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West Virginia University Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

Lynch, Joseph

Joseph Lynch-Assistant Professor
304-293-9240 joseph.lynch1@mail.wvu.edu

Assistant Professor

Dr Lynch grew up in rural Washington State and received his BS in Biology from Gonzaga University. He then earned his PhD from Washington State University in the Molecular Plant Sciences program, with his graduate research in the lab of Dr Sanja Roje focusing on the metabolism of flavin cofactors. After completion of his degree, he took a postdoctoral position in Dr Natalia Dudareva’s lab at Purdue University studying the production and release of phenylpropanoid/benzenoid volatiles in plants. During his postdoc, he helped elucidate a cytosolic pathway for synthesis of the amino acid phenylalanine in plants that operates in parallel to the canonical plastidial biosynthetic pathway, and contributed to the characterization of membrane-bound transporters that shuttle metabolites throughout the cell. His current research focuses on the intercompartmental nature of plant metabolism, with a particular interest in how apparent functional redundancy of pathways sustains and regulates specialized metabolism. The overarching goals of this research are to better understand agriculturally and ecologically relevant stress responses, and to enable enhanced production of beneficial phytochemicals.
 

Publications

  1. Lynch, Joseph H., Huang, X.Q., and Dudareva, N. (2021) Silent constraints: the hidden challenges faced in plant metabolic engineering. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 69: 112-117.
  2. Liao, Pan, Ray, S., Boachon, B., Lynch, J.H., Deshpande, A., McAdam, S., Morgan, J.A., and Dudareva, N. (2021) Cuticle thickness affects dynamics of volatile emission from petunia flowers. Nature Chemical Biology, 17: 138-145. (Cover)
  3.  Lynch, Joseph H., Pichersky, E., and Dudareva, N. (2020) “Floral scent metabolic pathways and their regulation,” in Biology of Plant Volatiles, ed. E. Pichersky and N. Dudareva (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press).
  4.  Lynch, Joseph H.*, Qian, Y.*, Guo, L., Maoz, I, Huang, X., Garcia, A., Louie, G., Bowman, M.E., Noel, J.P., Morgan, J.A., and Dudareva, N. (2020) Modulation of auxin formation by the cytosolic phenylalanine biosynthetic pathway. Nature Chemical Biology, 16(8): 850-856 (*Equal Contributors)
  5.  Lynch, Joseph H. and Dudareva, N. (2020) Aromatic amino acid metabolism in plants: An intercompartmental network ripe for exploration. TRENDS in Plant Science, 25(7): 670-681.
  6.  Jantzen, Friederike, Lynch, J.H., Kappel, C., Höfflin, J., Skaliter, O., Wozniak, N., Sicard, A., Sas, C., Adebesin, F., Ravid, J., Vainstein, A., Hilker, M., Dudareva, N., and Lenhard, M. (2019) Retracing the molecular basis and evolutionary history of the loss of benzaldehyde emission in the genus Capsella. New Phytologist, 224(3): 1349-1360.
  7.  Boachon, Benoit, Lynch, J.H., Ray, S., Yuan, J., Caldo, K.M.P., Junker, R.R., Kessler, S.A., Morgan, J.A., and Dudareva, N. (2019) Natural fumigation as a mechanism for volatile transport between flower organs. Nature Chemical Biology, 15(6): 583. (Cover)
  8.  Qian, Yichun*, Lynch, J.H.*, Guo, L., Rhodes, D., Morgan, J.A., and Dudareva, N. (2019) Completion of the cytosolic post-chorismate phenylalanine biosynthetic pathway in plants. Nature Communications, 10(1): 15. (*Equal contributors)
  9.  Henry, Laura K., Thomas, S.T., Widhalm, J.R., Lynch, J.H., Davis, T.C., Kessler, S.A., Bohlman, J., Noel, J.P., and Dudareva, N. (2018) Contribubution of Isopentenyl Phosphate to Plant Terpenoid Metabolism. Nature Plants, 4(9): 721.
  10.  Lynch, Joseph H., Sa, N., Raffaelli, N., and Roje, S. (2018) A Non-Nudix FAD Pyrophosphatase Modulates Flavin Homeostasis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. PLOS One, 13(6): e0198787.
  11.  Adebesin, Funmi, Widhalm, J.R., Lynch, J.H., McCoy, R., and Dudareva, N. (2018) A Peroxisomal Thioesterase Plays Auxiliary Roles in Plant β-Oxidative Benzoic Acid Metabolism. The Plant Journal, 93(5): 905-916.
  12.  Lynch, Joseph H., Orlova, I., Zhao, C., Guo, L., Jaini, R., Maeda, H., Akhtar, T., Cruz-Lebron, J., Rhodes, D., Morgan, J., Pilot, G., Pichersky, E., and Dudareva, N. (2017). Multifaceted Plant Reponses to Circumvent Phe Hyperaccumulation by Downregulation of Flux through the Shikimate Pathway and by Vacuolar Phe Sequestration. The Plant Journal. 92 (5): 939-950.
  13.  Adebesin, Funmi, Widhalm, J. R., Boachon, B., Lefèvre, F., Pierman, B., Lynch, J.H., Alam, I., Junqueira, B., Benke, R., Ray, S., Porter, J.A., Yanagisawa, M., Wetzstein, H.Y., Morgan, J.A., Boutry, M., Schuurink, R.C., and Dudareva, N. (2017). Emission of volatile organic compounds from petunia flowers is facilitated by an ABC transporter. Science, 356(6345), 1386-1388. (Cover)
  14.  Widhalm, Joshua R., Gutensohn, M., Yoo, H., Adebesin, F., Qian, Y., Guo, L., Jaini, R., Lynch, J.H., McCoy, R.M., Shreve, J.T., Thimmapuram, J., Rhodes, D., Morgan, J.A., and Dudareva, N. (2015) Identification of a plastidial phenylalanine exporter that influences flux distribution through the phenylalanine biosynthetic network. Nature Communications, 6:8142.

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