University Units - Academic Staff Members

Contact:
French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands
Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research
BGU, Sede-Boqer Campus, 84990, Israel
Telephone: +972-8-6593479
Fax: +972-8-6596742
E-mail: ggrafi@bgu.ac.il

Associate Professor, The Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, BGU (2009)

Research Interests:

Research activities

Education:

1985-1990 Ph.D. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Agriculture, Rehovot,Israel.

Name of advisor: Prof. Ilan Sela

Title of thesis: Interaction between the 3' untranslated region of human beta

interferon and long poly(A) tails: Possible mechanism for regulatio

of translation.

1982-1985 M.Sc Tel-Aviv University, Department of Botany, Ramat Aviv, Israel

Advisers: Prof. Y. Waisel and Dr. A. Shomer-Ilan,

Title of thesis: Effects of cow manure on rooting of mung bean cuttings

1979-1982 B.Sc. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Agriculture, Rehovot,

Israel.

Scientific Publications:

Refereed articles and refereed letters in scientific journals

1. Sher, N., Edelbaum, O., Barak, Z., Grafi, G., Stram, Y., Raber, J., and Sela, I. (1990) Induction of an ATP-polymerizing enzyme in TMV-infected tobacco and its homology to the human 2'-5' A synthetase. Virus Genes 4, 27-39.

2. Edelbaum, O., Ilan, N., Grafi, G., Sher, N., Stram, Y., Novick, D., Tal, N., Sela, I. and Rubinstein, M. (1990) Two antiviral proteins from tobacco: purification and characterization by monoclonal antibodies to human beta-interferon.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 87, 588-592.

3. Grafi, G., Meller, E., Sher, N. and Sela, I. (1991) Characterization of S1/mung bean type nuclease activity in plant cell suspension. Plant Sci. 74, 107-114.

4. Grafi, G., Sela, I., and Galili, G. (1993) Translational regulation of human-beta Interferon mRNA: Association of the 3'AU-rich sequence with the poly(A) tail reduces translation efficiency in vitro. Mol. Cell. Biol. 13, 3487-3493.

5. Grafi, G., and Galili, G. (1993) Induction of cytoplasmic factors that bind to the 3'AU-rich region of human interferon beta mRNA during early development of Xenopus laevis. FEBS letters 336, 403-407.

6. Rabinkov, A., Xiao-Zhu, Z., Grafi, G., Galili, G. and Mirelman, D. (1994) Allin lyase (Allinase) from garlic (Allium sativum L.): Biochemical characterization and cDNA cloning. Appl. Biochem. Biotech. 48, 149-171.

7. Grafi, G., Shomer-Ilan, A., and Waisel, Y. (1994) Effects of fermented cow-manure on rooting of mung bean cuttings: The role of nutrients and abscisic acid. J. Pl. Nut. 17, 401-413.

8. Weisman, Z., Grafi, G., Azmon, N., Shomer-Ilan, A., and Waisel Y. (1994) Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and cytokinin-like activity in municipal excess activated sewage sludge: effect on rooting of mung bean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilcz.] cuttings. Soil Sci. Pl. Nut. 40, 117-124.

9. Grafi, G., and Larkins B. A. (1995) Endoreduplication in maize endosperm: involvement of M-phase promoting factor inhibition and induction of S-phase-related kinases. Science 269, 1262-1264.

10. Grafi, G., and Larkins B. A. (1995) Activity of single stranded DNA endonucleases from mung bean is associated with cell division. Plant Mol. Biol. 29, 703-710.

11. Grafi, G., Burnett, R. J., Helentjaris, T., Larkins, B. A., DeCaprio, J. A., Sellers, W. R. and Kaelin, W. G. Jr. (1996) A maize cDNA encoding a member of the retinoblastoma protein family: involvement in endoreduplication. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 93, 8962-8967.

12. Grafi, G. (1998) Cell cycle regulation of DNA replication: the endoreduplication perspective. Exp. Cell Res. 244, 372-378.

