Overview of research program - Goodin Lab

Research in the Goodin Lab is focused on the cell biology and genomics of plant negative-strand RNA viruses.
These viruses belong to the Rhabdovirus and Bunyavirus families of viruses, which together are a major threat to animal, human and plant health. Our program is divided into three major avenues of investigation.

Genomics of plant/virus interactions:
The comprehensive determination of the host's genetic response to an invading virus is of critical importance to our understanding of the establishment of compatible interactions between plant hosts and viral pathogens. In addition to providing insight into the changes in plant gene expression in response to infection by enveloped viruses, our research aims to identify the function of novel genes in pathogenesis by these viruses. The intellectual merit of this research lies in the identification and characterization of plant genes that underlie how virus infection impacts the biochemistry and physiology of host cells, a situation that currently represents a large gap in our knowledge of plant virology. Using heterologous microarrays containing potato ESTs, we have conducted an extensive series of experiments that has allowed us to identify a large number of novel genes that are uniquely up-regulated in response to infection by Sonchus yellow net nucleorhabdovirus (SYNV) or Impatiens necrotic spot tospovirus (INSV).

Cell Biolology of plant rhabdoviruses:
Our current research is focused on characterization of the matrix proteins of SYNV and other plant-infecting rhabdoviruses. This work is primarily dependent upon the use of agroinfiltration and our pGD vectors. Make sure to take a look at the pGD vector gallery, where some very cool micrographs are posted. If you like what you see, you can order the vectors free of charge.

Development of plant expression vectors derived from negative-strand RNA viruses.
Despite their apparent genetic simplicity, viruses exhibit an amazing sophistication in terms of their evolution of highly efficient mechanisms for infecting cells, expression of their genetic material and replication of their genomes. The development of recombinant DNA techniques has made it possible to exploit and manipulate these viral properties resulting in not only detailed insight into viral replication and viral:host interactions but also the development of a wide variety of tools with application to the pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries. Foremost among these virus-derived tools is the development of vector systems for the transient expression of nucleic acids and proteins in a wide variety of cell types including animal, human and plant cells. Plant viral-vectors have found applications in gene therapy, vaccine production and the development of novel pharmaceuticals. The advantage of viral vectors, in general, includes the speed with which they can be manipulated for the expression of foreign genes. In agricultural biotechnology plant virus vectors offer an attractive alternative to the expense of development, as well as environmental and social implications, of transgenic plants. The development of viral vectors derived from rhabdoviruses offers the potential to produce vectors with increased stability, reduced propensity to recombine, the ability to express two or more genes from the same vector and a facile mechanism for regulating the amount of foreign gene expression. Based on results obtained with vectors derived from animal rhabdoviruses, vectors derived from plant rhabdoviruses should offer significantly greater utility than current plant viral vectors.