Deficiencies of metal micronutrients commonly limit plant growth and reduce crop yields. Because plants are the primary dietary source of micronutrients for most people, enhancing their nutritional content has important implications for human health. Guerinot’s team addresses this challenge by combining high-throughput elemental analysis via inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and high-resolution imaging via synchrotron X-ray fluorescence (SXRF) to identify and characterize genes involved in metal uptake, distribution, and storage. Their research focuses on the essential micronutrients iron, manganese, and zinc.
Her team is applying similar methods to investigate how arsenic—a non-threshold, Class 1 human carcinogen—accumulates in plants. This work is especially critical for rice, a staple food for more than half the global population and a major dietary source of arsenic. Understanding the molecular and physiological mechanisms that allow arsenic to enter and accumulate in rice grains is essential for developing strategies to reduce its presence and protect public health.
Mary Lou Guerinot is the Ronald and Deborah Harris Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Dartmouth College. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology at Cornell University and her Ph.D. in biology from Dalhousie University, followed by postdoctoral studies at the University of Maryland and the DOE–MSU Plant Research Laboratory. She has served as chair of the Department of Biological Sciences, Associate Dean of the Faculty for the Sciences, and, Vice Provost. She is a Past President of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and ASPB. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2016. She is a recipient of the Dartmouth Graduate Mentoring Award, the Dean of Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentoring and Advising, and the Dennis R. Hoagland Award and Stephen Hales Prize from ASPB. Professor Guerinot is a molecular geneticist whose principal expertise and research interests are in the areas of metal transport and the regulation of gene expression by metals. For most of the world, plants are the major point of entry for metals into the food chain, so her work is laying the foundation for crops that offer sustainable solutions for malnutrition and for decreasing exposure to toxic metals.
