Aaron P. Smith

Professor
BMB Division

PhD: Purdue University, 2003

Phone: 225-578-7643
Lab Phone: 225-578-8798
Office: A759 Life Sciences Annex
Lab: A725/A755 Life Sciences Annex
E-mail: apsmith@lsu.edu 

Smith Lab

Area of Interest

My research focuses on understanding the ways plants respond to environmental stress at the molecular and biochemical levels. Current projects include:

• Identifying how environmental stressors, such as mineral nutrient deficiencies, affect gene regulation via chromatin remodeling.
• Manipulating the transport of arsenic into and within plants via various genetic engineering strategies for human health and phytoremediation applications.

Selected Publications

Foroozani M, Zahraeifard S, Oh D-H, Wang G, Dassanayake M, and Smith AP. (2019) Low-phosphate chromatin dynamics predict a cell wall remodeling network in rice shoots. Plant Physiol. 182, 1494-1509.

Lucena C, Porras R, García MJ, Alcántara E, Pérez-Vicente R, Zamarreño ÁM, Bacaicoa E, García-Mina JM, Smith AP and Romera FJ. (2019) Ethylene and Phloem Signals Are Involved in the Regulation of Responses to Fe and P Deficiencies in Roots of Strategy I Plants. Frontiers Plant Sci. 10, 1237.

Zahraeifard S, Foroozani M, Sepehri A, Oh D-H, Wang G, Mangu V, Chen B, Baisakh N, Dassanayake M, and Smith AP. (2018) Rice H2A.Z negatively regulates genes responsive to nutrient starvation but promotes expression of key housekeeping genes. J Exp Bot. 69, 4907-4919.

Zhang Q, Oh D-H, DiTusa SF, RamanaRao MV, Baisakh N, Dassanayake M, and Smith AP. (2018) Rice nucleosome patterns undergo remodeling coincident with stress-induced gene expression. BMC Genomics 19, 97.

Heuschele DJ, Pinson SRM, and Smith AP. (2017) Metabolic responses to arsenite in rice seedlings that differed in grain arsenic concentration. Crop Sci. 57, 2671-2687.

Romera FJ, Smith AP, and Pérez-Vicente R. (2016) Editorial: Ethylene’s Role in Plant Mineral Nutrition. Front Plant Sci. 7, 911.

DiTusa SF, Fontenot EB, Wallace RW§, Silvers MA§, Steele TN§, Elnagar AH§, Dearman KM§, and Smith AP. (2015) A member of the Phosphate transporter 1 (Pht1) family from the arsenic-hyperaccumulating fern Pteris vittata is a high-affinity arsenate transporter. New Phytol. 209, 762-772.

Fontenot EB, DiTusa SF, Kato N, Olivier DM§, Dale R, Lin WY, Chiou TJ, Macnaughtan MA, and Smith AP. (2015) Increased phosphate transport of Arabidopsis thaliana Pht1;1 by site-directed mutagenesis of tyrosine 312 may be attributed to the disruption of homomeric interactions. Plant Cell & Environ. 38, 2012-2022.

Smith AP, Fontenot EB, Zahraeifard S, and DiTusa SF. (2015) Molecular components that drive phosphorus-remobilization during leaf senescence. Annual Plant Reviews. Plaxton W and Lambers H eds. Wiley Blackwell.

Ozhan K, Zahraeifard S, Smith AP, and Bargu S. (2015) Induction of reactive oxygen species in marine phytoplankton under crude oil exposure. Environ Sci Pollut Res. 22, 18874-18884.

Smith AP. (2013) Systemic signaling in the maintenance of phosphate homeostasis. In: Baluška F ed. Long-distance systemic signaling and communication in plants. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 149-166.

LeBlanc MS, McKinney EC, Meagher RB, and Smith AP. (2013) Hijacking membrane transporters for arsenic phytoextraction. J of Biotechnol. 163, 1-9.

Bovenkamp GL, Prange A, Schumacher W, Ham K, Smith AP, and Hormes J. (2013) Lead uptake in diverse plant families: a study applying X-ray Absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy. Env Sci & Tech. 47, 4375-82.

Nagarajan VK and Smith AP. (2012) Ethylene’s role in phosphate starvation signaling; more than just a root growth regulator. Plant Cell & Physiol. 53, 277-286.

Smith AP, Nagarajan VK, and Raghothama KG. (2011) Arabidopsis Pht1;5 plays an integral role in phosphate homeostasis. Plant Signal Behav. 6, 1676-1678.

Nagarajan VK, Jain A, Poling MD, Lewis AJ, Raghothama KG, and Smith AP. (2011) Arabidopsis Pht1;5 mobilizes phosphate between source and sink organs, and influences the interaction between phosphate homeostasis and ethylene signaling. Plant Physiol. 156, 1149-63.

Smith AP, Jain A, Deal RB, Nagarajan VK, Poling MD, Raghothama KG, and Meagher RB. (2010) Histone H2A.Z regulates the expression of several classes of phosphate starvation response genes, but not as a transcriptional activator. Plant Physiol. 152, 217-225.

Meagher RB, Kandasamy MK, Smith AP, and McKinney EC. (2010) Nuclear actin-related proteins at the core of epigenetic control. Plant Signal Behav. 5, 518-522.

Kandasamy MK, McKinney EC, Deal RB, Smith AP, and Meagher RB. (2009) Arabidopsis actin-related protein ARP5 in multicellular development and DNA repair. Dev Biol. 335, 22-32.

Jain A, Poling MD, Smith AP, Nagarajan VK, Lahner B, Meagher RB, and Raghothama KG. (2009) Variations in the composition of gelling agents affect morphophysiological and molecular responses to deficiencies of phosphate and other nutrients. Plant Physiol. 150, 1033-49.