Eyal Fridman

Radiation, adaptation and hybridization: Consequences and applications

Species radiation and divergence involve the change in the genetic make-up as a result of both selection and stochastic processes. Hybridization of these diverged genomes within hybrids leads to novel phenotypes, including transgressive segregation and heterosis, in which the hybrids surpass its (homozygous) parents for growth and reproductive fitness. We study the interplay between genetic and phenotypic diversity in natural and mostly in experimental plant and yeast populations. This includes a continuous development of mapping populations and integration of genomic and resequencing data for studying the sources for genetic variation (in wild barley) and its association with complex phenotypes (initially in tomato and currently in sorghum and yeasts).

The results of these studies should serve as a road map for unraveling hitherto unknown mechanisms underlying crop productivity, as well as understanding the possible role balancing selection plays in shaping and maintaining genetic diversity under changing environments.

• Ben-Israel, I., Nida, H., Kilian, B., and Fridman, E. (2012) Heterotic trait locus (HTL) mapping identifies intra-locus interactions that underlie reproductive hybrid vigor in Sorghum bicolor. PLoS One (In press).
• Hübner, S., Günther, T., Flavell, A., Graner, A., Fridman, E., Korol, A., and Schmid, K. (2012) Islands and streams: Clusters and gene flow in wild barley populations from the Levant. Mol Ecol 21:1115-1129.
• Yu, G., Nguyen, T.H., Guo, Y., Schauvinhold, I., Auldridge, M. , Bhuiyan, N. , Ben-Israel, I., Iijima, Y., Fridman, E., Noel, J.P. , Pichersky, E. (2010) Enzymatic functions of wild tomato Solanum habrochaites glabratum methylketone synthases 1 and 2. Plant Phys 154(1):67-77.
• Ben-Israel, I., Geng, Y., Adato, A., Auldrige, M., Nguyen, T., Schauvinhold, I., Aharoni, A., Noel, J., Pichersky, E., and Fridman, E. (2009) Multiple biochemical and morphological factors underlie the production of methylketones in tomato trichomes. Plant Phys 151(4):1952-1964. (Cover paper)
• Hübner, S., Höffken, M., Oren, E., Haseneyer, G., Stein, N., Graner, A., Schmid, K., and Fridman, E. (2009) Strong correlation of wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) population structure with temperature and precipitation variation. Mol Ecol 18:1523-1536.
• Shemesh, K., Iijima, Y., and Fridman, E. (2008) Targeted and non-targeted mutagenesis of metabolic pathways in medicinal plants and herbs. Israel J Plant Sci 55: 115-123.
• Koeduka, T.*, Fridman, E.*, Gang, D.R.*, Vassão, D.G., Jackson, B.L., Kish, C.M., Orlova, I., Spassova, S.M., Lewis, N.G., Noel, J.P., Baiga, T.J. , Dudareva, N., Pichersky, E. (2006) Eugenol and isoeugenol, characteristic aromatic constituents of spices, are biosynthesized via reduction of a coniferyl alcohol ester. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103: 10128-10133. (* Equal contribution; cover paper)
• Fridman, E., Wang, J., Iijima, Y., Froehlich, J.E., Gang, D.R., Ohlrogge, J. and Pichersky, E.(2005) Metabolic, genomic and biochemical analyses of glandular trichome from the wild tomato species Lycopersicon hirsutum identify a key enzyme in the methylketone biosynthetic pathway. Plant Cell 17: 1252-1267.
• Fridman, E. and Pichersky, E. (2005) Metabolomics, proteomics, genomics and identification of enzymes substrates. Curr Opin Plant Bio 8: 242-248.
• Forouhar, F., Yang, Y., Kumar, D., Chen, Y. , Fridman, E., Wook, P.S., Chiang, Y., Acton, T.B., Montelione, G.T., Pichersky, E., Klessig, D.F. and Liang, T.L. (2005) Structural and biochemical studies identify tobacco SABP2 as a methyl salicylate esterase and implicate it in plant innate immunity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102: 1773-1778.
• Iijima, Y., Gang, D.R., Fridman, E., Lewinsohn, E. and Pichersky, E. (2004) Characterization of geraniol synthase from the peltate glands of sweet basil. Plant Phys. 134: 370-379.
• Iijima,Y., Davidovich-Rikanati, R., Fridman, E., Gang, D.R., Bar, E., Lewinsohn, E.I and Pichersky, E. (2004) The biochemical and molecular basis for the divergent patterns in the biosynthesis of terpenes and phenylpropenes in the peltate glands of three cultivars of basil (Ocimum basilicum) . Plant Phys. 136: 3724-3736.
• Fridman, E.*, Carrari, F.*, Liu, Y.S., Fernie, A. and Zamir, D. (2004) Zooming-in on a quantitative trait for tomato yield using wild species introgression lines. Science 305: 1786-1789. (* Equal contribution)
• Fridman, E. and Zamir, D. (2003) Functional divergence of a syntenic invertase gene family in tomato, potato and Arabidopsis. Plant Phys. 131: 603-609.
• Fridman, E., Liu, Y.S., Carmel-Goren, L., Gur, A., Shoresh, M., Pleban, T., Eshed, Y. and Zamir, D. (2002) Two tightly linked QTLs modify tomato sugar content via distinct physiological pathways. Mol. Genet. Genomics 266: 821-826.
• Monforte, A.J., Fridman, E., Zamir, D. and Tanksley, S.D. (2001) Comparison of a set of allelic QTL-NILs for chromosome 4 of tomato: Deductions about natural variation and implications for germplasm utilization. Theor. Appl. Genet. 102: 572-590.
• Fridman, E., Pleban, T. and Zamir, D. (2000) A recombination hotspot delimits a wild species QTL for tomato sugar content to 484-bp within an invertase gene. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97: 4718-4723.
• Fulton, T.M., Grandillo, S., Beck-Bunn, T., Fridman, E., Frampton, A., Lopez, J., Petiard, V., Uhlig, J. ,Zamir, D. and Tanksley, S.D. (2000) Advanced backcross analysis of Lycopersicon esculentum x L. parviflorum cross. Theor. Appl. Genet. 100: 1025-1042.

Imri Ben-Israel
PhD student

Ilana Glikaite
MSc student

Habte Nida
MSc student

Heelee Bonfil
Student

Shula Blum

Technician

PhD student for studying the molecular basis of heterosis in plants

This is a project funded by BARD for the next three years (2012-2015), in collaboration with the lab of Jianming Yu at Kansas State University. The candidate should have strong background in common molecular biology bench work as well as interest in working with quantitative geneticists and bioinformaticians.

Please send your CV to fridmane@agri.huji.ac.il.