Research Interests
The importance of the phytohormone gibberellin for plant growth and development is well recognised. Understanding where and how GA is distributed is the first step to understanding how GA signalling leads to such a diverse range of responses. I am fascinated by cellular GA dynamics in the dark grown hypocotyl and how these spatiotemporal patterns of GA arise.
I have always been interested the development of plants and have covered many aspects of plant development during my research career. Firstly I completed my PhD at Rothamsted Research under the supervision of Peter Hedden, Steve Thomas and Andy Phillips where I identified early GA regulated genes, one of which was identified as the GA receptor GID1. I followed up my research on GA by moving to another phytohormone, this time investigating ABA and dormancy in CSIRO, Canberra. After a short position back at Rothamsted Research, where I was following up lines of research founded during my PhD, I moved to the University of Edinburgh where I was involved in a large multidisciplinary project researching the effects of the circadian clock and temperature on plant development. When I moved to the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University, I became involved in lab management. I was the Paszkowski Lab Manager whilst simultaneously researching epigenetic effects on plant development and stress induced transposable elements.
Current Work
In the Jones group I am the Lab Manager and a Research Associate. I am exploring how the distribution of GA in the dark grown hypocotyl occurs. An etiolated Arabidopsis hypocotyl has low GA in the apical hook (small cells) and high GA in the hypocotyl (elongated cells). In order to understand how this distribution of GA is formed I am employing a range of techniques including live cell imaging of the nlsGPS biosensor in light pathway mutants, Y1H screens and RNA-seq.
Publications
Albertos P, Wlk T, Griffiths J, Pimenta Lange MJ, Unterholzner SJ, Rozhon W, Lange T, Jones AM, Poppenberger B. (2022) Brassinosteroid-regulated bHLH transcription factor CESTA induces the gibberellin 2-oxidase GA2ox7. Plant Physiol 188(4):2012-2025
Griffiths J, Catoni M, Iwasaki M and Paszkowski J. (2018) Sequence independent identification of active LTR retrotransposons in Arabidopsis Molecular Plant 11 (3):508-511
Catoni M, Griffiths J, Becker C, Zabet NR, Bayon C, Dapp M, Lieberman-Lazarovich M, , Weigel D and Paszkowski J. (2017) DNA sequence properties that predict susceptibility to epiallelic switching. EMBO J. 36(5):617-628
MacGregor DR, Gould P, Foreman J, Griffiths J, Bird S, Page R, Stewart K, Steel G, Young J, Paszkiewicz K, Millar AJ, Halliday KJ, Hall AJ, Penfield S (2013) HIGH EXPRESSION OF OSMOTICALLY RESPONSIVE GENES1 is required for circadian periodicity through the promotion of nucleo-cytoplasmic mRNA export in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 25(11):4391-404
Middleton AM, Úbeda-Tomás S, Griffiths J, Holman T, Hedden P, Thomas SG, Phillips AL, Holdsworth MJ, Bennett MJ, King JR, Owen MR (2012) Mathematical modeling elucidates the role of transcriptional feedback in gibberellin signaling. PNAS 109 (19): 7571-7576
Griffiths J, Barrero JM, Taylor J, Helliwell CA, Gubler F (2011) ALTERED MERISTEM PROGRAM 1 Is involved in Development of Seed Dormancy in Arabidopsis. PLoS ONE 6(5): e20408. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020408
Rieu I, Eriksson S, Powers SJ, Gong F, Griffiths J, Woolley L, Benlloch R, Nilsson O, Thomas SG, Hedden P and Phillips AL (2008) Genetic Analysis Reveals That C19-GA 2-Oxidation Is a Major Gibberellin Inactivation Pathway in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 20: 2420-2436
Rieu I, Ruiz-Rivero O, Fernandez-Garcia N, Griffiths J, Powers SJ, Gong F, Linhartova T, Eriksson S, Nilsson O, Thomas SG, Phillips AL and Hedden P (2008) The gibberellin biosynthetic genes AtGA20ox1 and AtGA20ox2 act, partially redundantly, to promote growth and development throughout the Arabidopsis life cycle. Plant Journal 55 (3): 488-504
Griffiths J, Murase K, Rieu I, Zentella R, Zhang ZL, Powers SJ, Gong F, Phillips AL, Hedden P, Sun TP and Thomas SG (2006) Genetic characterization and functional analysis of the GID1 gibberellin receptors in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 18 (12): 3399-3414
