Scholars@Duke
Tai-ping Sun

Tai-ping Sun

Professor of Biology
Biology
tai.ping.sun@duke.edu
Box 90338, Durham, NC 27708-0338
3104 French Family Science Center, Durham, NC 27708

Selected Publications

Plasmonics nanorod biosensor for in situ intracellular detection of gene expression biomarkers in intact plant systems.

Journal Article Biosensors & bioelectronics · October 2024 The intracellular developmental processes in plants, particularly concerning lignin polymer formation and biomass production are regulated by microRNAs (miRNAs). MiRNAs including miR397b are important for developing efficient and cost-effective biofuels. H ... Full text Cite

Phosphorylation activates master growth regulator DELLA by promoting histone H2A binding at chromatin in Arabidopsis.

Journal Article Nature communications · September 2024 DELLA proteins are conserved master growth regulators that play a central role in controlling plant development in response to internal and environmental cues. DELLAs function as transcription regulators, which are recruited to target promoters by binding ... Full text Cite

Highlights in gibberellin research: A tale of the dwarf and the slender.

Journal Article Plant physiology · April 2024 It has been almost a century since biologically active gibberellin (GA) was isolated. Here, we give a historical overview of the early efforts in establishing the GA biosynthesis and catabolism pathway, characterizing the enzymes for GA metabolism, and elu ... Full text Cite

The master growth regulator DELLA binding to histone H2A is essential for DELLA-mediated global transcription regulation.

Journal Article Nature plants · August 2023 The DELLA genes, also known as 'Green Revolution' genes, encode conserved master growth regulators that control plant development in response to internal and environmental cues. Functioning as nuclear-localized transcription regulators, DELLAs modulate exp ... Full text Cite

Four class A AUXIN RESPONSE FACTORs promote tomato fruit growth despite suppressing fruit set.

Journal Article Nature plants · May 2023 In flowering plants, auxin produced in seeds after fertilization promotes fruit initiation. The application of auxin to unpollinated ovaries can also induce parthenocarpy (seedless fruit production). Previous studies have shown that auxin signalling compon ... Full text Cite

SPINDLY O-fucosylates nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins involved in diverse cellular processes in plants.

Journal Article Plant physiology · March 2023 SPINDLY (SPY) is a novel nucleocytoplasmic protein O-fucosyltransferase that regulates target protein activity or stability via O-fucosylation of specific Ser/Thr residues. Previous genetic studies indicate that AtSPY regulates plant development during veg ... Full text Cite

Structure and dynamics of the Arabidopsis O-fucosyltransferase SPINDLY.

Journal Article Nature communications · March 2023 SPINDLY (SPY) in Arabidopsis thaliana is a novel nucleocytoplasmic protein O-fucosyltransferase (POFUT), which regulates diverse developmental processes. Sequence analysis indicates that SPY is distinct from ER-localized POFUTs and contains N-terminal tetr ... Full text Open Access Cite

Plasmonic nanorod probes' journey inside plant cells for in vivo SERS sensing and multimodal imaging.

Journal Article Nanoscale · March 2023 Nanoparticle-based platforms are gaining strong interest in plant biology and bioenergy research to monitor and control biological processes in whole plants. However, in vivo monitoring of biomolecules using nanoparticles inside plant cells remains ... Full text Cite

In vivo SERS monitoring in plants using plasmonic nanoprobes

Conference Progress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging - Proceedings of SPIE · January 1, 2022 Plant biotechnology and biofuel research is critical in addressing increasing global demands for energy. Further understanding of biomass producing associated metabolic pathways in plants can be used to exploit and increase the production of biomass for en ... Full text Cite

Novel nucleocytoplasmic protein O-fucosylation by SPINDLY regulates diverse developmental processes in plants.

