Using algae as a primary experimental system, Professor Umen's researches cell size control, cell growth regulation and carbon partitioning, and evolution of multicellularity.
He utilizes the unique properties of the model green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and its multicellular relatives, including Volvox carteri, to investigate questions at the interfaces of evolution, developmental biology, cell biology, and metabolism.
Geng S, Miyagi A, Umen JG. (2018) Evolutionary divergence of the sex-determining gene MID uncoupled from the transition to anisogamy in volvocine algae. Development, doi: 10.1242/dev.162537.
Matt GY, Umen JG. (2018) Cell-Type Transcriptomes of the Multicellular Green Alga
Volvox carteri Yield Insights into the Evolutionary Origins of Germ and Somatic
Differentiation Programs. G3 (Bethesda), 8(2):531-550. doi: 10.1534/g3.117.300253.
Hamaji, T., Kawai-Toyooka, H., Uchimura, H., Suzuki, M., Noguchi, H., Minakuchi, Y., Toyoda, A., Fujiyama, A., Miyagishima, S.-Y., Umen, J. G., and Nozaki, H. (2018) Anisogamy Evolved with a Reduced Sex-Determining Region in Volvocine Green Algae. Communications Biology, 1(1):247. doi:10.1038/s42003-018-0019-5.
Werth, E. G., McConnell, E. W., Gilbert, T. S. K., Couso Lianez, I., Perez, C. A., Manley, C. K., Graves, L. M., Umen, J. G., and Hicks, L. M. (2017) Probing the Global Kinome and Phosphoproteome in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii via Sequential Enrichment and Quantitative Proteomics. Plant J., 89(2):416-426. doi: 10.1111/tpj.13384.
López-Paz C, Liu D, Geng S, Umen JG. (2017) Identification of Chlamydomonas
reinhardtii endogenous genic flanking sequences for improved transgene
expression. Plant J., 92(6):1232-1244. doi: 10.1111/tpj.13731.
Couso, I., Evans, B. S., Li, J., Liu, Y., Ma, F., Diamond, S., et al. (2016). Synergism between Inositol Polyphosphates and TOR Kinase Signaling in Nutrient Sensing, Growth Control, and Lipid Metabolism in Chlamydomonas. The Plant Cell, 28(9), 2026–2042. http://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.16.00351
Matt, G., & Umen, J. G. (2016). Volvox: A simple algal model for embryogenesis, morphogenesis and cellular differentiation. Developmental Biology. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2016.07.014
Hamaji, T., Mogi, Y., Ferris, P. J., Mori, T., Miyagishima, S., Kabeya, Y., et al. (2016). Sequence of the Gonium pectorale Mating Locus Reveals a Complex and Dynamic History of Changes in Volvocine Algal Mating Haplotypes. G3 (Bethesda, Md.), 6(5), 1179–1189. http://doi.org/10.1534/g3.115.026229
Hamaji, T., Lopez, D., Pellegrini, M., & Umen, J. G. (2016). Identification and Characterization of a cis-Regulatory Element for Zygotic Gene Expression in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. G3 (Bethesda, Md.), 6(6), 1541–1548. http://doi.org/10.1534/g3.116.029181
Li, Y., Liu, D., Lopez-Paz, C., Olson, B. J., & Umen, J. G. (2016). A new class of cyclin dependent kinase in Chlamydomonas is required for coupling cell size to cell division. eLife, 5, 2104. http://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10767