Position: Professor of Plant Biology and Biotechnology and Deputy Head of the Division of Plant Sciences
Division: Plant Sciences
Address: University of Dundee at JHI,
Errol Road,
Invergowrie,
Dundee
Telephone: +44 1382 568775, int ext.
Fax: +44 1382 384275
Email: c.halpin@dundee.ac.uk
My research focuses on two main areas, lignin biosynthesis and meiotic recombination, although I also maintain an active interest in enabling techniques for plant biotechnology.
Lignin is an essential component of many plant cell walls, where it waterproofs and rigidifies the structure, protecting it from degradation. This complicates the release of cell wall sugars or cellulose during ruminant digestion and in biofuel and paper production, although lignin itself is a useful starting material for the production of valuable chemicals. The lignin biosynthesis pathway has been well-studied but important basic features are still poorly understood. The spatial organisation of the pathway, how it is regulated, and how it coordinates with other aspects of cell wall development and wider plant metabolism, are areas of intensive current research. A major applied focus is to understand how lignin can be manipulated in plant biomass to enable the production of second generation biofuels.
The Halpin group are using association genetics in barley (in collaboration with Robbie Waugh, SCRI) along with mutants and transgenics where lignin has been manipulated, to discover new genes related to lignin biosynthesis and to determine how lignin properties affect different bioenergy applications. We are one of 6 research hubs in the BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre (BSBEC). Within BSBEC, we lead the ‘Cell Wall Lignin Programme’ which aims to identify barley genotypes that facilitate efficient biofuel production from straw, and provide molecular markers for breeding improved energy crops.
Claire also coordinates the Lignin workpackage of RENEWALL, an FP7 project involving 19 academic and industrial partner labs within Europe and the US. This project aims to improve plant cell walls for use as a renewable industrial feedstock (http://www.renewall.eu/). As well as our work in barley, we also work on model plants such as tobacco and Arabidopsis, and have a programme grant from the Global Climate and Energy Project (http://gcep.stanford.edu/), in collaboration with Dr. Gordon Simpson, to identify novel mutants useful for biofuel applications.
Recombination during meiosis is one of the principal events that create the genetic diversity driving evolution and is a fundamental process underlying crop breeding programmes. However, in some important crop species such as barley, large areas of chromosomes rarely, if ever, recombine. Greater understanding of how recombination is controlled in barley might allow us to manipulate the process to improve the available genetic diversity and the speed and accuracy of plant breeding. We are building on knowledge of recombination generated in Arabidopsis to evaluate the role of orthologous barley genes in recombination using both transgenic and mutant plants.
Gomez. L.D., Whitehead, C., Barakate, A., Halpin, C., and McQueen-Mason, S.J., (2010) Automated Saccharification Assay for Determination of Digestibility in PlantMaterials. Biotechnol. Biofuels 3, 23.
Dauwe, R., Morreel, K., Goeminne, G., Gielen, B., Rohde, A., Van Beeumen, J., Ralph, J., Boudet, A., Kopka, J., Rochange, S., Halpin, C., Messens, E., and Boerjan, W. (2007) Molecular phenotyping of lignin-deficient tobacco reveals associated changes in cell wall metabolism, primary metabolism and photorespiration. Plant J. 52, 263-85.
Halpin, C., Webster, E.A., Boerjan, W., Pilate, G. and Hopkins, D.W. (2007) Genetically modified lignin below ground. Nature Biotechnol. 25, 168-169.
Halpin, C., Thain, S.C., Tilston E.L., Guiney E., Lapierre C., Hopkins, D.W. (2007) Ecological impacts of trees with modified lignin. Tree Genet. Genomes 3, 101-110.
de FelipeP., Luke G.A., Hughes L.E, Gani, D., HalpinC. & Ryan M.D. (2006) E UNUM PLURIBUS: co-expression of multiple proteins from a single self-processing polyprotein. Trends Biotechnol. 24, 68-75.
Halpin, C. (2005) Gene stacking in transgenic plants – the challenge for 21st century plant biotechnology. Plant Biotechnol. J. 3, 141-155. (abstract)
El Amrani A, Barakate A, Askari BM, Li X, Roberts AG, Ryan MD and Halpin C. (2004) Co-ordinate expression and independent subcellular targeting of multiple proteins from a single transgene. Plant Physiol. 135, 16-24 (abstract)