Journal Article Current opinion in structural biology · June 2021 Featured Publication In metazoans, protein O-fucosylation of Ser/Thr residues was only found in secreted or cell surface proteins, and this post-translational modification is catalyzed by ER-localized protein O-fucosyltransferases (POFUTs) in the GT65 family. Recently, a novel ... Full text Cite

Plasmonic Nanobiosensing: From in situ plant monitoring to cancer diagnostics at the point of care

Journal Article JPhys Photonics · July 7, 2020 Nucleic acid biosensing technologies have the capability to provide valuable information in applications ranging from medical diagnostics to environmental sensing. The unique properties of plasmonic metallic nanoparticles have been used for sensing purpose ... Full text Cite

Nuclear Localized O-Fucosyltransferase SPY Facilitates PRR5 Proteolysis to Fine-Tune the Pace of Arabidopsis Circadian Clock.

Journal Article Molecular plant · March 2020 Post-translational modifications play essential roles in finely modulating eukaryotic circadian clock systems. In plants, the effects of O-glycosylation on the circadian clock and the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. The O-fucosyltransferase S ... Full text Cite

NCP activates chloroplast transcription by controlling phytochrome-dependent dual nuclear and plastidial switches.

Journal Article Nat Commun · June 14, 2019 Phytochromes initiate chloroplast biogenesis by activating genes encoding the photosynthetic apparatus, including photosynthesis-associated plastid-encoded genes (PhAPGs). PhAPGs are transcribed by a bacterial-type RNA polymerase (PEP), but how phytochrome ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Inverse Molecular Sentinel-Integrated Fiberoptic Sensor for Direct and in Situ Detection of miRNA Targets.

Journal Article Analytical chemistry · May 2019 Molecular advances have been made in analysis systems for a wide variety of applications ranging from biodiagnostics, biosafety, bioengineering, and biofuel research applications. There are, however, limited practical tools necessary for in situ and accura ... Full text Cite

Plasmonic Nanoprobes for in Vivo Multimodal Sensing and Bioimaging of MicroRNA within Plants.

Journal Article ACS applied materials & interfaces · February 2019 Monitoring gene expression within whole plants is critical for many applications ranging from plant biology to agricultural biotechnology and biofuel development; however, no method currently exists for in vivo monitoring of genomic targets in plant system ... Full text Cite

Identification and functional study of a mild allele of SlDELLA gene conferring the potential for improved yield in tomato.

Journal Article Scientific reports · August 2018 Parthenocarpy, or pollination-independent fruit set, is an attractive trait for fruit production and can be induced by increased responses to the phytohormone gibberellin (GA), which regulates diverse aspects of plant development. GA signaling in plants is ... Full text Cite

The Interaction between DELLA and ARF/IAA Mediates Crosstalk between Gibberellin and Auxin Signaling to Control Fruit Initiation in Tomato.

Journal Article The Plant cell · August 2018 Fruit initiation following fertilization in angiosperms is strictly regulated by phytohormones. In tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), auxin and gibberellin (GA) play central roles in promoting fruit initiation. Without fertilization, elevated GA or auxi ... Full text Cite

The Arabidopsis O-fucosyltransferase SPINDLY activates nuclear growth repressor DELLA.

Journal Article Nat Chem Biol · May 2017 Plant development requires coordination among complex signaling networks to enhance the plant's adaptation to changing environments. DELLAs, transcription regulators originally identified as repressors of phytohormone gibberellin signaling, play a central ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Gibberellin Signaling Requires Chromatin Remodeler PICKLE to Promote Vegetative Growth and Phase Transitions.

Journal Article Plant physiology · February 2017 PICKLE (PKL) is an ATP-dependent chromodomain-helicase-DNA-binding domain (CHD3) chromatin remodeling enzyme in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Previous studies showed that PKL promotes embryonic-to-vegetative transition by inhibiting expression of see ... Full text Cite

Structure of the SHR-SCR heterodimer bound to the BIRD/IDD transcriptional factor JKD.

Journal Article Nature plants · February 2017 The plant-specific GAI, RGA and SCR (GRAS) family proteins play critical roles in plant development and signalling. Two GRAS proteins, SHORT-ROOT (SHR) and SCARECROW (SCR), cooperatively direct asymmetric cell division and the patterning of root cell types ... Full text Cite

The ERF11 Transcription Factor Promotes Internode Elongation by Activating Gibberellin Biosynthesis and Signaling.

