Patrick Horn | BioDiscovery Institute
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Patrick Horn

Assistant Professor
Patrick.horn2@unt.edu
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Patrick Horn, Ph.D., received his B.S. degree in Biochemistry from The University of Texas at Austin in 2008. He then earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 2013 at UNT, under the supervision of Dr. Kent Chapman, completing his dissertation entitled "Development of Enabling Technologies to Visualize the Plant Lipidome." As a postdoctoral research associate, he worked with both Dr. John Ohlrogge and Dr. Christoph Benning at Michigan State University. In 2018, he joined the Dept of Biology faculty at East Carolina University where he started his own research lab. His past research has led to several significant discoveries, across multiple hierarchical scales, for example revealing the spatial distribution of lipids in plant tissues, new lipid droplet-associated proteins with novel metabolic and developmental functions, mechanistic insights into the metabolism and regulation of lipid metabolism in seeds and vegetative tissues, improvements in engineering high-value oils, and insights into photosynthetic membrane remodeling and stress responses. In 2022, Dr. Horn joined the Dept of Biological Sciences and the BioDiscovery Institute at UNT. Dr. Horn's lab at UNT will center on the identification and characterization of proteins involved in bioproduct metabolism with an emphasis on plant lipid pathways. Acquired knowledge from these projects will be used in translational efforts to crop systems with an emphasis on understanding the impacts of dynamic environmental conditions on bioproduct metabolism.

Current Research Interests
  • Plant bioproducts for human health and industrial applications
  • Structural characterization of plant enzymes
  • Redox processes in photosynthetic membranes
  • Plant productivity in enhanced-stress environments

For Prospective Graduate Students

Apply to the Graduate Program in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Current Grant Funded Projects
  • 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.
  • United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute for Food and Agriculture, Equipment Grants Program (USDA NIFA EGP). A Laser Microdissection System to Enhance Agricultural and Food Research in the North Texas and Southern Oklahoma Region (PI Brian G. Ayre; Roisin C. McGarry, Vanessa M. Macias, Patrick J. Horn, and Jyoti Shah Co-PIs). 9/1/2023-8/31/2027.
Recent Significant Publications
  1. Cannon AE, Horn PJ (2023). The Molecular Frequency, Conservation and Role of Reactive Cysteines in Plant Lipid Metabolism. Plant and Cell Physiology- Special Issue in Plant and Algal Lipids. Pcad163 doi.org/10.1093/pcp/pcad163
  2. Horn PJ, Chapman KD (2023). Imaging plants in situ. Journal of Experimental Botany- Special Issue in Plant Metabolism. erad423 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erad423
  3. Borisjuk L, Horn P, Chapman, K, Jakob PM, Gündel A, Rolletschek H (2023). Seeing plants as never before. New Phytologist Tansley Review 238, 1775-1794. doi.org/10.1111/nph.18871
  4. Hoh D, Horn P, Kanazawa A, Froehlich JE, Cruz J, Tessmer O, Hall D, Yin L, Benning C, Kramer, DM (2022). Genetically-determined variations in photosynthesis indicate roles for specific fatty acid species in chilling responses. Plant, Cell & Environment 45, 1682-1697. doi.org/10.1111/pce.14313
  5. Armstrong NM, Spragley KJ, Chen WM, Hsu FC, Brewer MS, Horn PJ, Williams SR, Sale MM, Worrall BB, Keene KL (2021). Multi-omic analysis of stroke recurrence in African Americans from the Vitamin Intervention for Stroke Prevention (VISP) clinical trial. PLOS One. 16, e0247257. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247257
  6. Horn, PJ (2021). Where Do the Electrons Go? How numerous redox processes drive phytochemical diversity. Phytochemistry Reviews, 20, 367-407. doi.org/10.1007/s11101-020-09738-w
  7. Horn PJ, Smith DM, Clark RT, Froehlich JF, and Benning C. PEROXIREDOXIN Q Stimulates the Activity of the Chloroplast 16:1Δ3trans Fatty Acid Desaturase FAD4 (2020). The Plant Journal 56, 2457-2464. doi:10.1111/tpj.14657.
  8. Zienkiewicz A, Zienkiewicz K, Poliner E, Pulman JA, Du Z-Y, Stefano G, Tsai C-H, Horn PJ, Feussner I, Farre EM, Childs K, Brandizzi F, Benning C (2020). The Microalga Nannochloropsis during transition from quiescence to autotrophy in response to nitrogen availability. Plant Physiology 192, 1043-1055. doi.org/10.1104/pp.19.00854.
Patents
  • 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