Research Interests

As a developmental plant physiologist, my major research effort since 1969 has involved in vitro culture of plant tissues in the study of the regulation of growth and organized development (organogenesis mainly, and embryogenesis) in plants through the examination of the structural, physiological and biochemical bases underlying the processes. Much of this research has been on carbohydrate, nitrogen and amino acid utilization and metabolism, and on the action and interaction of phytohormones and other growth active substances. Tobacco callus and excised cotyledons of radiata pine have been the major experimental systems used in studies of involve shoot induction and formation. In studies on somatic embryogenesis white spruce and carrot cell cultures have been the most widely used systems. Present studies include studies on purine and pyrimidine metabolism. A second area of research (from 1975) has been the clonal propagation mainly of woody plants. In this work micropropagation protocols via the multistaged organogenic method and via somatic embryogenesis have been developed for temperate and non-temperate conifers mainly. The overall aim of this research is to develop a basic understanding of how organized development takes place in plants, and to exploit tissue culture technology for applied purposes. The ultimate goal is to be able to manipulate plant growth and differentiation to successfully generate and propagate genetically superior clones of economically important forest, fruit and crop species.

Selected publications

A. Refereed Publications

• Dhaliwal, H.S., E.C. Yeung and T.A. Thorpe. 2004. TIBA inhibition of in vitro organogenesis in excised tobacco leaf
  explants. In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol. Plant 40: 235-238.
• Stasolla, C., Loukanina, N., Yeung, E.C. and Thorpe, T.A. 2004. Alterations in pyrimidine nucleotide metabolism as an
  early signal during the execution of programmed cell death in tobacco BY-2 cells. J. Exp. Bot. 55: 2513-2522.
• Bagh, K., Hiraoki, T., Thorpe, T.A. and Vogel, H.J. (2004). “Nitrogen-15 NMR studies of nitrogen metabolism in spruce
  buds”. Plant Biochem. Physiol. 42:803-809.

  B. Conference/Review Articels, Chapters in Books

• Stasolla C., E.C. Yeung & T.A. Thorpe. 2003. Somatic embryogenesis in white spruce: Physiology and biochemistry. In Agribiotechnology and Plant Tissue Culture. (S.S. Bhojwani & W.-Y. Soh, eds). Science Publishers, Inc. ENfield USA. pp. 7-24
• Thorpe, T.A. 2004. To root or not to root, that is the question: Reflections of a developmental plant physiologist. In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology-Plant 40: 128-142.
• Stasolla, C. & T.A. Thorpe. (2004) Purine and pyrimidine nucleotide synthesis and degradation during in vitro morphogenesis of white spruce (Picea glauca). Frontiers in Bioscience 9: 1506-1519.

  C. Scholarship Refereed Publications

• Trevor Thorpe. 2007. History of Plant Tissue Culture. Molecular Biotechnology. 37: 169-180.
• Metivier, P.S.R., E.C. Yeung, K.R. Patel, and T.A. Thorpe.  2007. In vitro rooting of microshoots of Cotinus coggygria Mill, a woody ornamental plant.  In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol.- Plant 43: 119-123.
• Stasolla, C., N. Loukanina, H. Ashihara, E.C. Yeung, and T.A. Thorpe.  2007.  Comparative studies on pyrimidine metabolism in excised cotyledons of Pinus radiata during shoot formation in vitro.  J. Plant Physiol. 164: 429-441.
• Stasolla, C, N. Loukanina, H. Ashihara, E.C. Yeung and T.A. Thorpe.  2006.  Changes of purine and pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis during shoot initiation from epicotyl explants of white spruce (Picea glauca). Plant Sci. 171: 345-354.
• Stasolla, C., N. Loukanina, E.C. Yeung, and T.A. Thorpe.  2005.  Progression of programmed cell death in tobacco BY-2 cells is delineated by specific changes in de novo and salvage synthesis of purine nucleotides.  Physiol. Plant. 123: 254-261.
• Ashihara, H., C. Stasolia, Y. Yin, N. Loukanina & T.A. Thorpe. 2005. De novo and salvage biosynthetic pathways of pyridine nucleotides and nicotinic acid cinjugates in cultured plant cells. Plant Scence 169: 107-114.
• E. M. Lohmeier-Vogel, N. Loukanina, T.S. Ferrar, G.B. Moorhead and T.A. Thorpe (2005) N-acetylglutamate kinase from
  Daucus carota suspension cultures: embroygenic expression profile, purification and characterization. Plant Physiol.
  Biochem. 43:854-861.

D. Conference/Review Articles, Chapters in Books

• Yeung, E.C. & T.A. Thorpe. 2005. Somatic embryogenesis in Picea glauca. In: Protocols for Somatic Embryogensis in Woody Plants. S.M. Jain & P.K. Gupta (eds.) SPringer, The Netherlands. pp. 47-58.
• Sharma, K.K., P. Bhatnagar-Mathur & T.A. Thorpe. 2005. Genetic transformation technology: status and problems. In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology Plant 41: 102-112.