Identification of a pollen-specific sucrose transporter-like protein NtSUT3 from tobacco. FEBS Lett. 454, 325-330.

Bürkle L., Hibbert J.M., Quick W.P., Kühn C., Hirner B. and Frommer W.B. (1998) The H+-sucrose transporter NtSUT1 is essential for sugar export from tobacco leaves. Plant Physiol. 118, 59-68.