University Units - Academic Staff Members

Address (Work): Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Jacob Blaustein Insts. for Desert Research, French Associates Institute for Agriculture & Biotechnology of Drylands, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, 84990, Israel. Tel 08-6596837

Address (Home): Villa 1, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, 84990, Israel. Tel 050-2029629; E-mail aaron.fait@gmail.com , fait@bgu.ac.il

· Education

B.Sc.- 1993-1996 Tel Aviv University, Dept. of Plant Sciences, Biology

M.Sc.- 1996-1999, Tel Aviv University, Dept. of Plant Sciences

Advisor: Prof. Jacob Friedman.

Title of thesis: Genecology of indigenous populations of Foeniculum vulgare var. vulgare in Israel

Ph.D.- 1999-2004, the Weizmann Institute of Science, Dept. of Plant Sciences

Advisors: Prof. H. Fromm and Prof. G. Galili.

Title of Thesis: Functional characterization of the GABA shunt in Arabidopsis.

· Employment History

Since 2008 Oct, Senior Lecturer Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Jacob Blaustein Insts. for Desert Research, Dept. of Dryland Biotechnology, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, 84990.

2005(Oct)- 2008(Sept), Post-Doctoral Research Associate; the Max Planck Institute for Plant Molecular Physiology (Golm, Germany), Dept. 1 of Molecular Physiology

2004(Sept)-2005(Sept), Post-Doctoral Research Fellow; the Weizmann Institute of Science, The Dept. of Plant Sciences, in the laboratory of Prof. Gadi Galili. Central metabolism in seeds.

2002, Teacher of Biology and Chemistry, Amit High school, Rehovot, Israel.

· Professional activities

(a) Positions in academic administration (departmental, faculty and university)

The Israel Society of Plant Science (member of the steering committee)

(b) Professional functions outside universities/institutions

none

(d) Editor or member of editorial board of scientific or professional journal

none

(e) Membership in professional/scientific societies

· 2009- present The Metabolomics Society

· 2009- present The Israel Society of Plant Science (member of the steering committee)

· Educational activities

a) Courses taught

2001,

- Ecology and environment in Israel: facts and scientific research. Invited lecture series under the sponsorship of the Israeli embassy in Rome, in high-schools of Italian cities (among other Milan, Turin, Bologna, Udine, Trieste, Verona and Bolzano).

2006 and 2007,

- Bioethics seminar course, guest lecturer at Department of Law, The II University of Naples, the department of Biology, Politecnico Milan and the Department of Law, University of Salerno.

2008,

- Metabolic networks: steady state and flux analysis to understand plant metabolism, MPI-MP and University of Potsdam. Two days workshop open to PhD and PostDocs.

2009,

- Metabolic steady state and flux analysis, guest lecture, The Blaustein Insitute for Desert Research.

- Biofuel: present and future of green sources of energy. Educational program for high-schools in Torino, Italy (Vallauri, Gioberti, Amaldi, Avogadro, IPSIA).

2010,

- Metabolic Network Analysis, graduate course, Albert Katz International School for graduate studies, The Blaustein Insitute for Desert Research.

- Metabologeography, (guest lecture) graduate course, Bar Ilan University.

- Cereal genomics (intensive course), Coordinated with Luigi Cattivelli (CRA-Fiorenzuola, Italy). Albert Katz International School for graduate studies, The Blaustein Insitute for Desert Research.

2011,

- Metabolic Network Analysis, graduate course, Albert Katz International School for graduate studies, BIDR.

- Seed germination workshop, coordinated with Hiro Nonogaki (Oregon State University). Albert Katz International School for graduate studies, BIDR.

- Who is afraid of Science, one week seminars in the frame of the educational program for high-schools and undergraduates, Torino, Italy

(b) Research students

Postdoctoral Researchers

2009-2010, Dr Luis Perez Alba

Graduate Students

2009-present, David Toubiana, PhD

2009-present, Lydia Quansah, PhD

2010-present, Lee Recht, jointly with Prof. S. Boussiba

2010-present, Asfaw Degu, PhD

2011-present, Batushansky Albert, PhD

2009-2011, Batushansky Albert, MSc

2009-present, Wentao Xue, MSc

2010-present, Bing Bai, MSc

2010-present Leah Zucker, MSc

2009-present Kazachkova Yana, MSc, currently PhD, jointly with Dr. S. Barak

2009-present, Uri Hochberg, MSc currently PhD jointly with Dr S. Rachmilevitch

2011-present, Jin Gao, PhD student

Awards, Citations, Honors, Fellowships

1993-1998, the Dept. of School and University Assistance, District of Bolzano, Alto Adige-Suedtirol, Italy, fellowship for academic achievements.

2001, Marie Curie Foundation, Marie-Curie European Fellowship, University of Leeds, UK.

2000- 2004, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Feinberg graduate school fellowship (PhD).

2005, the Gordon Research Conferences Board of Trustees, the Carl Storm International Diversity Fellowship.

2005, Gordon Research Conferences fund, GRC Chair's fund fellowship for the 2005 Plant Metabolic Engineering Gordon Research Conference, Tilton, NH, USA.

