Dr. Mullen's research focuses on 3 main areas of plant cell biology including:
1) Characterization of enzymes involved in seed oil biosynthesis. This research is aimed at understanding various aspects of the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in producing seed oils and their prop...
Dr. Mullen's research focuses on 3 main areas of plant cell biology including:
1) Characterization of enzymes involved in seed oil biosynthesis. This research is aimed at understanding various aspects of the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in producing seed oils and their proper packaging into oil bodies. One of their current goals is to engineer neutral lipid accumulation in vegetative tissues of plants.
2) Understanding various aspects of the biogenesis of peroxisomes, including how membrane proteins are targeted to this organelle, and what role the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) serves in the formation of peroxisomes. They are also especially interested in understanding how certain viruses "hijack" peroxisomes for their replication in infected plant cells.
3) Identification and characterization of a unique class of integral membrane proteins known as "Tail-Anchored" (TA) proteins. Our research is currently aimed at identifying TA proteins using bioinformatic approaches and characterizing these proteins in terms of their localization, targeting signals, and the protein machinery (e.g., receptors) that mediate their membrane insertion and assembly.