General Research Interests
We are interested in understanding how different plant species use
different environmental cues (changes in temperature, photoperiod,
light quality and light intensity) to correctly time the transition to
flowering. The season in which different plants flower is of immense
importance to their ecosystem and to human needs, especially in
agriculture. . One of the main topics in our lab is the affect of
ambient temperatures on flowering time. This has become a relevant and
potent topic since trends of global warming will have a huge impact on
both nature and mankind through expected changes in flowering time of
different plant species. All plants seem to share some basic molecular
components involved in this transition such as the FT protein. We are
working on several species which respond oppositely to certain
environmental cues, and we are trying to understand the molecular basis
of these differences. Aside from our basic interest in this process we
are interested in developing general platforms to either delay or
expedite the transition to flowering in plants with agronomic
importance.
We are using several approaches to study these topics, including
physiology, molecular genetics, genetics, molecular biology and
chemical genetics.
The Main Species We Are Working On In The Lab Are:
Arabidopsis thaliana
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Medicago truncatula (Barrel Medic)
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Passiflora edulis (Passion Fruit)
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Solanum lycopersicum (Tomato)
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Past and Current Lab Members
Revital Amin
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Ravit Eshed
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Yael Assouline
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Ayala Gover
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Dr. Ehud Katz
UC Davis
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Kamy Singer
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Judith Paltiel
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Nahum Nave
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Anat Elbaz
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Paula Teper Bamnolker
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Hamutal Lotan
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Joint Students With:
Funding:
Collaborations:
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Doug Cook, UC
Davis
George
Coupland, MPIZ, KolnGermany
Seth Davis, MPIZ, KolnGermany
Paul Schulze-Lefert, MPIZ, KolnGermany
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Ron
Porat, ARO
Shmuel
Zilkah, ARO
Moshe Fleishman, ARO
Tzahi
Arazi, ARO
Jaime Kigel, HUJI
Rachel
Green, HUJI
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Naomi Ori , HUJI
David Weiss, HUJI
Alexander Vainstein, HUJI
Nir Ohad, TAU
Shaul Yalovsky, TAU
Eliezer
Lifschitz, Technion
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Publications:
Samach, A., and Lotan, H. (2007). The transition to flowering in
tomato. Plant Biotechnology 24, In Press.
Wenkel, S., Turck, F., Singer, K., Gissot, L., Le Gourrierec,
J., Samach, A., and Coupland, G.(2006). CONSTANS and the CCAAT Box
Binding Complex Share a Functionally Important Domain and Interact to
Regulate Flowering of Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 18, 2971-2984.
Ben-Naim, O., Eshed, R., Parnis, A., Teper-Bamnolker, P., Shalit,
A., Coupland, G., Samach, A., and Lifschitz, E. (2006). The CCAAT
binding factor can mediate between CONSTANS-like proteins and DNA.
Plant Journal 46, 462-476.
Hasdai, M., Weiss, B., Levi, A., Samach, A., and Porat,
R. (2006). Differential responses of Arabidopsis ecotypes to cold,
chilling and freezing temperatures. Annals of applied biology.
148: 113-120.
Sapitnitskaya, M., Maul, P., McCollum, G.T., Guy, C.L.,
Weiss, B., Samach, A., and Porat, R. (2006). Postharvest Heat and
Conditioning Treatments Activate Different Molecular Responses and
Reduce Chilling Injuries in Grapefruit. J Exp Bot 57, 2943-2953.
Paltiel, J., Amin, R., Gover, A., Ori, N., and Samach, A.
(2006). Novel roles for GIGANTEA revealed under environmental
conditions that modify its expression in Arabidopsis and Medicago
truncatula. Planta 224, 1255-1268.
Samach, A., and Wigge, P.A. (2005). Ambient temperature
perception in plants. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 8,
483-486.
Teper-Bamnolker, P., and Samach, A. (2005). The flowering
integrator FT regulates SEPALLATA3 and FRUITFULL accumulation in
Arabidopsis leaves. Plant Cell 17, 2661-2675.
Yanai, O., Shani, E., Dolezal, K., Tarkowski, P., Sablowski,
R., Sandberg, G., Samach, A., and Ori, N. (2005). Arabidopsis KNOXI
Proteins Activate Cytokinin Biosynthesis. Curr Biol 15,
1566-1571.
Porat, R., Rozenzvieg, D., Lurie, S., and Samach, A. (2005).
Induction of chilling tolerance in grapefruit: Physiological and
molecular aspects. Acta Hort. 682, 475-480.