2008, Cited as the editor's choice in the Plant Physiology issue 148.

· Fellowships

2004-2005, Feinberg Postgraduate research fellowship 15,000 Euro

2005- 2006, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, research fellowship, 30,000 Euro

2006- 2008, Minerva Foundation, research fellowship, 66,000 Euro

Grant Panels, Reviewing Committee

2009- Referee for the German Israel Foundation

2009- Organizing committee of the Israel Plant Science Society

2009- Examination committee of 3d year undergraduate student course at BGU main campus.

2009- PhD thesis reviewer for HUJI, Life Science dept.

2010- PhD thesis reviewer, Plant Sciences Dpt. (Dr. Aharoni), the Weizmann Inst.

2010- Examination of PhD candidates, BGU.

2011- PhD thesis reviewer, Haifa University (Prof. Fahima)

2011- BARD reviewing panel

· Manuscript Reviewing

In: Proceedings of the Royal Society B.; Postharvest Biology and Technology; Planta; Plant cell and the Environment

SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS (dates are in ascending order; *Fait – since the last promotion)

h-index: 12 (following the algorythm provided by ISI and therefore excluding those publications not represented in ISI)

Authored books

Fait A and Beyo M (2005). In the beginning the man created the clone: a scientist and a rabbi discuss the dilemma and the unknowns of the biotech era (italian, “In Principio l’uomo creó il clone”). Franco Angeli Ed., Milano. Pp192.

Chapters in collective volumes.

1. Fait A, Yellin A, Fromm H (2006). GABA and GHB neurotransmitters in plants and animals. In Communication in Plants: Neuronal Aspects of Plant Life. Eds. Frantiek Baluka, Stefano Mancuso, Dieter Volkmann. Springer Verlag. 438pp

2. Fait A. and M. Beyo (2008). Bioethics between contingency and globalization. In The future of bioethics. Eds. Chieffi L. and Podromo R., G.Giappichelli Ed., Torino (it).

3. * Fait A and Fernie AR (2009). Data integration. In Plant Metabolic Networks. Jörg Schwender (Ed.), Springer, NY. ISBN 978 0-387-78744-2

4. * Fait A (2010). Sfida alla bioetica: il secolo della crisi energetico alimentare tra politica, diritto e ricerca scientifica. In Law and life. Bioethics and professional deontology (it). Eds. Lucrezi F and Mancuso F, ‘Ateneo’ collection.

5. * Fait A (2010). Science and society between dependence and confrontation (it). In Nuove tecnologie del processo penale a cura di Mario Chiavario, G. Giappichelli Editore, Torino.

6. * Fait A. and Fernie AR (2010), Nitrogen metabolism in the Genomic era. Christine Foyer and Hanma Zhang. Wiley-Blackwell, UK.

7. * Toubiana D. and Fait A. (2011, in press), Metabolomics-assisted breeding, in SEED DEVELOPMENT: OMICS Technologies toward Improvement of Seed Quality and Crop Yield. AGRAWAL GK and RAKWAL R, Eds. Springer.

Scientific publications in refereed journals

(1) Barazani O, Fait A, Cohen Y, Diminshtein S, Ravid U, Putievsky E, Lewinsohn E, Friedman J (1999). Chemical variation among indigenous populations of Foeniculum vulgare Mill. var. vulgare in Israel. Planta Medica, 65:486-489. IF 2.037, Times Cited: 14

(2) Fait A, Barazani O, Diminshtein S, Dudai N, Putievsky E, Friedman J (2000). Ecological variability in the germination response to temperature of indigenous populations of Foeniculum vulgare Mill. in Israel. Acta Horticulturae, 517: 467-479.

IF NA, Times Cited: NA

(3) Barazani O, Cohen Y, Fait A, Diminshtein S, Dudai N, Ravid U, Putievsky E, Friedman J (2002). Chemotypic differentiation in indigenous populations of Foeniculum vulgare var. vulgare in Israel. Biochem Syst Ecol, 30: 721-731. IF 1.131, Times Cited: 23

(4) Fait A* Bouchè N*, Bouchez D, Moeller SG, Fromm H (2003). Mitochondrial succinic-semialdehyde dehydrogenase is required to restrict levels of reactive oxygen intermediates and to protect plants against stress. Proc Nat Acad Sci, 100(11): 6843-6848. IF 9.432, Times Cited: 86

(5) Fait A*, Bouchè N*, Zik M*, Fromm H (2004). The root-specific glutamate decarboxylase (GAD1) is essential for sustaining normal GABA levels and root growth. Plant Mol Biol 55: 315-325. IF 3.978, Times Cited: 20

(6) Fait A, Yellin A, Fromm H (2005). GABA shunt deficiencies and accumulation of reactive oxygen intermediates: insight from Arabidopsis mutants. FEBS letters, 579: 415-420. IF 3.541, Times Cited: 29

(7) Fait A*, Angelovici R*, Less H, Ohad I, Urbanczyk-Wochniak E, Fernie AR, Galili G (2006). Arabidopsis Seed development and germination is associated with temporally distinct metabolic switches. Plant Physiol, 142: 839-854. IF 6.235, Times Cited: 52

