Dr. Lindy Brigham
Division of Plant Pathology and Microbiology
Research Assistant Professor

Forbes Building, Room 204
Phone: (520) 626-8307
Email: lbrigham@ag.arizona.edu
 

Visit these web-sites to learn more about Dr. Brigham and her research

 
   
Background and Interests
 
Lindy Brigham received a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from the University of Arizona in 1996. She also received a Master's Degree in Biology from Southern Methodist University, Dallas,TX, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology also from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX. Here at the University of Arizona she teaches Introduction to Research, PLP 695 and Current Topics in Plant Pathology for the Division of Plant Pathology and Microbiology. She also does a workshop in Hydrology for science teachers. In the fall of 2001, She taught Plants as Exemplary Chemical Factories, BIOC 597c for the Master's in General Biology for Teachers Program.

 
 
Research
How do plants communicate with the other organisms? One way is with the myriad chemicals that they produce that give them both culinary interest and medicinal properties of use to humans. I am interested in understanding how plants, as organisms that cannot flee from adversity or move to more desirable environments, use these chemicals to establish beneficial relationships and deter dangerous ones in the soil around their roots. The Borage, Lithospermum erythrorhizon, produces a suite of related chemicals that have been used by many human cultures for several centuries for divers applications from a beautiful purple dye for wine and clothing to a topical antibiotic for skin lesions. The compounds are produced only in the root and the cell types in which they are produced and the ratios of the different compounds produced are regulated by the plant in response to signals we are just beginning to understand. My work involves studying the way in which the plant regulates the production of these compounds and the divers effects on the bacteria and fungi in the soil. The system has provided me with a wonderful research tool to study the interactions not only of plants and microorganisms, but also how these properties are used by human communities through time.
 
Publications
 

Brigham LA, Michaels PJ, Flores HE. Feb 1999. Cell-specific production and antimicrobial activity of naphthoquinones in roots of lithospermum erythrorhizon. Plant Physiol, 119:417-28

Brigham LA, Woo HH, Wen F, Hawes MC. Dec 1998. Meristem-specific suppression of mitosis and a global switch in gene expression in the root cap of pea by endogenous signals. Plant Physiol, 118:1223-31

Hawes MC, Brigham LA, Wen F, Woo HH, Zhu Y. Jan 1998. FUNCTION OF ROOT BORDER CELLS IN PLANT HEALTH: Pioneers1in the Rhizosphere. Annu Rev Phytopathol, 36:311-27

Brigham LA, Woo HH, Nicoll SM, Hawes MC. Oct 1995. Differential Expression of Proteins and mRNAs from Border Cells and Root Tips of Pea. Plant Physiol, 109:457-463

Woo HH, Brigham LA, Hawes MC. Sep 1995. Molecular cloning and expression of mRNAs encoding H1 histone and an H1 histone-like sequences in root tips of pea (Psium sativum L.). Plant Mol Biol, 28:1143-7

Woo HH, Brigham LA, Hawes MC. May 1995. Detection of low-abundance messages by a combination of PCR and ribonuclease protection. Biotechniques, 18:778-9

Brigham LA, Woo HH, Hawes MC. Jan 1995. Root border cells as tools in plant cell studies. Methods Cell Biol, 49:377-87

Woo HH, Brigham LA, Hawes MC. Oct 1994. Primary structure of the mRNA encoding a 16.5-kDa ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme of Pisum sativum. Gene, 148:369-70

       
 
 


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