Recognizing Plant Physiology authors: Marianne Slaten

Marianne Slaten, first author of mGWAS Uncovers Gln-Glucosinulate Seed-Specific Interaction and its Role in metabolic Homeostasis

Current Position: PhD candidate, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

Education: PhD student in the research group of Dr. Ruthie Angelovici, University of Missouri, Columbia, M.Sc in Plant Breeding and Genetics, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA, and B.Sc in Agricultural Sciences, Truman State University, Kirksville, MO, USA

Non-scientific interests: traveling, outdoors and exercising, and family and friends

Brief bio: I have always been fascinated by the intersection of genetics and nutrition and its implications on human health and our society. My academic career started broadly by gaining a greater understanding of the modern agricultural systems and was further defined by an emphasis in plant genetics, and even more so, bioinformatics and computational biology. Most recently as a member of the Angelovici Lab, my research takes a systems biology approach to uncover key genes involved in the regulation of amino acid composition in the seed. The identification of such genes will aid future biofortification efforts in creating a seed with a more balanced protein content. To that end, this manuscript presents major findings by identifying a novel interaction between primary and secondary metabolism in the seed.