(8) Sweetlove LJ, Fait A, Nunes-Nesi A, Williams T, Fernie AR (2007). The mitochondrion: an integration point of cellular metabolism and signalling. Crit Rev Plant Sci, 26: 17-43. IF 4.769, Times Cited: 24

(9) Footitt S, Dietrich D, Fait A, Fernie A, Baker A, Holdsworth M, Theodoulou FL (2007). The COMATOSE ATP-Binding Cassette Transporter Is Required for Full Fertility in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol, 144: 1467-1480. IF 6.235, Times Cited: 17

(10) Studart-Guimaraes C*, Fait A*, Carrari F, Nunes-Nesi A, Usadel B, Fernie AR (2007). Reduced expression of Succinyl CoA ligase is largely compensated for by an upregulation of 4-aminobutyrate (GABA) shunt in illuminated tomato leaves. Plant Physiol, 145: 626-639. IF 6.235, Times Cited: 24

(11) Fait A, Fromm H, Walther D, Galili G, Fernie AR (2008). Highway or byway: the metabolic role of the GABA shunt in plants. Trends Plant Sci, 13: 14-19. IF 9.883, Times Cited: 45

(12) Fait A, Hanhineva K, Beleggia R, Fernie AR and Aharoni A (2008). Reconfiguration of the achene and receptacle metabolic networks during strawberry fruit development. Plant Physiol, 148(2): 730-750. IF 6.235, Times Cited: 15 (cited among the six highlights of the issue)

(13) Weigelt K, Küster H, Radchuk R, Müller M, Weichert H, Fait A, Fernie A, Saalbach I, Weber H (2008). Increasing amino acid supply in pea embryos reveals specific interactions of N and C metabolism and highlights the importance of mitochondrial metabolism. Plant Journal, 55(6): 909-926. IF 6.946, Times Cited: 21

(14) Fernie A, Schauer N, Semel Y, Kochevenko A, Fait A, Carrari F, Zamir D (2008) Integrated genomics approaches using introgression lines of tomato. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology a-Molecular & Integrative Physiology 150: S46-S46. IF 2.196, Times Cited: 0

(15) * Weigelt K, Küster H, Rutten T, Fait A, Fernie A, Miersch O, Wasternack C, Emery N, Desel C, Hosein F, Müller M, Saalbach I, Weber H (2009). ADP-Glucose pyrophosphorylase deficient pea embryos reveal specific transcriptional and metabolic changes of C:N metabolism and stress responses. Plant Physiol 149:395-411. IF 6.235, Times Cited: 7

(16) * Fait A and Fernie AR (2009). A role for Metabolomics in marker assisted breeding for crop compositional traits. Acta Horticulturae, 817: 101-111. IF NA, Times Cited: NA

(17) * Marchive C, Yedhuai-Resheff S, Germain A, Jiang X, Judkins J, Wu H, Fernie AR, Fait A, Stern DB (2009). Abnormal physiological and metabolic phenotypes link chloroplast polynucleotide phosphorylase to the phosphorus deprivation response in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol 151: 905-924. IF 6.235, Times Cited: 4

(18) * Fait A, Angelovici R, Zhu X, Szymanski J, Feldmesser E, Fernie AR, and Galili G (2009). Deciphering Transcriptional and Metabolic Networks Associated with Lysine Metabolism during Arabidopsis Seed Development. Plant Physiol 151: 2058-2072. IF 6.235, Times Cited: 4

(19) * Angelovici R, Fernie A R, Galili G, Fait A (2010) Seed desiccation: a bridge between maturation and germination. Trends in Plant Sciences15: 211-218. IF 9.883, Times Cited: 3

(20) * Angelovici R^*, Fait A^*, Fernie AR, Galili G (2010). A seed high-lysine trait is negatively associated with the TCA cycle and slows down Arabidopsis seed germination. New Phytol 189:148–159. IF 6.235, Times Cited: 0

(21) * Krugman T, Peleg Z, Quansah L, Chagué V, Korol AB, Nevo E, Saranga Y, Fait A, Chalhoub B, and Fahima T (2011). Comparative transcriptomics and metabolomics analyses unravel roots drought adaptation mechanisms in wild emmer wheat. Funct Integr Genomics IF 3.825, Times Cited: 0

(22) * Michaeli S, Fait A, Lagor K, Nunes-Nesi A, Grillich N, Yellin A, Khan M, Fernie AR, Turano F, Fromm H (2011). A mitochondrial GABA permease contributes to respiration and carbon metabolism in plants. The Plant Journal. IF 6.946, Times Cited: 0

(23) * Omer Falik, Yonat Mordoch, Lydia Quansah, Aaron Fait, Ariel Novoplansky (2011) Rumor has it...: relay communication of stress cues in plants. Plos One. IF 4.351

(24) * Fait A, Nunes Nesi A, Angelovici R, Lehmann M, Phuong Pham A, Song L, RP, Napier JA, Galili G, Fernie AR (2011). Seed targeted enhancement of glutamate to y-amino butyric acid metabolism affects C N balance and storage reserves accumulation in Arabidopsis seeds. Plant Physiol. IF 6.235, Times Cited: 0

(25) * Bai B, Kozochcova I, Fait A (2012, in press). The metabolic basis underlying loss of vigor in seeds of four contrasting Arabidopsis ecotypes. Plant Cell Physiology. IF 3.594, Times Cited: 0

(26) * Toubiana D, Semel J, Beleggia R, Zamir D, Fernie AR, Fait A (under revision for Plos Genetics) Metabolic profiling of a tomato introgression lines collection highlights robustness of the seed metabolism network and sink source relations between seed-fruit and the mother plant.

