Daphne Goring

Campus

St. George (downtown)

CSB Appointment

Full

Research Areas

Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, Genetics / Genomics, Molecular Biology, Plant Biology

Education

Ph.D. University of Toronto 1990
M.Sc, McGill University 1985
B.Sc. Trent University 1983

Titles and Honors

Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Primary Undergraduate Department

Cell & Systems Biology

Graduate Programs

Cell & Systems Biology

Research Description

The main area that my research group investigates is the signalling systems regulating compatible and self-incompatible pollen responses in the pistil. These are critical recognition systems for selecting which pollen grains will be accepted or rejected, and thus, selecting optimal pollen grains for fertilization. This research is focused on the complex intracellular signalling takes place in the stigma to identify and accept compatible pollen while rejecting self-incompatible pollen and ignoring foreign pollen.

For the early basal compatible pollen response pathway, we have identified a novel group of receptor kinases that function in the stigma and style to support compatible pollen hydration and pollen tube growth. In addition to more fully characterizing these receptor kinases, we are also searching for downstream signalling proteins in this pathway.  We have also identified an exocyst-linked secretory system that is required in the stigma to promote pollen hydration and pollen tube growth and are further characterizing the components of this system.

We also study the self-incompatibility system, a self-pollen rejection system designed to prevent self-fertilization and inbreeding. In this system, an S-haplotype specific interaction between a pollen ligand and a stigma-specific receptor kinase activates a signalling pathway in the stigma for pollen rejection. My research group identified the ARC1 E3 ubiquitin ligase as a downstream component in this pathway, and ARC1 has been proposed to target compatibility factors for ubiquitination and degradation. Several compatibility factors have now been discovered, including a component of the secretory pathway required for the basal compatible pollen response pathway. Additionally, we have discovered that autophagy is rapid activated in the stigmatic papillae with self-incompatible pollinations and currently exploring this in more detail.