Journal Article Plant physiology · August 2016 The phytohormone gibberellin (GA) plays a key role in promoting stem elongation in plants. Previous studies show that GA activates its signaling pathway by inducing rapid degradation of DELLA proteins, GA signaling repressors. Using an activation-tagging s ... Full text Cite

O-GlcNAcylation of master growth repressor DELLA by SECRET AGENT modulates multiple signaling pathways in Arabidopsis.

Journal Article Genes Dev · January 15, 2016 The DELLA family of transcription regulators functions as master growth repressors in plants by inhibiting phytohormone gibberellin (GA) signaling in response to developmental and environmental cues. DELLAs also play a central role in mediating cross-talk ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Functional characterization and developmental expression profiling of gibberellin signalling components in Vitis vinifera.

Journal Article Journal of experimental botany · March 2015 Gibberellins (GAs) regulate numerous developmental processes in grapevine (Vitis vinifera) such as rachis elongation, fruit set, and fruitlet abscission. The ability of GA to promote berry enlargement has led to its indispensable use in the sternospermocar ... Full text Cite

Plant Science. Sex and the single fern.

Journal Article Science (New York, N.Y.) · October 2014 Full text Cite

Rapid and orthogonal logic gating with a gibberellin-induced dimerization system.

Journal Article Nature chemical biology · March 2012 Using a newly synthesized gibberellin analog containing an acetoxymethyl group (GA(3)-AM) and its binding proteins, we developed an efficient chemically inducible dimerization (CID) system that is completely orthogonal to existing rapamycin-mediated protei ... Full text Cite

Hypocotyl transcriptome reveals auxin regulation of growth-promoting genes through GA-dependent and -independent pathways.

Journal Article PloS one · January 2012 Many processes critical to plant growth and development are regulated by the hormone auxin. Auxin responses are initiated through activation of a transcriptional response mediated by the TIR1/AFB family of F-box protein auxin receptors as well as the AUX/I ... Full text Cite

Leaf-induced gibberellin signaling is essential for internode elongation, cambial activity, and fiber differentiation in tobacco stems.

Journal Article The Plant cell · January 2012 The gibberellins (GAs) are a group of endogenous compounds that promote the growth of most plant organs, including stem internodes. We show that in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) the presence of leaves is essential for the accumulation of bioactive GAs and th ... Full text Cite

The molecular mechanism and evolution of the GA-GID1-DELLA signaling module in plants.

Journal Article Current biology : CB · May 2011 Bioactive gibberellins (GAs) are diterpene phytohormones that modulate growth and development throughout the whole life cycle of the flowering plant. Impressive advances have been made in elucidating the GA pathway with the cloning and characterization of ... Full text Cite

Scarecrow-like 3 promotes gibberellin signaling by antagonizing master growth repressor DELLA in Arabidopsis.

Journal Article Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · February 2011 The diterpenoid phytohormone gibberellin (GA) controls diverse developmental processes throughout the plant life cycle. DELLA proteins are master growth repressors that function immediately downstream of the GA receptor to inhibit GA signaling. By doing so ... Full text Cite

Gibberellin signal transduction in stem elongation & leaf growth

Chapter · January 1, 2010 The effect of gibberellin (GA) on promoting stem growth was first discovered in 1930s by studies of the Bakanae(foolish seedling) disease in rice (57). Gibberella fujikuroi, a pathogenic fungus, produces gibberellic acid (GA3) that causes the infected rice ... Full text Cite

Isolation and characterization of cul1-7, a recessive allele of CULLIN1 that disrupts SCF function at the C terminus of CUL1 in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Journal Article Genetics · March 2009 Many aspects of plant biology depend on the ubiquitin proteasome system for degradation of regulatory proteins. Ubiquitin E3 ligases confer substrate specificity in this pathway, and SCF-type ligases comprise a major class of E3s. SCF ligases have four sub ... Full text Cite

Gibberellin-induced DELLA recognition by the gibberellin receptor GID1.