*, manuscripts since last promotion; Fait A*, equal contribution; Fait, corresponding author. Students from the Fait Lab are in bold.

Unrefereed professional articles and publications

Fait A. (2006), Out of the chorus: Jewish bioethics and Cloning. Prometeus ANBI Magazine, 12: 26-27, (it)

In preparation

1. Crosatti C, Qansah L, Atienza S G, Cattivelli L, Fait A(in preparation). A parallel transcriptomics and metabolomics analysis in wheat alloplasmic lines highlights the effect of cytoplasm-nucleus interaction on metabolite and gene networks.

2. Batushanky A, Toubiana D, Grillich N, Galili G, Fernie A, Fait A (in preparation). Integrative metabolite and transcript profiling of gat1 shed light on the metabolic role of GABA in response to contrasting C-N regimes.

3. Xue W, Albert Batushanski, Botnick I, Lothar Wilmitzer, Schwartz A, Lewinsohn E, Fait A (in preparation) Parallel metabolic profiling of developing Nigella sativa L. seeds highlights the coordinated metabolic shifts in VOC producing seeds underlying the competition between storage reserve build up and volatile biosynthesis

4. Degu A, Hochberg U, Rachmilevitch S, Cramer G, Fait A. Physiological and molecular response of grapevine to multiple stresses associated with water deficit.

5. Martínez-Andújar C, Pluskota WE, Bassel GW, Asahina M, Pupel P, Nguyen T, Noriko, Kamiya T, Toubiana D, Bai B, Gorecki R, Fait A, Yamaguchi S, Kamiya Y, Nonogaki H (submitted to Plant Cell). Regulation Mechanisms of Endosperm Cap-Specific Gene Expression in Tomato Seeds during Germination.

6. Botnick I, Xue W, Bar E, Schwartz A, Joel D, Fait A, Lewinsohn E (submitted to Annals of Botany). Developmental changes in the volatile constituents of black cumin (Nigella sativa L.) and distribution of specialized and primary metabolites within the seeds.

Lectures and Presentations at Meetings

1. Barazani O., Shemesh M., Fait A. and Friedman J. (1996). Emanation of IAA by root growth mediating bacteria. In Abstracts I World Congress on Allelopathy, The Science of Futurem Cadiz Spain. Sept 16-20, 1996. In Journal of Allelopathy, 4(1), 220-221.

2. Fait A., Barazani O., Diminshtein S., Putievsky E., Ravid U. and Friedman J. The germination biology of indigenous populations of Foeniculum vulgare Mill. var. vulgare in Israel- preliminary studies. 28^th International Symposium of Essential Oils, Eskishehir, Sept. 1998, Turkey. Poster

3. Fait A., Barazani O., Diminshtein S., Putievsky E., Ravid U. and Friedman J. Ecological variation in germinability and composition of essential oils in fruits (mericarps) of indigenoous populations of fennel Foeniculum vulgare Mill. var. vulgare, in Israel. 25^th International Horticultural Congress (IHC), Brussels Aug. 1998, Belgium. Poster

4. Barazani O., Fait A., Diminshtein S., Cohen Y. Putievsky E., Ravid U., and Friedman J. Chemomorphological variability in indigenous populations of Foeniculum vulgare Mill. var. vulgare, in Israel. 46^th Annual Congress Society for Medicinal Plant Research: quality of medicinal plants and herbal medicinal products, Vienna Sept. 1998, Austria. Poster

5. Friedman J., Barazani O., Fait A., Ravid U. and Putievsky E. Heritability studies of chemical variability in indigeous populations of bitter fennel (Foeniculum vulgare var. vulgare) in Israel. 30^th International Symposium on Essential Oils (ISEO), Leipzig-Miltitz, Germany. Poster

6. Zik M., Bouché N., Fait A., Bouchez D., Fromm H.. Molecular-genetic approaches to decipher the function of plant glutamate decarboxylase. The American Society of Plant Physiologists, Plant Biology, June 1999, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Poster

7. Fait A., Zik M., Busch K., Lev-Yadun S. Bouché N., Bouchez D. and ¹Fromm H. Molecular, Genetic and Biochemical Approaches to Decipher the Role of the GABA Shunt, and the Mechanisms Controlling its Activity in Plants. The Israeli Society of Plant Science, Volcani center 2000, Israel. Poster

