William Thompson

About

William Thompson is a Professor in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at North Carolina State University. His primary research projects involve DNA replication and epigenetics, focusing on characterizing DNA replication programs in Arabidopsis and maize under different developmental circumstances, and elucidating the mechanisms by which epigenetic marks are transmitted to daughter chromosomes during mitosis. He collaborates on projects that investigate how matrix attachment regions influence transgene expression and silencing, and has contributed to understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying these processes. Thompson holds a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from the University of Washington (1970) and a B.A. in Biology from Princeton University (1966). His expertise encompasses plant molecular biology, plant gene expression, epigenetics, and DNA replication. His work has advanced knowledge of genome structure and function, particularly in plants, and has involved extensive use of genomic and sequencing technologies. He has led and participated in multiple funded research projects supported by the National Science Foundation, aiming to explore the spatial organization of DNA replication, epigenome dynamics, and chromatin structure in plant systems, with a focus on maize and Arabidopsis.

Research topics

• Biology
• Genetics
• Computational biology
• Molecular biology
• Cell biology
• Virology
• Evolutionary biology

Selected publications

• Loss of Small-RNA-Directed DNA Methylation in the Plant Cell Cycle Promotes Germline Reprogramming and Somaclonal Variation

  Current Biology · 2020 · 63 citations

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Genome-Wide Analysis of the Arabidopsis Replication Timing Program

  PLANT PHYSIOLOGY · 2018-01-04 · 51 citations

  articleOpen access

  ) Col-0 suspension cells. We identified genomic regions that replicate predominantly during early, mid, and late S phase, and correlated these regions with genomic features and with data for chromatin state, accessibility, and long-distance interaction. Arabidopsis chromosome arms tend to replicate early while pericentromeric regions replicate late. Early and mid-replicating regions are gene-rich and predominantly euchromatic, while late regions are rich in transposable elements and primarily he…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Genomic Analysis of the DNA Replication Timing Program during Mitotic S Phase in Maize (<i>Zea mays</i>) Root Tips

  The Plant Cell · 2017-08-25 · 41 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  ) that includes several different cell lineages and present whole-genome replication timing profiles from cells in early, mid, and late S phase of the mitotic cell cycle. Maize root tips have a complex replication timing program, including regions of distinct early, mid, and late S replication that each constitute between 20 and 24% of the genome, as well as other loci corresponding to ∼32% of the genome that exhibit replication activity in two different time windows. Analyses of genomic, transc…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Defining multiple, distinct, and shared spatiotemporal patterns of DNA replication and endoreduplication from 3D image analysis of developing maize (Zea mays L.) root tip nuclei

  Plant Molecular Biology · 2015-09-22 · 39 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Spatiotemporal patterns of DNA replication have been described for yeast and many types of cultured animal cells, frequently after cell cycle arrest to aid in synchronization. However, patterns of DNA replication in nuclei from plants or naturally developing organs remain largely uncharacterized. Here we report findings from 3D quantitative analysis of DNA replication and endoreduplication in nuclei from pulse-labeled developing maize root tips. In both early and middle S phase nuclei, flow-sort…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A flow cytometric method for estimating S-phase duration in plants

  Journal of Experimental Botany · 2016-10-03 · 30 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The duration of the DNA synthesis stage (S phase) of the cell cycle is fundamental in our understanding of cell cycle kinetics, cell proliferation, and DNA replication timing programs. Most S-phase duration estimates that exist for plants are based on indirect measurements. We present a method for directly estimating S-phase duration by pulse-labeling root tips or actively dividing suspension cells with the halogenated thymidine analog 5-ethynl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) and analyzing the time course…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Global Analysis of Functional Units in Plant Chromosomes: DNA Replication, Domain Structure, and Transcription

  NSF · $5.2M · 2004–2011

• NIH Grant R01GM043108

  NIH · $695k · 1995

Frequent coauthors

• George C. Allen

  North Carolina State University

  36 shared

• John C. Watson

  University of Alabama at Birmingham

  35 shared

• Jeffrey D. Palmer

  35 shared

• David Starr Jordan

  31 shared

• Winslow R. Briggs

  Department of Plant Biology

  26 shared

• Lon S. Kaufman

  Hunter College

  25 shared

• Steven Spiker

  21 shared

• Linda Hanley‐Bowdoin

  North Carolina State University

  21 shared

Education

• (postdoc), Biology

  Harvard University

  1972

• PhD, Botany

  University of Washington

  1970

• A. B., Biology

  Princeton University

  1966

Awards & honors

• NSF CAREER Award (2018)
• Comparative Genomic and Spatial Organization of DNA Replicat…
• GEPR: Epigenome Dynamics During DNA Replication (2011-2018)
• Molecular Mechanisms of MAR Effects in Arabidopsis (2010-201…

Similar researchers at North Carolina State University

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• Candace Haiglerh-48