13. Williams, L., and Grafi, G. (2000) The retinoblastoma proetin – A bridge to heterochromatin. Trends Pl. Sci. 5, 239-240

14. Zhao, J., and Grafi, G. (2000) The HMG-I/Y protein is hypophosphorylated in endoreduplicating maize endosperm cells and is involved in alleviating histone H1-mediated transcriptional repression. J. Biol. Chem. 275, 27494-27499.

15. Avivi, Y., Lev-Yadun, S., Morozova, N., Libs, L., Williams, L., Zhao, J., Verghese, G., and Grafi, G. (2000) Clausa, a tomato mutant with a wide range of phenotypic perturbations, displays a cell-type-dependent expression of the homeobox gene let6/tkn2. Plant Physiol. 124, 541-551.

16. Zhao, J., Morozova, N., Williams, L., Libs, L., Avivi, Y., and Grafi, G. (2001) Two phases of chromatin decondensation during cellular dedifferentiation of plant cells: distinction between competence for cell-fate switch and a commitment for S phase. J. Biol. Chem. 276, 22772-22778.

17. Fass, E., Shahar, S., Zhao, J., Zemach, A., Avivi, Y., and Grafi, G. (2002) Phosphorylation of histone H3 at lysine 10 cannot account directly for the detachment of human heterochromatin protein 1gamma from mitotic chromosomes in plant cells. J. Biol. Chem. 277, 30921-30927.

18. Zemach, A. and Grafi, G. (2003) Characterization of Arabidopsis thaliana methyl-CpG-binding domain (MBD) proteins. Plant J. 34, 565-572. F1000

19. Williams, L., Zhao, J., Morozova, N., Li, Y., Avivi, Y. and Grafi G. (2003) Chromatin reorganization accompanying cellular dedifferentiation is associated with modifications of histone H3, redistribution of HP1, and activation of E2F-target genes. Dev. Dyn. 228, 113-120.

20. Avivi Y., Morad V., Ben-Meir H., Zhao J., Kashkush K., Tzfira T., Citovsky V., and Grafi G. (2004) Reorganization of Specific Chromosomal Domains and Activation of Silent Genes in Plant Cells Acquiring Pluripotentiality. Dev. Dyn. 230, 12-22.

21. Grafi G. (2004) How cells dedifferentiated: a lesson from plants. Dev. Biol. 268, 1-6.

22. Leiva-Neto J. T., Grafi G., Sabelli, P. A., Dante, R. A., Woo, Y-M., Maddock, S. Gordon- Kamm, W. J., and Larkins B. A. (2004) A dominant negative mutant of cyclin-dependent kinase A reduces endoreduplication but not cell size or gene expression in maize endosperm. Plant Cell 16, 1854-1869.

23. Mosquna, A., Katz, A., Shochat, S., Grafi, G., and Ohad, N. (2004) Interaction of FIE, a polycomb protein, with pRb: possible mechanism regulating endosperm development. Mol. Genet. Genomics 271, 651-657.

24. Grafi, G., and Avivi, Y. (2004) Stem cells: a lesson from dedifferentiation. Trend

Biotech. 22: 388-389.

25. Li, Y., Butenko, Y., and Grafi, G. (2005) Histone deacetylation is required for progression through mitosis in tobacco cells. Plant J. 41, 346-352.

26. Zemach, A., Li, Y., Wayburn, B., Ben-Meir, H., Kiss, V., Avivi, Y., Kalchenko, V., Jacobsen, S.E., and Grafi, G. (2005) DDM1 binds Arabidopsis methyl-CpG binding domain proteins and affects their subnuclear localization. Plant Cell 17, 1549-1558.

27. Zemach, A., Li, Y., Ben-Meir, H., Oliva, M., Mosquna, A., Kiss, V., Avivi, Y., Ohad, N., and Grafi G. (2006) Different domains control the localization and mobility of LIKE HETEROCHROMATIN PROTEIN1 in Arabidopsis nuclei. Plant Cell 18, 133-145.