8. Fait A., N. Bouché, M. Zik, D. Bouchez and Hillel Fromm^, Genetics Approaches to Elucidate the Role of the GABA Shunt in Arabidopsis. Annual conference of the Israeli society of Plant Sciences, Rehovot 2001. In Israel Journal of Plant Sciences, 49, 154-155. Poster

9. J.Friedman, M.Gross, Y.Cohen, O.Barazani, A. Fait, N.Dudai, U.Ravid and L.Almog. Chemotypic differentiation among indigenous populations of wild spices in Israel: Foeniculum vulgare Mill.and Micromeria fruticosa (L.) Druce. 35th International Symposium on Essential Oils (ISEO2004) September 2004 Messina, Italy. Poster

10. Fait A., A. Yellin and H. Fromm. The GABA shunt and oxidative stress. Annual Meeting of the American Society of Plant Biologists, Orlando, USA, July 24-28, 2004. Poster

11. Yellin A., Fait A. and H. Fromm. Genetic and pharmacological evidence for a role of the GABA shunt in maintaining the levels of reactive oxygen intermediates in plant cells. The first symposium on plant neurobiology. Sponsored by Trends in Plant Sciences. May 17-20, 2005, Florence, Italy. Poster

12. Galili G, Angelovici R, Fait A, Less H, Zhu X, Urbanczyk-Wochniak E and Fernie A R. Regulatory networks associated with amino acid metabolism in plants. GBM Fall Meeting, September 2005. Poster

13. Fait A, Angelovigi R, Less H, Urbanczyk-Wochniak E, Fernie AR and G Galili. Seed metabolism: priming for germination. GRC, Metabolic engineering Tilton, NH, USA, July 2005. Poster

14. Less H, Angelovici R, Tzin V, Fait A, Fernie A R. and G Galili. The super-regulated lkr/sdh gene of lys catabolism in plants: searching for functions using a combination of bioinformatics and “wet” science. Minerva conference. September, 2006, Israel. Poster

15. Galili G, Fait A, Angelovici R, Less H, Urbanczyk-Wochniak E, AR Fernie. Metabolic switches of C/N partitioning during seed development and germination with a zoom into the pathways of lysine and GABA shunt metabolism. Secondary Metabolism in Plant Seeds: Current Status and Future Applications. February, 2007, Potsdam Germany. Poster

16. Fait A, Hanhineva K, Beleggia R, Fernie AR and Aharoni A. Reconfiguration of the achene and receptacle metabolic networks during strawberry fruit development. The metabolic basis of ecology, GRC conference, July 6-11, 2008, University of New England, Biddeford, ME.

17. Fait A. Metabolic Network Analysis: Getting to Grips with Plant Metabolism. Israel society of Plant Biology symposium on February 18^th , 2009, Rechovot, Israel

18. Crosatti C, Lydia Q, Atienza SG, Cattivelli L, Fait A. Nuclear-Cytoplasm interaction unveiled by metabolic fingerprinting and transcript profiling. 19th International Triticeae Mapping Initiative - 3rd COST Tritigen. ITMI-COST Tritigen joint meeting 2009, August 31th - September 4th 2009, Clermont-Ferrand, FRANCE

19. Fait A. Metabolic network analysis. Future and limitations (invited speaker). Metabolism, metabolomics and metabolic engineering in plants to increase crop productivity and nutritional value. Ein Gedi 1-4 Nov, 2009, Israel.

20. Fait A. “Far fiorire il deserto”. Il sogno di Ben Gurion, l’università di Beer Sheva a Sde Boker e la biotecnologia applicata al deserto. University of Eastern-Piemonte and the Goethe Institute-Turin (lecture). International Congress on the Cultures of Sionism, 24-26, November 2009, Turin.

2010,

21. Crosatti C, Qansah L, Atienza SG, Cattivelli L, Fait A. A parallel transcriptomics and metabolomics analysis of wheat alloplasmic lines reveals clues on the regulation of central metabolism in wheat. Plant and Animal Genome Conference, January 9-13, 2010, San Diego, California

22. Fait A. Metabolic flux analysis to elucidate the crosstalk between carbon and nitrogen metabolism in plants (Oral). Isranalytica, January 19-21, 2010, Tel Aviv, Israel.

23. Quansah L, Crosatti C, Atienza SG, Cattivelli L, Fait A. Alloplasmic lines (Oral). GPGR2, April 24-28, 2010, Bologna, Italy

24. Quansah L, Krugman T, Fahima T, Fait A. Comparative Transcriptomics and Metabolomics analysis of two emmer Wheat genotypes differing in drought response (Oral). ITMI, Sept 2010, Bejing, China.

2011,

25. Gonda Y, Bar E, Sikron N, Burger J, Schaffer AA, Tadmor Y, Katzir N, Fait A, Lewinsohn E. Different conversion routes of L-methionine into aroma volatiles in melon fruit. ISPS, 2011, Israel.

