UCF Biology: Jeanette Nadeau

Jeanette Nadeau
Ph.D., University of California, Davis, 1995
Phone: 407-823-1663
Office: BIO 426
Email: jnadeau@mail.ucf.edu

Recent Accomplishments

January, 2008: Biology professor Dr. Jeanette Nadeau received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Integrative Organismal Systems for $250,427. This study is entitled, "Evolution of Receptor-like Protein Function in Stomatal Development."

Research Interests

Dr. Nadeau’s lab studies plant development and cell morphogenesis using the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana. Specifically, they investigate mechanisms of pattern formation and differentiation in the epidermis with a particular focus on stomata (structures that control gas exchange and water loss). One aim of the lab is to understand how plants make developmental decisions that control tissue organization. Because plant cells are immobile, pattern formation depends exclusively on the spatial regulation of cell division and cell fate choice. Currently, they are exploring the role of the TOO MANY MOUTHS receptor-like protein in positional signaling that controls the plane, frequency, location and intrinsic asymmetry of divisions that form stomata. They are also interested in the evolutionary use of TMM receptor signaling in plants with different modes of leaf development. A second aim of Nadeau’s lab is to understand how plant cell shape is regulated by the cytoskeleton and the cell wall during differentiation. Recently they have identified a signaling pathway involved in controlling both guard cell shape and symmetry, and are working to understand its potential role in cytoskeletal remodeling and spatial control of cell wall deposition in response to extracellular signals.

Left: A cluster of stomata in the mutant too many mouths
Right: Confocal microscope image of the Arabidopsis epidermis showing TMM-GFP fusion protein localization

Selected Publications

Lucas JR, Nadeau JA, FD Sack (2006) Microtubule arrays and Arabidopsis stomatal development. Journal of Experimental Botany 57:71-79.

Lai LB, Nadeau JA, Lucas J, Lee E-K, Nakagawa T, Zhao L, Geisler M and FD Sack. (2005) The Arabidopsis R2R3 MYB proteins FOUR LIPS and MYB88 restrict divisions late in the stomatal cell lineage. Plant Cell 17:2754-2767.

Falbel TG, Koch LM, Nadeau JA, Segui-Simarro JM, Sack FD and SY Bednarek (2003) SCD1 is required for cell cytokinesis and polarized cell expansion in Arabidopsis thaliana. Development 103:4011-4024.

Nadeau JA and FD Sack (2003) Stomatal development: cross talk puts mouths in place. Trends in Plant Science 8(6): 294-299.

Geisler MJ, Deppong DO, Nadeau JA and FD Sack (2003) Stomatal neighbor cell polarity and division in Arabidopsis. Planta 216:571-579.

Nadeau JA and FD Sack (2002) Control of stomatal distribution on the Arabidopsis leaf surface. Science 296 (5573): 1697-1700.

Nadeau JA and FD Sack. (2002) Stomatal patterning. In The Arabidopsis Book, CR Somerville and EM Meyerowitz, Eds. Amer. Soc. Plant Biol., Rockville, MD. http://www.aspb.org/publications/arabidopsis, doi/10.1199/tab.0066