Kent Chapman | BioDiscovery Institute
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Kent Chapman

BDI Director, Regents Professor
940-565-2969
Kent.Chapman@unt.edu
Chapman Lab Members
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Kent Chapman earned a Ph.D. degree in botany from Arizona State University in 1991. After completing his doctoral degree, Chapman was awarded an NSF postdoctoral fellowship to study plant biochemistry at Louisiana State University. In 1993, he accepted a position as a tenure-track, Assistant Professor at the University of North Texas (UNT). During the last 30+ years, Chapman has developed an internationally-recognized research program in plant biochemistry and cell biology, specifically in the area of plant lipid metabolism, storage and function. Chapman proposed and co-chaired the inaugural Gordon Research Conference on Plant Lipids in 2009, which is now a permanent, standing GRC. In 2010 he was appointed UNT Regents Professor of Biochemistry and in 2014, took leave to serve a rotating term as Program Director at the US National Science Foundation. Chapman was awarded the Terry Galliard Medal in 2020 for contributions in plant lipid biochemistry, and in 2021 was named Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists. He is Executive Editor for Progress in Lipid Research and reviewing editor for The Plant Cell. Chapman currently serves as Director of the BioDiscovery Institute, one of four institutes of research excellence at UNT, where his research is focused on the biogenesis of lipid droplets in plant cells, plant metabolic engineering and lipid imaging technologies.

CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Lipid signaling in plants.
  • Biogenesis of lipid droplets in plant cells.
  • Plant lipids for human health and industrial applications.
  • Lipidomics in tissues and organelles.

CURRENT GRANT-FUNDED PROJECTS

  • United States Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Physical Biosciences program. Elucidating the Cellular Machinery for Lipid Storage in Plants. (PI, Kent Chapman; Yingqi Cai, Co-PI). 9/1/2023- 8/31/2026 (DE-SC0016536).
  • National Science Foundation- Integrative Organismal Systems. Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolases and Chemical Communication in Plants. (Kent Chapman PI, Mina Aziz Co-PI). 7/1/2021-6/30/2025. (IOS 2051636).
  • Cotton Incorporated. Cotton Transformation Facility (Kent Chapman, PI). 1/1/20-12/31/25.
  • United States Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research program. Functional Analysis of Candidate Genes Involved in Oil Storage and Stability in Pennycress. (PI Ana Alonso; Kent Chapman and Erich Grotewold, Co-PIs). 9/15/2019 - 9/14/2024 (DE-SC0020325).
  • United Stated Department of Agriculture- National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Elucidating Cyclic Fatty Acid Biosynthesis and Compartmentalization to Improve Cottonseed Value (PI, Patrick Horn; Kent Chapman, Co-PI). 3/15/2022- 3/14/2025.
  • W.M. Keck Foundation. Greenhouse based production of fungal-derived medicines. (PI Elizabeth Skellam; Kent Chapman, Ana Alonso Mike Carroll (Co-PIs). 1/1/2023-12/31/2025.

RECENT SIGNIFICANT PUBLICATIONS

  1. Horn PJ, KD Chapman (2023) Imaging plant metabolism in situ, J Exp Bot, Vol. 75(6): 1654-167, erad423, https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erad423.
  2. Arias-Gaguancela O, M Aziz, KD Chapman (2023) Fatty acid amide hydrolase and 9-lipoxygenase modulate cotton seedling growth by ethanolamide oxylipin levels. Plant Physiology 191(2): 1234-1253, kiac556, https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiac556.
  3. Guzha A, Whitehead P, Ischebeck T, Chapman KD (2023) Lipid Droplets: Packing Hydrophobic Molecules Within the Aqueous Cytoplasm. Annual Review of Plant Biology, 74: 195-223. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-arplant-070122-021752
  4. Borisjuk, L., Horn, P., Chapman, K.D., Jakob, P.M., Gündel, A. and Rolletschek, H. (2023) Seeing Plants As Never Before. New Phytologist 238 (5), 1775-1794. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18871 Tansley Review.
  5. Busta L, KD Chapman, EB Cahoon (2022) Better together: Protein partnerships for lineage-specific oil accumulation. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 66: 102191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbi.2022.102191.
  6. M Pyc, Gidda SK, Seay D, Esnay N, Kretzschmar FK, Cai Y, Doner NM, Greer MS, Hull JJ, Coulon D, Bréhélin C, Yurchenko O, de Vries J, Valerius O, Braus GH, Ischebeck T, Chapman KD, Dyer JM, Mullen RT (2021) LDIP cooperates with SEIPIN and LDAP to facilitate lipid droplet biogenesis in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 33(9): 3076-3103. Cover. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab179.
  7. A Kilaru, KD Chapman (2020) The endocannabinoid system. Essays in Biochemistry, 64 (3): 485- 499. https://doi.org/10.1042/EBC20190086
  8. MS Greer, Y Cai, SK Gidda, N Esnay, FK Kretzschmar, D Seay, E McClinchie, T Ischebeck, RT Mullen, JM Dyer, KD Chapman (2020) SEIPIN Isoforms Interact with the Membrane-tethering Protein VAP27-1 for Lipid Droplet Formation. Plant Cell, 32 (9), 2932-2950, http://www.plantcell.org/content/32/9/2932.full
  9. Salimath SS, TB Romsdahl, AR Konda, W Zhang, EB Cahoon, MK Dowd, TC Wedegaertner, KD Hake, KD Chapman (2021) Production of Tocotrienols in Seeds of Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) Enhances Oxidative Stability and Offers Nutraceutical Potential. Plant Biotechnology Journal, https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.13557
  10. Sturtevant D, S Lu, Z-W Zhou, Y Shen, S Wang, J-M Song, J Zhong, DJ Burks, Z-Q Yang, Q-Y Yang, AE Cannon, C Herrfurth, I Feussner, L Borisjuk, E Munz, GF Verbeck, X Wang, RK Azad, B Singleton, JM Dyer, L-L Chen*, KD Chapman*, L Guo* (2020) The genome of jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis): a taxonomically-isolated species that directs wax-ester accumulation in its seeds. Science Advances, 6 (11), eaay3240. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aay3240
  11. Aziz M, KD Chapman (2020) Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolases: An Expanded Capacity for Chemical Communication? Trends in Plant Science, 25(3):236-249 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2019.11.002