26. Batushansky AM, Kirma M, Balbo I, Fernie AR, Galili G, Fait A. γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) in plants: a signaling molecule or “just” a metabolite? ISPS, 2011, Israel

27. Kazachkova Y, Batushansky A, Fait A, Barak S. A phenomics and metabolomics analysis of vegetative development under salt stress in Arabidopsis thaliana and Thellungiella halophila, an extremophile relative of Arabidopsis. ISPS, 2011, Israel

28. Quansah L, Krugman T, Fahima T, Lazarovitch N, Aaron Fait. Comparative transcriptomics and metabolomics analysis reveals differential response to drought in two emmer wheat genotypes. ISPS 2011, Israel

29. Itay Gonda, Einat Bar, Noga Sikron, Joseph Burger, Arthur A. Schaffer, Ya’akov Tadmor, Nurit Katzir, Aaron Fait and Efraim Lewinsohn. Different conversion routes of L-methionine into aroma volatiles in melon fruit. Metabolic engeneering GRC, 2011, USA.

30. Asfaw Degu, Uri Hochberg, Shimon Rachmilevitch, Grant Cramer, Aaron Fait. Dissecting responses to water deficit in grape berries: metabolism and nutritional quality, GRS-GRC (Gordon Conference, plant metabolic engeneering), USA, July 2011.

31. David Toubiana, Aaron Fait. Metabolic profiling of a tomato introgression lines collection exposes novel insights in the regulation of seed metabolism and sink source relations between seed, fruit and the mother plant GRS-GRC (Gordon Conference, plant metabolic engeneering), USA, July 2011 (oral)

32. Asfaw Degu, Uri Hochberg, Shimon Rachmilevitch, Avichai Perl, Grant Cramer and Aaron Fait. From the desert to the cellar: response of grape berries metabolome to water deficit. Metabolomics 2011, Australia, June 25-30.

33. Albert Batushansky, Menny Kirma, Ilse Balbo, Alisdair R. Fernie, Gad Galili, Aaron Fait. γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) in plants: a signaling molecule or “just” a metabolite? Metabolomics 2011, Australia, June 25-30. (oral)

34. Fait A. From the desert to the cellar. Metabolomics 2011, Australia, June 25-30. (oral)

35. Fait A. REDUCING COMPLEXITY VIA METABOLIC NETWORK ANALYSIS: A TOMATO INTROGRESSION LINE COLLECTION AS CASE STUDY. 8th Solanaceaceae and 2^nd Cucurbitaceae Joint Conference. November 28 – December 2, 2011 Venue: Kobe Convention Center, Japan (oral).

36. Fait A. Special lecture “Research and Development on Phytochemicals, Functional foods and Neutraceuticals in Israel”. Food Cluster conference, Faculty of Agricultrue, Khon Kaen University, Thailand. December 2, 2011.

Seminar presentations at universities and institutions

2005,

The physiological significance of the GABA shunt, insights from Arabidopsis mutants. Max Planck Institute for Plant Molecular Physiology, Golm, Germany.

2006,

Science and Society: between dependence and conflict. Department of Law, University of Torino.

Understanding metabolic networks in plants by metabolic profiling: present and future. Plant Biotechnology Department, Metapontum Agrobios, Italy.

Metabolic networks during seed development and germination. Tel Aviv University

2007,

Carbon partitioning during seed development and germination: understanding metabolic crosstalk. C.R.A. Experimental Institute for Cereal Research Section of Foggia, Italy.

Metabolic networks during seed development and germination. Ben Gurion University. Metabolic networks during seed development and germination. BIDR, Sede Boqer.

Metabolic networks during seed development and germination. Bar Ilan University

Metabolic networks during seed development and germination. The Volcani Center.

Metabolic networks during seed development and germination. Newe Yaar Research Station.

Metabolic networks during seed development and germination. Hebrew University Jerusalem.

Metabolic networks during seed development and germination. The Faculty of Agriculture, Rechovot.

2008,

Metabolic networks during seed development and germination: understanding metabolic crosstalk. C.R.A., Research centre for genomics, Fiorenzuola, Italy.

2009,

Monitoring seed metabolism to unveil adaptation strategies for plant survival: metabolomics meets evolution, 11th of February, Haifa University, Haifa, Israel.

Getting to grips with plant metabolism: state of the art, limitations and the future of metabolic networks analysis. The Israeli Society for Plant Sciences, 18th of February, Rechovot, Israel.

Metabolic network analysis to unveil adaptation strategies for plant survival. The Institute’s Day, 29th of March, The Blaustein Institutes for Desert Studies, Sede Boqer, Israel.

Biocolonization: Agrobiotech and indigenous rights, 19th of March, Dept of Anthropology, University of Torino.

Desertification and the challenge of modern Agrobiotechnology. University of Turin, Department of Geography. November 2009.

2010,

Metabolic networks in tomato seed metabolism. Tel Aviv university

2011,

Grape metabolism in response to drought. C.R.A. Experimental Institute for Cereal Research Section of Foggia, Italy

Grants

2008 Jan-Sept, co-PI German Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development, GIF grant “GABA/Glutamate in Plants, linking carbon nitrogen metabolism to signalling”, PI: A.Fernie, H.Fromm, G.Galili, F.Ludewig and Co-PI: A. Fait and L.Wilmitzer, ~47,600/188,955 Euro.

