Dr. Brian Traw

Genetics
K. Arndt
T.-L. Ashman
G. Campbell
D. Chapman
G. Hatfull
J. Hildebrand
L. Jacobson
S. Kalisz
J. Martens
W. Saunders
B. Stronach
S. Tonsor
R. Wood

Microbiology
J. Boyle
G. Hatfull
R. Hendrix
J. Lawrence
J. Pipas
M. Popa
R.L. Duda
S. Godfrey
V. Oke

Molecular Biology
K. Arndt
J. Franzen
P. Grabowski
G. Hatfull
R. Hendrix
L. Jen-Jacobson
J. Martens
C. Peebles
J. Pipas
J. Rosenberg
A. Schwacha
C. Walsh

Plant Biology
T.-L. Ashman
W. Carson
S. Kalisz
V. Oke
C. Partanen
S. Tonsor
B. Traw

Science Education
A. Bledsoe
K. Curto
L. Daniels
S. Godfrey
N. Kaufmann
C. LaFave
J. Newman
E. Polinko
M. Popa
L. Roberts
T. Seiflein
R. Sherwin
A. Slinskey Legg

Structural Biology
M. Grabe
J. Hempel
R. Hendrix
L. Jen-Jacobson
J. Rosenberg
A. VanDemark

Former Faculty

Photo of Dr.
Traw

Plant Evolutionary Ecology

Assistant Professor

Dr. Traw received his Ph.D. in 2002 with Paul Feeny and Todd Dawson at Cornell University, performed his postdoctoral studies with Joy Bergelson at the University of Chicago, and joined the Department in 2005.

Currently, Dr. Traw is accepting graduate students in his laboratory. Dr. Traw is accepting undergraduate researchers, and does sponsor students in other laboratories.

Professional Interests - Publications - Contact Information - Lab Personnel

Professional Interests of Brian Traw

In my laboratory, we study how plants interact with herbivores and pathogens. Plants exhibit surprising complexity in their ability to perceive and respond to such enemies and, indeed, there is striking evidence that plants possess features of the sophisticated immune systems of insects and mammals. Below, I briefly describe the approaches that we are taking in our research.

First, we are continuing to unravel the roles of two key hormones, jasmonic acid and salicylic acid, in the regulation of plant defense, using mustard plants as our study organisms. Jasmonic acid is produced following general wounding of plant tissue, whereas salicylic acid is produced selectively following the attack of recognized enemies. Both chemicals have striking effects on plant morphology and physiology when applied in pure form. We conduct our physiological studies on plants grown under carefully controlled conditions in our lab's new plant growth facility. In connection with this work, we measure the density of leaf hairs, a physical defense, and mustard oil glycosides, a chemical defense, to help us gauge the magnitude of plant defense responses.

Second, we are mapping the genetic basis of plant defense. For this research, we are focusing on Arabidopsis thaliana, which is of great utility owing to its small, fully-sequenced genome and its short life cycle. We are using both recombinant inbred lines and a global set of accessions to identify candidate loci for further study.

Caged caterpillars feeding on Arabidopsis

Natural bacterial colonists of wild Arabidopsis

Last, we are interested in how plant defense affects plants growing in nature. For this research, we are using a variety of approaches, ranging from applying hormonal treatments to naturally growing plants, to creating assemblages of plants in agricultural fields. We measure the natural colonization by herbivores and pathogens and are interested in determining how this is influenced by plant defenses. Conversely, we are also interested in how plant populations respond over time to various types of enemies.

Collectively, this work involves encompasses a broad range of activity from lab bench to field work, from microscopy to liquid chromatography. Students in the lab are encouraged to develop their own projects and to pursue a rigorous strong inference approach to their research.

Publication Archive
19 Citations
17 Abstracts
16 PDFs

Recent Publications of Brian Traw

Bakker, E.G., M.B. Traw, C. Toomajian, M. Kreitman, and J. Bergelson (2008) Low levels of polymorphism in genes that control the activiation of defense response in Arabidopsis thaliana. Genetics 178:2031-2043 (PDF Reprint: 820 kb)

Traw, M.B., and P. Feeny (2008) Glucosinolates and trichomes track tissue value in two sympatric mustards. Ecology 89:763-772 (PDF Reprint: 395 kb)

Kniskern, J.M., M.B. Traw, and J. Bergelson (2007) Salicylic acid and jasmonic acid signaling defense pathways reduce natural bacterial diversity on Arabidopsis thaliana. Mol. Plant Microbe Inter. 20:1512-1522 (PDF Reprint: 433 kb)

Traw, M.B., J.M. Kniskern, and J. Bergelson (2007) Sar increases fitness of Arabidopsis thaliana in the presence of natural bacterial pathogens. Evolution 61:2444-2449

Morris, W.F., M.B. Traw, and J. Bergelson (2006) On testing for a tradeoff between constitutive and induced resistance. Oikos 112:102-110

Aranzana, M.J., S. Kim, K Zhao, E. Bakker, M. Horton, K. Jakob, C. Lister, J. Molitor, C. Shindo, C. Tang, C. Toomajian, M.B. Traw, H. Zheng, J. Bergelson, C. Dean, P. Marjoram, and P. Nordberg (2005) Genome-wide association mapping in Arabidopsis identifies previously known flowering time and pathogen resistance genes. PLoS Genet. 1:531-539

Cipollini, D., S. Enright, M.B. Traw, and J. Bergelson (2004) Salicylic acid inhibits jasmonic acid-induced resistance of Arabidopsis thaliana to Spodoptera exigua. Mol. Ecol. 13:1643-1653 (PDF Reprint: 268 kb)

Traw, M.B., J. Kim, S. Enright, D.F. Cipollini, and J. Bergelson (2003) Negative cross-talk between salicylate- and jasmonate-mediated pathways in the Wassilewskija ecotype of Arabidopsis thaliana. Mol. Ecol. 12:1125-1135 (PDF Reprint: 410 kb)

Tian, D., M.B. Traw, J.Q. Chen, M. Kreitman, and J. Bergelson (2003) Fitness costs of R-gene-mediated resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana. Nature 423:74-77 (PDF Reprint: 189 kb)

Traw, M.B., and J. Bergelson (2003) Interactive effects of jasmonic acid, salicylic acid, and gibberellin on induction of trichomes in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol. 133:1367-1375 (PDF Reprint: 291 kb)

Traw, M.B., and T.E. Dawson (2002) Differential induction of trichomes by three herbivores of black mustard. Oecologia 131:526-532 (PDF Reprint: 98 kb)

Traw, M.B., and T.E. Dawson (2002) Reduced performance of two specialist herbivores (Lepidoptera : Pieridae, Coleoptera : Chrysomelidae) on new leaves of damaged black mustard plants . Environ. Ecol. 31:714-722 (PDF Reprint: 272 kb)

Traw, M.B. (2002) Is induction response negatively correlated with constitutive resistance in black mustard? . Evolution 56:2196-2205 (PDF Reprint: 137 kb)

How to Contact Brian Traw

US Mail
University of Pittsburgh
Department of Biological Sciences
219 Clapp Hall
4249 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15260

Phone, FAX, Internet
Office : (412) 383-6909
Lab : (412) 383-8995
FAX : (412) 624-4759
Email : mbtraw@pitt.edu
Web :

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