PATENTS (9 issued, 1 pending)

  1. US patent #7,199,082, issued April 3, 2007. (WO 01/30143) Methods For Extending The Freshness Of Cut Flowers, Ornamental Trees, And Plant Cuttings, PCT/US00/29959. Kent D. Chapman and Shea Austin-Brown Inventors; University of North Texas is patent holder. Published May 5, 2001, priority date October 28, 1999.
  2. US patent #7,316,928, issued Jan 8, 2008. (WO 2005/001100) Plant Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolases, PCT/US2004/017690. Kent D. Chapman, Rhidaya Shrestha, Elison Blancaflor, Richard A. Dixon, Published on January 6, 2005, Priority date June 4, 2003. UNT and Noble Foundation are patent holders.
  3. US Patent #8,097,768, issued January 17, 2012. Method of enhancing quality factors in cotton; Hake; Kater Davis; (Germantown, TN) ; Chapman; Kent Dean; (Denton, TX) ; Kerby; Thomas Arthur; (Scott, MS); Speed; Thomas Rainey; (Wolfforth, TX); Published on February 1, 2007, Priority date June 9, 2006. U.S. Patent Application #11/449,873 UNT and Delta and Pine Land Co. UNT is patent holder.
  4. US Patent #8,507,754, issued August 13, 2013. Engineering Lipids in Vegetative tissues of Plants. Chapman; Kent Dean (Denton Texas); Anderson, Richard G.W. (Dallas, TX). Filed January 31, 2010 (US Patent Application #12696037). Priority Date January 31, 2009. UNT and UT systems are joint patent holders.
  5. US Patent #9,474,271, issued October 25, 2016- Method For Enhancing Amidohydrolase Activity of Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase. John, George (New York, NY); Nagarajan, Subbiah (New York, NY); Chapman, Kent (Denton, TX); Faure, Lionel (Flower Mound, TX); Koulen, Peter (Leawood, KS). Research Foundation of the City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
  6. US Patent #9,849,101, issued December 26, 2017. Method For Enhancing Amidohydrolase Activity of Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase. John, George (New York, NY); Nagarajan, Subbiah (New York, NY); Chapman, Kent (Denton, TX); Faure, Lionel (Flower Mound, TX); Koulen, Peter (Leawood, KS). Research Foundation of the City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
  7. US Patent # 10,238,056- HIGH OLEIC SEED OIL TRAIT IN COTTON VARIETIES TO ELEVATE THE OLEIC ACID CONTENT OF COTTONSEED OIL. Chapman, Kent Dean (Denton, TX); Horn, Patrick (Holt, MI); Sturtevant, Drew (Southlake, TX); Kennedy, Christopher (Ft. Worth, TX). Issued March 26, 2019
  8. US Patent # 10,308,950- METHODS FOR INCREASING OIL CONTENT IN PLANT TISSUES BY SUPPRESSING HYDROPHOBIC LIPID DROPLET PROTEIN. Chapman, Kent (Denton, TX); Mullen Robert (Guelph, Ontario, Canada); Pyc Michel (Guelph, Ontario, Canada); Dyer, John (Maricopa, AZ). Issued June 4, 2019
  9. US Patent #11136525- LIQUID AND SEMISOLID LUBRICANT COMPOSITIONS, METHODS OF MAKING, AND USES THEREOF Inventor(s): Diana Berman, Kent Dean Chapman, Trevor Bradley Romsdahl, Edgar Benjamin Cahoon, Robert Earl Minto, December 14, 2018. Issued October 5, 2021.
  10. US Patent Application # 17678269- METHODS FOR INCREASING TISSUE STORAGE LIPIDS BY DISRUPTING PLANT LIPID REGULATORY SUPPRESSOR GENE, Inventors, Kent Chapman, Ann Price, Kevin Mutore, submitted February 23, 2022 (Provisional filing March 15, 2021).