Research Description

Research Area: Pathobiology

Research Specialties: Plant protection; UV-B; flavonoids; soybean chalcone synthase gene family

Environmental stresses (UV-B, temperature, drought, flood, salt, etc.) are among the major factors in plant productivity losses in natural and agricultural conditions. Adding to the magnitude of this problem is the accumulating evidence of increases in trace gases in the atmosphere, projecting global shifts in the distribution of temperature and precipitation patterns, depletions in the stratospheric ozone layer and increases in UV-B radiation reaching the earth. Since plants in a natural environment are unavoidably exposed to long hours of UV-B, it is often a source of considerable stress to them. The impact of this stress is reflected in observations from many laboratories which indicate that of the roughly 300 species and varieties of plants investigated, nearly one-third to one-half show physiological damage and/or growth reduction in response to UV-B, with Fabaceae, Cucurbitaceae and Brassicaceae being among the most sensitive plant families. These plant families ...

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Additional Information

Welcome Trust Fellow,

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge

Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar, California Institute of Technology

Leukemia Society of America Scholar, Yale University

Co-Recipient, Kind Philip Stiftung Prize, Germany

Associate Editor, J. Biomedicine and Biotechnology