Plants offer the world its only renewable resource of foods, building material and energy. Plants have highly sophisticated short and long-term adaptive mechanisms to the environment as a result of the simple fact that they cannot alter their location during environmental change. Basic understanding of how plants react to the environment and why they grow the way they do are central to devising a rational approach to secure more food, and food of better quality. Research activities in the Department range from studies on the function and regulation of isolated genes to their interactive behavior in the context of the whole plant. We have developed extensive in-house genomic, bioinformatic and transgenic infrastructure that enables us to isolate novel genes by gene trapping, knockout or map-based cloning. Cloned genes are manipulated and studied by transgenic analysis to establish their potential in the whole plant. Our research as listed below integrates methodologies of molecular biology, protein modeling, genetics, biochemistry, and physiology.
Harnessing light energy and energy transduction in the plant cell. Research is carried out on the basic biophysical phenomenon of photon absorption by chlorophyll through transduction of this energy to ATP and the regulation of energy flux by the plant redox state.
Adaptive response in the plant to the biotic and abiotic environment. Molecular mechanisms that drive the cellular response are investigated under environmental perturbation. Research is directed in understanding the elements that play a role in the recognition of pathogens and the subsequent mounting of plant defense responses.
Plant metabolism and growth. Research is centered around elucidating the pathways for essential amino acids production regulation and storage in the seed and understanding what controls cycles of differentiation and dedifferentiation in plant cells.
Plant genome organization. Molecular tools have been developed to examine the fluidity of the plant genome as described by transposon elements and the concerted evolution of gene families and plant genomes.
A. Danon
Mode of action of redox-signal transduction factors.
Pathway of redox-signaling responsible for light- regulated translation.
RNA-binding proteins controling light-regulated translation.
M. Edelman
Modeling ligand-protein interactions.
Consensus structures for ATP binding sites.
Computer tools for analyzing molecular structures.
Tentoxin: structural mechanism of action.
Genetic engineering of aquatic plants.
M. Edelman, L. Esterman
National Center for Bioinformatic-Genetic Infrastructure.
M. Feldman
Evolution of genomes in polyploid wheat.
M. Feldman, A.A. Levy
Mechanism of polyploidy-induced sequence elimination in wheat.
Molecular response of the wheat genome to polyploidy.
M. Feldman, G. Grafi
Chromosome specific sequences and their possible role in homologous recognition and initiation of meiotic pairing.
M. Feldman
Use of wild germ plasm for wheat improvement: identification, mapping and transfer of useful genes from wild relatives into cultivated wheat.
Production of hybrid wheat.
R. Fluhr
Response of plants to biotic and biotic stress by kinase cascade signalling.
Plant resistance genes and their role as receptor-like proteins for pathogen generated factors. Their role in innate resistance, their architecture, structure-function relationships and evolution.
Role of reactive oxygen species in pathogen defense and signal transduction.
R. Fluhr, O. Davydov
National Center for Plant Genome Research.
Map-based cloning technologies and application of microarray technology to problems in plant growth and environmental response.
G. Galili
Molecular genetic dissection of plant metabolism.
G. Grafi
How Do Plant Cells Dedifferentiate?
We study molecular mechanism(s) underlying the early events that accompany cellular dedifferentiation, i.e., cell-fate switch and cell-fate determination.
We use the tobacco protoplast system and tomato mutants and focus on:
J. Gressel
Analysis of risk of transgene introgression from wheat to grass weeds.
Tandem constructs to mitigate gene flow from transgenic crops to weeds and from mycoherbicidal agents to pathogens.
Elucidation of biochemical pathways common to crops and non-photosynthetic parasitic weeds.
Ascertaining biochemical limitations of parasitic plants, and their defenses to fungal attack.
Transgenically enhancing the virulence of fungi.
J. Gressel, G. Galili
Determine the role of modified oxidant detoxifying enzymes in conferring transient drought tolerance and tolerance to zinc deficiencies in transgenic wheat.
A. Levy
DNA recombination and repair in plants:
Functional genomics in tomato: linking between genes and functions through mutants analysis.
A. Levy, M. Feldman
Variability in gene expression between wild and cultivated wheats.
A. Scherz
Quantification of atoms, groups and molecules electronegati using metal substituted bacteriochlorophylls and application to chemical reactivity.
Resolving the forces which drive membrane protein assembly.
The mechenism behind generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by illuminating novel bacteriochlorophyll derivatives and their application in photodynamic therapy (PDT) of tumors.
This file was last modified on 08/15/2004 15:13:57
e-mail: academic.secretary@weizmann.ac.il
| Current Research Projects | Weizmann Home Page | Academic Secretary Home Page | Search |