Jonathan Monroe, Ph.D.

Professor
Year Started at JMU: 1992
monroejd@jmu.edu
Contact Info
Website: https://sites.lib.jmu.edu/monroelab/
Research Description
We are interested in learning about the roles that a family of starch hydrolases called beta-amylases (BAMs) play in the metabolism of starch in plants. Our work uses the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and is currently focused on BAM2 because it has unusual structural and catalytic properties. We study the properties of the purified enzyme after expressing it in E. coli, and we also investigate starch metabolism in plants that are missing the BAM2 protein.
Courses
- Protein Structure and Function (BIO 426)
- Plant Physiology (455/555)
Education
- PhD in Plant Biology, 1988, Cornell University
- BS in Botany, 1982, University of Michigan
Select Publications
- Monroe J.D. (2020) Involvement of five catalytically-active Arabidopsis β-amylases in leaf starch metabolism and plant growth. Plant Direct. 4: 1-10. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.
com/doi/full/10.1002/pld3.199 - Monroe, J.D., and A.R. Storm (2018) Review: The Arabidopsis β-amylase (BAM) gene family: Diversity of form and function. Plant Science. 276: 163-170. https://www.sciencedirect.com/
science/article/pii/ S0168945218304370 - Monroe, J.D., L.E. Pope*, J.S. Breault*, C.E. Berndsen and A.R. Storm (2018) Quaternary structure, salt sensitivity, and allosteric regulation of β-AMYLASE2 from Arabidopsis thaliana. Frontiers in Plant Science. 9: 1176. https://www.frontiersin.org/
articles/10.3389/fpls.2018. 01176/full
*indicates student co-author