Email

paul.nakata@usda.gov

Positions

Research Molecular Biologist

USDA-ARS
Children's Nutrition Research Center
Houston, Texas

Associate Professor

Pediatrics-Nutrition
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas United States

Director

USDA-ARS CNRC
Plant Growth Facility
Houston, Texas

Education

BA from San Jose State University

San Jose, California United States

Chemistry Concentration in Biochemistry

MS from Washington State University

Pullman, Washington United States

Biochemistry and Biophysics

PhD from Washington State University

Pullman, Washington United States

Biochemistry and Biophysics

Honors & Awards

Top 2% cited author worldwide

DOI: 10.17632/btchxktzyw.2

USDA Merit Award (18)

Certificate of Reviewing Excellence

Elsevier Plant Science

Award of Recognition, Top 10 most cited author

Elsevier, Plant Science

Professional Interests

• Nutrient partitioning in plants and its manipulation for improvements in the nutritional quality and productivity of plant foods

Professional Statement

My research program seeks to understand how and why organisms’ biosynthesize oxalate, catabolize oxalate, and form crystals of calcium oxalate. In plant foods, oxalate exists in two general forms, soluble and insoluble, and each form can have a negative impact on the health of the person consuming the plant food. In the soluble form, oxalate can be absorbed directly from the diet and contribute to the pathological condition of renal stone formation. In the insoluble form, oxalate acts as an antinutrient by binding to certain minerals (e.g., calcium) and rendering the bound mineral unavailable for nutritional absorption. Given the impact of oxalate on human health as well as the important roles for oxalate in the growth and development of the plant (e.g., resistance to environmental stress), a more comprehensive understanding of plant oxalates is desired.

Our current focus is to decipher the pathways of calcium oxalate crystal formation and oxalate degradation in plants. To accomplish this goal, we are taking an integrated approach by combining methodologies from genetics, genomics, biochemistry, and cellular biology to identify and characterize the genes and proteins that make up these pathways. Such studies will not only broaden our fundamental understanding of the mechanisms controlling the formation of the calcium oxalate biomineral, but will confer the ability to deconstruct and reconstruct this biomineralization process in selected crops. This ability will allow us to rationally design strategies aimed at improving the nutritional quality (e.g., calcium bioavailability) and production (e.g., insect resistance) of plant foods.

Websites

Selected Publications

• Wang L, Lin H, Yang B, Jiang X, Chen J, Chowdhury SR, Cheng N, Nakata PA, Lonard DM, Wang MC, Wang J "Development of a Novel Amplifiable System to Quantify Hydrogen Peroxide in Living Cells." J Am Chem Soc. 2024 Aug 14;146(32):22103-22862. Pubmed PMID: 39079063
• Lan HJ, Ran J, Wang WX, Zhang L, Wu NN, Zhao YT, Huang MJ, Ni M, Liu F, Cheng N, Nakata PA, Pan J, Whitham SA, Baker BJ, Liu JZ. "Clathrin Light Chains negatively regulate plant immunity by hijacking the autophagy pathway." Plant Commun. 2024 Apr; Pubmed PMID: 38693694
• Cheng N, Nakata PA. "Disruption of the Arabidopsis Acyl-Activating Enzyme 3 Impairs Seed Coat Mucilage Accumulation and Seed Germination." Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Jan;25(2):1149. Pubmed PMID: 38256222
• Li J-M, Ye M-Y, Wang C, Ma X-H, Wu N-N, Zhong C-L, Zhang Y, Cheng N, Nakata PA, Zeng L, Liu J-Z "Soybean GmSAUL1, a Bona Fide U-Box E3 Ligase, Negatively Regulates Immunity Likely through Repressing the Activation of GmMPK3." Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023;24(7):6240. Pubmed PMID: 37047211

Memberships

American Chemical Society

American Society of Plant Biologists