- Axtell MJ. (2013). ShortStack: Comprehensive annotation and quantification of small RNA genes. RNA doi:10.1261/rna.035279.112
- Axtell MJ. (2013). Classification and comparison of small RNAs from plants. Annual Review of Plant Biology. 64: doi:10.1146/annurev-arplant-050312-120043
- Cho SH, Coruh C, and Axtell MJ. (2012). miR156 and miR390 regulate tasiRNA accumulation and developmental timing in Physcomitrella patens. The Plant Cell. 24: 4837-4849.
- Arif MA, Fattash I, Ma Z, Cho SH, Beike AK, Reski R, Axtell MJ, and Frank W. (2012). DICER-LIKE3 activity in Physcomitrella patens DICER-LIKE4 mutants causes severe developmental dysfunction and sterility. Molecular Plant. 5: 1281-1294.
- Liu C, Axtell MJ, and Fedoroff NV. (2012). The helicase and RNaseIIIa domains of Arabidopsis DCL1 modulate catalytic parameters during microRNA biogenesis. Plant Physiology. 159: 748-758.
- Ma Z, Coruh C, and Axtell MJ. (2010). Arabidopsis lyrata Small RNAs: Transient MIRNA and Small Interfering RNA Loci within the Arabidopsis Genus. The Plant Cell 22: 1090-1103.
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Addo-Quaye C, Miller W, Axtell MJ. (2009). CleaveLand: a pipeline for using degradome data to find cleaved small RNA targets. Bioinformatics 25: 130-131.
Michael Axtell
Associate Professor of Biology
260 N. FrearUniversity Park, PA 16801
Phone:
(814)
867-0241
Lab Address:
259 N. Frear
Email:
mja18@psu.edu
Education:
- B.A., Biology, Ithaca College
- Ph.D., Plant Biology, University of California, Berkeley
Postdoc Training:
- Whitehead Institute / Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003-2006
Honors and Awards:
- Beckman Young Investigator, 2008-2011
- Searle Scholar, 2008-2011
Research Interests:
We are biologists who use diverse plant species to study a class of genes that produce small RNAs. Small RNAs went largely undetected until around the turn of the century. We now know that they are critical components of gene expression in nearly all eukaryotic organisms. These small RNAs are functionally united in that they all function as sequence-specific repressors of other genes. Small RNAs are especially important for regulating the developmental programs of both animals and plants. Our research addresses fundamental unknowns of small RNA functions in plants including:
- Annotation of small RNA genes using small RNA-seq data
- How and to what ends have small RNA pathways diversified during land plant evolution?
- What are the sequence requirements for effective small RNA-target interactions in plants?
We use genetics, molecular biology, and genomics to answer these questions.