2008 Oct-2011 Dec, PI German Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development, GIF grant “GABA/Glutamate in Plants, linking carbon nitrogen metabolism to signalling”, PIs: A.Fernie, A. Fait, H.Fromm, G.Galili, F.Ludewig, Co-PI: L.Wilmitzer, ~47,600/188,955.

2009-2012 BARD, Calcium-regulated Transcription Factors Mediating Carbon Metabolism in Response to Drought. Fromm, Hillel, Hasegawa, Paul M, Co-I: Fait, Aaron. 60,000/360,000$

2010-2012 Kochland Fundation, Unlocking the genetic treasures of the Negev Desert: A Molecular Ecology Approach to Mining Stress-Tolerance Genes Underlying Wild Species Adaptation to Stress. Barak S, Fait A, Bar David S. 30,000$/year for two years.

2010-2013, Ministry of Agrigulture, Vine responses to water deficit: A multidisciplinary study from plant physiology to wine character, PIs: Rachmilevitch S. Co-PI Fait A., Co-I: Karnieli A. 190.000 NIS/yr for a period of 3 years, Tot 570.000NIS.

2009, BSCS support for visitor. Hiro Nonogaki, Oregon State University

2010, BSCS financial aid for the organization of the Annual meeting of the Israeli Society of Plant Sciences

2011, BSCS support for visitor. Leonie Bentsink, Wageningen.

2011-2014, BARD, Towards improved grape nutrition and defense: The regulation of stilbene metabolism under drought. PIs: Fait A., Cramer G., Perl A. 300,000$.

2010-2011, Sol Leshin Program for BGU-UCLA Academic Cooperation. Arnon Karnieli, Aaron Fait and Shimon Rachmilevitch.

2010-2014, BSF, Spatio-temporal diversification of metabolism and its functional significance during seed germination, PIs: Fait A., Nonogaki H. 228,850$

2011-2014, Chief Scientist, The effect of roots and shoots on fruit metabolism of grape in drought stress. co-PI with Giora Ben Ari Volcani Institute, 450,000NIS.

2011-2014, Chief Scientist, co-PI with David Bonfil. Improving winter wheat tolerance to unpredictable rainfall and temperature regimes. #277-036-10, 1.2M NIS

2011-2012 (two years), Eureka R&D project, Italy-Israel cooperation. Metagenecoding Bosca. 47.000 EURO.

2011. Bosca Ltd. support. The Bosca Muscat-grape collection. 4000 EURO.

2011-2012 Goldinger Fund, Towards improved grape (Vitis viniferae) nutrition and defense under drought. Fait A 25000 $/year

2011-2013 Goldinger Fund, Effect of salinity stress on transpiration, growth, yield and quality of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum). Naftali Lazarovitch Co-I: Fait A 25000$/year.

2011-2013, Sol Leshin Program for BGU-UCLA Academic Cooperation. Amino acid regulation in Tomato. Fait A and Horvath S.

2011-2014, Singenta, three years contract, total of 340.000 EURO. PI Fait A, Lazarovitch N, Rachmilevitch S.

2012-2014, (36mths) The Italy - Israel Cooperation in Agricultural Research Program 2011 (Italy-Israel program). Rootstock-scion INteraction in Grape: an Omics perspective (RINGO). 275.000 Euros € (Italy: 140.000; Israel: 135.000). Participant.

Current Scientific Activities

1. The metabolic basis of seed development and germination in Arabidopsis

2. The impact of root stock and environmental stress on grape berry development and metabolism. In separate collaborations with Prof G Cramer, Prof A Perl, Dr S Rachmilevitch and Prof A Karnieli, Dr G Ben Ari.

3. Mapping natural variability in Tomato seeds: a metabolic perspective. In collaboration with Dr AR Fernie and Prof D Zamir;

4. The effect of salt stress on Tomato seeds metabolism. In collaboration with Dr S Sarranga.

5. Mapping metabolic processes during Tomato seed germination. In collaboraiton with Prof H Nonogaki

6. The impact of water quality on the basil leaves metabolism. In collaboration with Dr N Lazarovitch

7. Seasonal changes of metabolite processes in Zygophyllum simplex. In collaboration with Prof G Grafi

8. The metabolic basis of drought tolerance in natural wheat populations. In collaboration with Prof T Fahima and Dr S Sarranga

9. A multidisciplinary study of the mechanisms underlying Arabidopsis relatives stress tolerance. In collaboration with Dr S Barak and Dr S Bar David

10. Metabolic networks in volatile producing seeds of Nigella sativa. In collaboration with Prof E Lewinsohn

11. The metabolic faith of amino acids in melons. In collaboration with Prof E Lewinsohn

12. Glu-GABA and TCA cycle crosstalk: understanding C-N balance in plants. In collaboration with Prof G Galili.

Synopsis of research interests

The Laboratory for Metabolic Networks in Dryland Crops

Aaron Fait

Metabolic networks. In plant science a systems approach has replaced the reductionism view of the metabolic complexity. This shift in concept has been possible with the advent of high throughput metabolic profiling, bioinformatics and flux analysis. Integrative studies combining the different ‘omics fields while taking advantage from available molecular strategies and mutants collections are crucial and require powerful statistical and analytical tools for complex dataset elaboration. The projects that I lead reflect, on the one, the motivation to improve crop nutritional-value/yield and, on the other, the interest in plant-environment interaction, ecology and evolution as reflected by the natural variability of metabolism and metabolic regulation. Special attention is given to the seed, its nutritional quality, development and physiology of germination.