Journal Article Nature · November 2008 Gibberellins control a range of growth and developmental processes in higher plants and have been widely used in the agricultural industry. By binding to a nuclear receptor, GIBBERELLIN INSENSITIVE DWARF1 (GID1), gibberellins regulate gene expression by pr ... Full text Cite

Proteolysis-independent downregulation of DELLA repression in Arabidopsis by the gibberellin receptor GIBBERELLIN INSENSITIVE DWARF1.

Journal Article The Plant cell · September 2008 This article presents evidence that DELLA repression of gibberellin (GA) signaling is relieved both by proteolysis-dependent and -independent pathways in Arabidopsis thaliana. DELLA proteins are negative regulators of GA responses, including seed germinati ... Full text Cite

Potential sites of bioactive gibberellin production during reproductive growth in Arabidopsis.

Journal Article The Plant cell · February 2008 Gibberellin 3-oxidase (GA3ox) catalyzes the final step in the synthesis of bioactive gibberellins (GAs). We examined the expression patterns of all four GA3ox genes in Arabidopsis thaliana by promoter-beta-glucuronidase gene fusions and by quantitative RT- ... Full text Cite

Functional analysis of SPINDLY in gibberellin signaling in Arabidopsis.

Journal Article Plant physiology · February 2007 The Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) SPINDLY (SPY) protein negatively regulates the gibberellin (GA) signaling pathway. SPY is an O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) transferase (OGT) with a protein-protein interaction domain consisting of 10 tetratric ... Full text Cite

Genetic characterization and functional analysis of the GID1 gibberellin receptors in Arabidopsis.

Journal Article The Plant Cell · December 2006 We investigated the physiological function of three Arabidopsis thaliana homologs of the gibberellin (GA) receptor GIBBERELLIN-INSENSITIVE DWARF1 (GID1) by determining the developmental consequences of GID1 inactivation in insertion mutants. Although singl ... Cite

Regulation of hormone metabolism in Arabidopsis seeds: phytochrome regulation of abscisic acid metabolism and abscisic acid regulation of gibberellin metabolism.

Journal Article The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology · November 2006 In a wide range of plant species, seed germination is regulated antagonistically by two plant hormones, abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellin (GA). In the present study, we have revealed that ABA metabolism (both biosynthesis and inactivation) was phytochrom ... Full text Cite

Distinct and overlapping roles of two gibberellin 3-oxidases in Arabidopsis development.

Journal Article The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology · March 2006 Gibberellin (GA) 3-oxidase, a class of 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases, catalyzes the conversion of precursor GAs to their bioactive forms, thereby playing a direct role in determining the levels of bioactive GAs in plants. Gibberellin 3-oxidase in A ... Full text Cite

A novel dwarfing mutation in a green revolution gene from Brassica rapa.

Journal Article Plant physiology · March 2005 Mutations in the biosynthesis or signaling pathways of gibberellin (GA) can cause dwarfing phenotypes in plants, and the use of such mutations in plant breeding was a major factor in the success of the Green Revolution. DELLA proteins are GA signaling repr ... Full text Cite

A DELLAcate balance: the role of gibberellin in plant morphogenesis.

Journal Article Current opinion in plant biology · February 2005 The importance of gibberellin (GA) in vegetative and reproductive development has been known for some time. Recent studies have uncovered new roles of GA in leaf differentiation, photomorphogenesis and pollen-tube growth. Significant contributions to our u ... Full text Cite

Arabidopsis CAND1, an unmodified CUL1-interacting protein, is involved in multiple developmental pathways controlled by ubiquitin/proteasome-mediated protein Degradation.

Journal Article The Plant cell · July 2004 Ubiquitin/proteasome-mediated protein degradation controls various developmental pathways in eukaryotes. Cullin-containing complexes are both versatile and abundant groups of RING family ubiquitin E3 ligases, whose activities are subject to control by RUB/ ... Full text Cite

Della proteins and gibberellin-regulated seed germination and floral development in Arabidopsis.

