Faculty

ABHAYA DANDEKAR 1059 Wickson Hall (530) 752-7784 amdandekar@ucdavis.edu

Ph.D. (1979) Microbiology, M.S. University of Baroda, India   Membership in Graduate Groups:   Plant Biology , Genetics , Horticulture & Agronomy   Class Sites:    More Information:

Metabolic regulation and the cellular and molecular response of plants to environmental stress.  Transfer, expression and regulation of transgenes in perennial plants with emphasis on pest and disease resistance and studying metabolic regulation. Agrobacterium-mediated transformation developed in walnut and apple with the isolation of transgenic plants expressing the insecticidal crystal proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis. Current research aimed at improving expression through the use of synthetic coding regions, isolation of tissue specific promoters and field testing of transgenic plants for resistance to the insect pest codling moth. Identification of genes involved in metabolic regulation investigated through molecular and genetic analysis of genes involved in the biosynthesis of proline, sorbitol and ethylene. Current research focuses on the identification of genes that mediate the accumulation of sorbitol through expression of cDNA and analysis of genomic libraries. Ethylene biosynthesis is being studies through the expression of ACC deaminase (bacterial) and through the analysis of anti-sense constructs of ACC synthase (apple) and ethylene forming enzyme (EFE, apple) in transgenic plants.