In the past two years the laboratory has established a metabolomics platform integrated with cutting edge technologies and bioinformatics defining a systems approach to metabolism of stress and crop improvement.

The laboratory leads three major projects:

1. Regulatory networks of seed development and germination. Regulation of seed germination is of vital importance in a plant’s life cycle, particularly in habitats having low rainfall highly discontinuous and can have implication on plant growth and yield. Germination is governed in a synergistic manner by (a) pre-dispersal factors and (b) post-dispersal factors. This matrix of elements as well as the multiple signals involved remains widely obscure despite the economic importance. With the aim of isolating regulatory modules, we study metabolic networks and transcript profiles during seed maturation and germination of plants grown under a predetermined set of environmental conditions. We further assess the effect of pre-dispersal components on seed germination and seedling establishment. Pre-dispersal and post dispersal data will be integrated in order to define network modules. The study will include diverse ecotypes of Arabidopsis with different as well as mutants aberrant in their germination physiology (e.g. ABA insensitive mutants and DOG mutants). The information gathered will set the basis for a model to predict seed traits (e.g. oil content, proteins, seedling survival) and it will be tested in crops e.g. canola and wheat. Fait has wide experience on seed development in different species (Fait et al., 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010), Mrs Quansah (PhD student) is studying the effect of drought on wheat grain development from a metabolic standpoint in two natural populations of wheat, drought sensitive and drought resistance. Mrs Quansah is also collaborating on wheat alloplasmic lines with the genomic center of Fiorenzuola and presented her results in different international meetings, the last one as an invited plenary lecture of mine in Bologna. A Preproposal on Wheat seed quality to the MERC has been accepted for full proposal submission in 2010. Mr Bing Bai is invastigating the role of metabolic natural variability in seed tolerance to dehydration across ecotypes of Arabidopsis and Arabidopsis relatives of the Negev desert (funded by the Kochland foundation). Plant Cell Physiology has chosen Mr Bing project to be published (following peer review) in the Jan issue of 2012. MSc Xue is studying seed developmental program of different metabolic processes in volatile producing seeds of Nigella sativa. Fait has recently joined several consortia from Israel and Europe, to study seed collections of wild populations of different species. Fait collaborates with the seed laboratory in Wageningen; Dr. Bentsink from the Wageningen research center visited Israel and our labs joined forses to elucidate the regulation of maternal effect on postdispersal performances from a genomics standpoint (the visit was funded by the BSCS).

2. Seed metabolism: making use of transgenic and mutants of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and Glu-GABA metabolism in Arabidopsis we aim at understanding the role of these metabolic routes particularly during seed development and germination under stress. The approach is to integrate metabolic profiling, metabolic flux analysis (MFA) with transcript analysis (microarray and RT-PCR). The strategy involves seed specific promoter regulated expression of genes. C/N partitioning in seeds, improving current biofuel-crops, In an effort to understand the mechanisms that regulate use and allocation of resources in seeds, we combine metabolic steady state and high-throughput flux analysis (fluxomics) to study pathway competition and inter-pathway regulation of carbon flow. A GIF research grant and a BARD (Co-I) are financing research on this topic and MSc Batushanksi is investigating the role of GABA and the interplay of between C-N metabolism and the GABA shunt.

3. Natural variation and Seed Vs Fruit interaction: We study the tomato introgression lines collection (along successive seasons), originated in D. Zamir Laboratories at the Faculty of Agriculture, to discern the effect on seed quality traits of wild ancestor introgression in the genome of the cultivated variety. By employing correlation based methods of analysis we further test the relationship between seed and fruit traits and elaborate the breeding as well as evolutionary implications that might arise. PhD Toubiana is finalizing two manuscripts on the subject, looking at metabolic networks dynamics across the population in seeds and in fruits. We are continuing this suty with Dr Sarranga on the impact of salt stress on the metabolism of seeds across the IL collection. Recently we moved our attention to grape, stemming from an ongoing collaboration with Italian partners in the industry (Bosca SPA) and in research institutions (Uni of Torino, Uni of Verona and Genome Centre of Fiorenzuola, Volcani center). Currently we have four funded projects on grape, a BARD (PI) in collaboration with Prof Cramer (Reno-Nevada) and Prof Perl (Volcani), a research fund from the Ministry of Agriculture with Dr. Rachmilevitch and Prof Karnieli, a research fund from the Jewish foundation, and a Chief scientist grant in collaboration with Giora Ben Ari of the Volcani Institute. Two students, MSc Hochberg and PhD Degu are working on the subject studying the interplay between primary and secondary metabolism in skin and seeds of different dark-skinned grape cultivars in response to drought and defining the impact on final product quality, i.e. the wine.

Update Date: 29/02/2012