Journal Article Plant physiology · June 2004 RGA (repressor of ga1-3) and GAI (gibberellin insensitive) are negative regulators of plant hormone gibberellin (GA) signaling in Arabidopsis. The GA-deficient mutant ga1-3 is a nongerminating, extreme dwarf that flowers late and produces male-sterile flow ... Full text Cite

The Arabidopsis F-box protein SLEEPY1 targets gibberellin signaling repressors for gibberellin-induced degradation.

Journal Article The Plant cell · June 2004 The nuclear DELLA proteins are highly conserved repressors of hormone gibberellin (GA) signaling in plants. In Arabidopsis thaliana, GA derepresses its signaling pathway by inducing proteolysis of the DELLA protein REPRESSOR OF ga1-3 (RGA). SLEEPY1 (SLY1) ... Full text Cite

Molecular mechanism of gibberellin signaling in plants.

Journal Article Annual review of plant biology · January 2004 The hormone gibberellin (GA) plays an important role in modulating diverse processes throughout plant development. In recent years, significant progress has been made in the identification of upstream GA signaling components and trans- and cis-acting facto ... Full text Cite

Overexpression of AtCPS and AtKS in Arabidopsis confers increased ent-kaurene production but no increase in bioactive gibberellins.

Journal Article Plant physiology · June 2003 The plant growth hormone gibberellin (GA) is important for many aspects of plant growth and development. Although most genes encoding enzymes at each step of the GA biosynthetic pathway have been cloned, their regulation is less well understood. To assess ... Full text Cite

The Arabidopsis SLEEPY1 gene encodes a putative F-box subunit of an SCF E3 ubiquitin ligase.

Journal Article The Plant cell · May 2003 The Arabidopsis SLY1 (SLEEPY1) gene positively regulates gibberellin (GA) signaling. Positional cloning of SLY1 revealed that it encodes a putative F-box protein. This result suggests that SLY1 is the F-box subunit of an SCF E3 ubiquitin ligase that regula ... Full text Cite

The DELLA motif is essential for gibberellin-induced degradation of RGA.

Journal Article Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · November 2001 RGA and GAI are homologous genes that encode putative transcriptional regulators that repress gibberellin (GA) signaling in Arabidopsis. Previously we showed that the green fluorescent protein (GFP)-RGA fusion protein is localized to the nucleus in transge ... Full text Cite

Distinct cell-specific expression patterns of early and late gibberellin biosynthetic genes during Arabidopsis seed germination.

Journal Article The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology · November 2001 Gibberellins (GAs) are biosynthesized through a complex pathway that involves several classes of enzymes. To predict sites of individual GA biosynthetic steps, we studied cell type-specific expression of genes encoding early and late GA biosynthetic enzyme ... Full text Cite

Synergistic derepression of gibberellin signaling by removing RGA and GAI function in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Journal Article Genetics · October 2001 RGA and GAI are negative regulators of the gibberellin (GA) signal transduction pathway in Arabidopsis thaliana. These genes may have partially redundant functions because they are highly homologous, and plants containing single null mutations at these loc ... Full text Cite

Repressing a repressor: gibberellin-induced rapid reduction of the RGA protein in Arabidopsis.

Journal Article The Plant cell · July 2001 RGA (for repressor of ga1-3) and SPINDLY (SPY) are likely repressors of gibberellin (GA) signaling in Arabidopsis because the recessive rga and spy mutations partially suppressed the phenotype of the GA-deficient mutant ga1-3. We found that neither rga nor ... Full text Cite

Gibberellin signal transduction.

Journal Article Current opinion in plant biology · October 2000 Recent studies using biochemical and genetic approaches have identified a number of components, including several negative regulators, of the gibberellin (GA) signal transduction pathway in higher plants. The basal state of GA signaling is likely to be rep ... Full text Cite

Gibberellins and the Green Revolution.

