A necessary complement to work in the area of molecular biology is consideration of the intracellular localization and intercellular distribution of gene products, at both protein and mRNA levels. This request is for instrumentation that will complement the shared facilities for monoclonal antibody production and electron microscopy that already exist in our department. This instrumentation will give molecular biologists access to the tools needed for immunocytochemical localization of proteins, in situ hybridization of mRNAs, and identification of fluorescent expression markers in transformed cells. Investigators will thus be able to localize and quantify gene expression, both spatially and developmentally. Specific projects involve characterization of Lea gene expression and the functions(s) of their gene products, biochemical differentiation during floral development, stress - and auxin - induced gene expression, phytochrome gene expression, the biogenesis of multisubunit complexes in the chloroplast, and gene products from the R and Wx loci of maize.