Valverde, F., Mouradov, A., Soppe, W., Ravenscroft, D., Samach, A.,
and Coupland, G. (2004). Photoreceptor regulation of CONSTANS
protein in photoperiodic flowering. Science 303, 1003-1006.
Goldschmidt, E.E., and Samach, A. (2004). Aspects of Flowering
in Fruit trees. Acta Hort. 653, 23-27.
Rozentzvieg, D., Elmaci, C., Samach, A., Lurie, S., and
Porat, R. (2004). Isolation of four heat shock protein cDNAs from
grapefruit peel tissue: possible relation to heat induced chilling
tolerance response. Physiologia Plantarum 121, 421-428.
Porat, R., Pasentsis, K., Rozentzvieg, D., Gerasopoulos, D., Falara,
V., Samach, A., Lurie, S., and Kanellis, A.K. (2004). Isolation of
a dehydrin cDNA from orange and grapefruit citrus fruit that is
specifically induced by the combination of heat followed by chilling
temperatures. Physiologia Plantarum 120, 256-264.
Ben-Sadeh, H., and Samach, A. (2003). Nuclear DNA amounts. In "
Encyclopedia of Rose Science (A. V. Roberts, T. Debener & S. Gudin,
eds), Academic Press, Elsevier Science London, UK., 279-285.
Samach, A., and Pineiro, M. (2002). Molecular Control of Light
Sensing in Plant Development. A. Vainstein (ed.) Breeding For
Ornamentals: Classical and Molecular Approaches. Kluwer Academic
Publishers, Netherlands, 219-238.
Samach, A., and Gover, A. (2001). Photoperiodism: The consistent
use of CONSTANS. Curr Biol 11, R651-654.
Bellaoui, M., Pidkowich, M.S., Samach, A., Kushalappa, K.,
Kohalmi, S.E., Modrusan, Z., Crosby, W.L., and Haughn, G.W. (2001).
The Arabidopsis BELL1 and KNOX TALE homeodomain proteins interact
through a domain conserved between plants and animals. Plant Cell
13, 2455-2470.
Samach, A., and Coupland, G. (2000). Time measurement and the
control of flowering in plants. Bioessays 22, 38-47.
Samach, A., Onouchi, H., Gold, S.E., Ditta, G.S., Schwarz-Sommer,
Z., Yanofsky, M.F., and Coupland, G. (2000). Distinct roles of
CONSTANS target genes in reproductive development of Arabidopsis.
Science 288, 1613-1616.
Fowler, S., Lee, K., Onouchi, H., Samach, A., Richardson, K.,
Morris, B., Coupland, G., and Putterill, J. (1999). GIGANTEA: a
circadian clock-controlled gene that regulates photoperiodic flowering
in Arabidopsis and encodes a protein with several possible
membrane-spanning domains. Embo J 18, 4679-4688.
Samach, A., Klenz, J.E., Kohalmi, S.E., Risseeuw, E., Haughn, G.W.,
and Crosby, W.L. (1999). The UNUSUAL FLORAL ORGANS gene of
Arabidopsis thaliana is an F-box protein required for normal patterning
and growth in the floral meristem. Plant J 20, 433-445.
Schaffer, R., Ramsay, N., Samach, A., Corden, S., Putterill, J.,
Carre, I.A., and Coupland, G. (1998). The late elongated hypocotyl
mutation of Arabidopsis disrupts circadian rhythms and the
photoperiodic control of flowering. Cell 93, 1219-1229.
Samach, A., Kohalmi, S.E., Motte, P., Datla, R., and Haughn,
G.W. (1997). Divergence of function and regulation of class B
floral organ identity genes. Plant Cell 9, 559-570.
Reiser, L., Modrusan, Z., Margossian, L., Samach, A., Ohad,
N., Haughn, G.W., and Fischer, R.L. (1995). The BELL1 gene encodes
a homeodomain protein involved in pattern formation in the Arabidopsis
ovule primordium. Cell 83, 735-742.
Samach, A., Broday, L., Hareven, D., and Lifschitz, E. (1995).
Expression of an amino acid biosynthesis gene in tomato flowers:
developmental upregulation and MeJa response are parenchyma-specific
and mutually compatible. Plant J 8, 391-406.
Samach, A., Hareven, D., Gutfinger, T., Ken-Dror, S., and Lifschitz,
E. (1991). Biosynthetic threonine deaminase gene of tomato:
isolation, structure, and upregulation in floral organs. Proc Natl Acad
Sci U S A 88, 2678-2682.