Journal Article Trends in plant science · January 2000 Full text Cite

The GA2 locus of Arabidopsis thaliana encodes ent-kaurene synthase of gibberellin biosynthesis.

Journal Article Plant physiology · April 1998 The ga2 mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana is a gibberellin-deficient dwarf. Previous biochemical studies have suggested that the ga2 mutant is impaired in the conversion of copalyl diphosphate to ent-kaurene, which is catalyzed by ent-kaurene synthase (KS). O ... Full text Cite

The Arabidopsis RGA gene encodes a transcriptional regulator repressing the gibberellin signal transduction pathway.

Journal Article The Plant cell · February 1998 The recessive rga mutation is able to partially suppress phenotypic defects of the Arabidopsis gibberellin (GA) biosynthetic mutant ga1-3. Defects in stem elongation, flowering time, and leaf abaxial trichome initiation are suppressed by rga. This indicate ... Full text Cite

Regulation and cellular localization of ent-kaurene synthesis

Journal Article Physiologia Plantarum · December 1, 1997 The two-step cyclization reaction of ent-kaurene synthesis from geranylgeranyl diphosphate is the first committed step in the biosynthetic pathway of the plant hormone gibberellin. Recent molecular cloning and characterization of the genes encoding the two ... Full text Cite

The new RGA locus encodes a negative regulator of gibberellin response in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Journal Article Genetics · July 1997 We have identified a new locus involved in gibberellin (GA) signal transduction by screening for suppressors of the Arabidopsis thaliana GA biosynthetic mutant gal-3. The locus is named RGA for repressor of gal-3. Based on the recessive phenotype of the di ... Full text Cite

Developmental regulation of the gibberellin biosynthetic gene GA1 in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Journal Article The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology · July 1997 The GA1 gene of Arabidopsis thaliana encodes ent-kaurene synthase A (KSA), which catalyzes the first committed step in the biosynthetic pathway of the plant hormone gibberellin (GA). Its location in the GA biosynthetic pathway has led to speculation that K ... Full text Cite

The LS locus of pea encodes the gibberellin biosynthesis enzyme ent-kaurene synthase A.

Journal Article The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology · March 1997 Gibberellins (GAs) are hormones required for several aspects of plant development, including internode elongation and seed development in pea (Pisum sativum L.). The first committed step in the GA biosynthesis pathway is the conversion of geranylgeranyl di ... Full text Cite

The Arabidopsis GA1 locus encodes the cyclase ent-kaurene synthetase A of gibberellin biosynthesis.

Journal Article The Plant cell · October 1994 The first committed step in the gibberellin (GA) biosynthetic pathway is the conversion of geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (GGPP) through copalyl pyrophosphate (CPP) to ent-kaurene catalyzed by ent-kaurene synthetases A and B. The ga1 mutants of Arabidopsis a ... Full text Cite

Low-frequency infection of F- bacteria by transducing particles of filamentous bacteriophages.

Journal Article Journal of bacteriology · November 1988 Filamentous particles containing single-stranded plasmid and bacteriophage DNA are able to infect F- Escherichia coli at frequencies of approximately 10(-6). This infection is dependent on an intact particle and requires the products of the tolQ, tolR, and ... Full text Cite

Nucleotide sequence of a gene cluster involved in entry of E colicins and single-stranded DNA of infecting filamentous bacteriophages into Escherichia coli.

Journal Article Journal of bacteriology · June 1987 Mutations in fii or tolA of the fii-tolA-tolB gene cluster at 17 min on the Escherichia coli map render cells tolerant to high concentrations of the E colicins and do not allow the DNA of infecting single-stranded filamentous bacteriophages to enter the ba ... Full text Cite

fii, a bacterial locus required for filamentous phage infection and its relation to colicin-tolerant tolA and tolB.

Journal Article Journal of bacteriology · January 1986 We describe mutations in a new bacterial locus, designated fii, which do not allow the filamentous bacteriophage f1 to infect bacteria harboring the F plasmid. Mutations at this locus do not affect the ability of F plasmid-containing bacteria to undergo co ... Full text Cite