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University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Agronomy and Horticulture

The Science and Application of Plants to Sustain and Enhance Human Life

Jeffrey Mower

Assistant Professor
Plant Comparative Genomics

Contact Information
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DEGREES:

  • B.S., Moleculary Biology, University of Texas at Austin, 1999
  • M.S., Bioinformatics, Indiana University, 2003
  • Ph.D., Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, Indiana University, 2005
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RESEARCH INTERESTS:

I am interested in the evolution of all three plant genomes: nuclear, mitochondrial, and plastid. Currently, my lab is using tools of comparative genomics, molecular evolution, and molecular biology to understand the origin and evolution of genome complexity in plants.

MAJOR PROJECT ACTIVITIES:

  • Evaluation of complete plant nuclear genomes that have undergone whole genome duplication (such as grape, poplar, rice, and soybean) in order to understand the evolutionary fate of duplicated genes.
  • Sequencing of plant mitochondrial genomes in order to determine how the structure and content of these genomes have evolved over time.
  • Sequencing of plant mitochondrial transcriptomes to identify sites of RNA editing leading to a better understanding of the process of RNA editing in plants.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

  • Mower JP. Modeling sites of RNA editing as a fifth nucleotide state reveals progressive loss of edited sites from angiosperm mitochondria. Mol Biol Evol 2008, 25:52-61.

  • Sanchez-Puerta MV, Cho Y, Mower JP, Alverson AJ, Palmer JD. Frequent, phylogenetically local horizontal transfer of the cox1 group I intron in flowering plant mitochondria. Mol Biol Evol 2008, 25:1762-1777.

  • Mower JP, Touzet P, Gummow JS, Delph LS, Palmer JD. Extensive variation in synonymous substitution rates in mitochondrial genes of seed plants. BMC Evol Biol 2007, 7:135.

  • Chumley TW, Palmer JD, Mower JP, Fourcade HM, Calie PJ, Boore JL, Jansen RK. The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Pelargonium x hortorum: Organization and evolution of the largest and most highly rearranged chloroplast genome of land plants. Mol Biol Evol 2006, 23:2175-2190.

  • Mower JP, Palmer JD. Patterns of partial RNA editing in mitochondrial genes of Beta vulgaris. Mol Genet Genomics 2006, 276:285-293.

  • Mower JP. PREP-Mt: predictive RNA editor for plant mitochondrial genes. BMC Bioinformatics 2005, 6:96.

  • Parkinson CL, Mower JP, Qiu YL, Shirk AJ, Song K, Young ND, dePamphilis CW, Palmer JD. Multiple major increases and decreases in mitochondrial substitution rates in the plant family Geraniaceae. BMC Evol Biol 2005, 5:73.

  • Cho Y, Mower JP, Qiu YL, Palmer JD. Mitochondrial substitution rates are extraordinarily elevated in a genus of flowering plants. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2004, 101:17741-17746.

  • Mower JP, Stefanovic S, Young GJ, Palmer JD. Gene transfer from parasitic to host plants. Nature 2004, 432:165-166.