Staff profile

Qualifications

Tony Gendall obtained his B.Sc with Honours in Biochemistry from the University of Western Australia in 1991, before completing a Ph. D at the University of Melbourne and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. Following post-doctoral work in the United Kingdom at The John Innes Centre, he was appointed as a Lecturer in Botany at La Trobe University in 2002.

Teaching areas

• BIO1OF - Organization and Function of Cells and Organisms
• BIO1PS - Plant Science
• BOT2MPN - Plant Molecular Biology, Physiology and Nutrition
• BOT3PB - Plant Biotechnology - analysis of plant gene function, plant genomics and genetics

Research interests

Our lab uses genetic and molecular approaches to study aspects of plant development and physiology.

I am currently using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, but am also developing research areas using the model legume Medicago truncatula.

Our current work is aimed at understanding two important aspects of plant development - flowering time and response to abiotic stresses. I am particularly interested in using the natural variation present between different varieties (or accessions) of a species to identify genes that regulate particular characteristics. These methods initially use genetic approaches (mapping of segregating traits) to determine how many genes are responsible for a particular trait, and molecular techniques to eventually clone the genes. This work is at quite an advanced stage for two projects in Arabidopsis, and is under development in Medicago.

Recent publications and presentations

• Gendall, AR and Forster, JW (2007) Genetics of reproductive development in forage legumes. International Journal of Plant Developmental Biology 1, 245-252. Download this paper (PDF 1.55MB)
• Greb T, Mylne JS, Crevillen P , Geraldo N , An HL , Gendall AR , Dean C (2007) The PHD finger protein VRN5 functions in the epigenetic silencing of Arabidopsis FLC. Current Biology 17, 73-78. Download this paper (PDF 604KB)
• Gendall, AR and Simpson GG (2006). Vernalization. In "Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of Flowering" (ed B.R. Jordan). CABI Press, Wallingford, UK. pp. 26-49.
• Gazzani, S, Gendall, AR, Lister, C and Dean, C. (2003). Analysis of the molecular basis of flowering time variation in Arabidopsis accessions. Plant Physiology 132, 1107-1114. Download this paper (PDF 194KB) (featured as Plant Physiology's High Impact article of Feb 2006).
• Levy, Y. Y., Mesnage, S., Mylne, J. S., Gendall, A. R. and Dean, C. (2002). Multiple roles of Arabidopsis VRN1 in vernalization and flowering time control. Science 297, 243-246. Download this paper (PDF 264KB)
• Gendall, A. R., Levy, Y. Y., Wilson, A. and Dean, C. (2001). The VERNALIZATION 2 gene mediates the epigenetic regulation of vernalization in Arabidopsis. Cell 107, 525-535. Download this paper (PDF 589KB)
• Simpson, G. G., Gendall, A. R. and Dean, C. (1999). When to switch to flowering. Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology 15, 519-550. Download this paper (PDF 824KB)
• Dean,C., Dijkwel, P., Duroux, M., Gendall, A. R., Hutchinson, C., Johanson, U., Levy, Y. Y., Lister, C., Macknight, R., Smart, B., Simpson, G., Sivadon, P., Torney, K. and West, J. (1999). Molecular analysis of flowering time and vernalization response in Arabidopsis. Flowering Newsletter 28, 6-11 (now published as part of J. Exp Bot.)