= Sabeeha S. Merchant
{c}
<Sabeeha S. Merchant> studies <photosynthesis>, <metabolism> and how <organisms> manage essential <metals>. Her laboratory uses <Chlamydomonas reinhardtii>, a single-celled green alga, to investigate responses to limitations of <iron> and <copper>. Such limitations raise a concrete biochemical question: which essential tasks can a <biological cell> maintain when several <proteins> compete for a scarce <chemical element>? https://mcbdev.berkeley.edu/faculty/bbs/merchants[Berkeley faculty profile, Research Interests and Metal Economy]{ref}
Merchant is the first author of the 2007 report of the approximately 120-million-base-pair nuclear <genome> of <Chlamydomonas reinhardtii>. The team used <comparative genomics> to identify candidate <genes> associated with <chloroplasts> and <flagella>. The organism is revealing because it combines <photosynthesis> with motile <flagella>: comparisons with photosynthetic and nonphotosynthetic <organisms> can help distinguish these functional groups. Shared occurrence across species suggests candidate functions; experimental tests are still needed to establish what an individual <protein> does.<The Chlamydomonas Genome Reveals the Evolution of Key Animal and Plant Functions by Sabeeha S. Merchant and others>[Science 318, 245–250; abstract and comparative analyses]{ref}
\Image[https://biology.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/styles/openberkeley_brand_widgets_rectangle/public/merchant.jpg?itok=GiAdMBou×tamp=1750353682]
{title=Sabeeha S. Merchant}
{description=Portrait identified on https://biology.berkeley.edu/people/sabeeha-merchant[her Berkeley Biological Sciences profile].}
{height=300}
Back to article page