28. Shargal, A., Golobovich, S., Yablovich, Z., Shlizerman, L.A., Stern, R.A., Grafi, G. Lev-Yadun, S., and Flaishman, M.A. (2006) Synthetic cytokinins extend the phase of division of parenchyma cells in developing pear (Pyrus communis L.) fruits. J. Hort. Sci. Biotech. 81, 915-920.

29. Zemach, A. and Grafi G. (2007) Methyl-CpG-binding domain (MBD) proteins in plants: interpreters of DNA methylation. Trends in Plant Sciences 12, 80-85.

30. Grafi, G., Zemach, A., Pitto, L. (2007) Methyl-CpG binding domain (MBD) proteins in plants. BBA - Gene Regulatory Mechanisms 1769, 287-294.

31. Grafi, G., Ben Meir, H., Avivi, Y., Dahan, Y., Moshe, M., and Zemach, A. (2007) Histone methylation controls telomerase-independent telomere lengthening in cells undergoing dedifferentiation. Dev. Biol. 306, 838-846.

32. Zemach, A., Gaspan, O., and Grafi, G. (2008) The Three Methyl-CpG-binding Domains of AtMBD7 Control Its Subnuclear Localization and Mobility. J. Biol. Chem. 283, 8406-8411.

33. Granot, G., Sikron-Persi, N., Li, Y. and Grafi, G. (2009) Phosphorylated H3S10 occurs in distinct regions of the nucleolus in differentiated leaf cells. BBA - Gene Regulatory Mechanisms 1789, 220-224.

34. Grafi, G. (2009) The complexity of cellular dedifferentiation: implications for regenerative medicine. Trends in Biotechnology 27, 329-332.

35. Zhao,J. Paul, L.K.and Grafi, G. (2009) The maize HMGA protein is localized to the nucleolus, can be acetylated in vitro at its globular domain and phosphorylation by CDK reduces its binding activity to AT-rich DNA. BBA - Gene Regulatory Mechanisms 1789, 751-757.

36 Zemach, A., Paul, L.K., Stambolsky, P., Efroni, I., Rotter, V. and Grafi, G. (2009) The C-terminal domain of the Arabidopsis AtMBD7 protein confers strong chromatin binding activity. Exp Cell Res 315, 3554-3562.

37. Granot, G., Sikron-Persi, N., Florentin, A., Gaspan, O., Talwara, S., Paul, L.K., Morgenstern , Y., Granot Y. and Grafi G. (2009) Histone modifications associated with drought tolerance in the desert plant Zygophyllum dumosun Boiss. Planta 231, 27-34.

38. Damri, M., Ben-Meir, H., Avivi, Y., Caspi-Chalifa, V., Wolfson, M., Fraifeld, V., and Grafi, G. (2009) Senescing cells share common features with dedifferentiating cells. Rejuvenation Research 12, 435-443.

39. Grafi G. (2011) Epigenetics in plant development and response to stress. BBA - Gene Regulatory Mechanisms 1809, 351-352.

40. Grafi G, Chalifa-Caspi V, Nagar T, Plaschkes I, Barak S, Ransbotyn V. (2011) Plant response to stress meets dedifferentiation. Planta 233, 433–438.

41. Grafi G, Florentin A, Ransbotyn V, and Morgenstern Y. (2011) The stem cell state in plant development and in response to stress. Frontiers in Plant Genetics and Genomics. (in press).

Book chapters

1. Grafi, G., Ofir, R., Chalifa-Caspi, V., and Plaschkes, I. (2011). “Illuminating hidden features of stem cells.” in Embryonic Stem Cells: Basic Biology to Bioengineering, ed. M. K. Kallos, (INTECH Open Access Publisher), 265-282.

Chapters in collective volumes - Conference proceedings

1. Sela, I., Grafi, G., Sher, N., et al. (1987) Resistance systems related to the n gene and their comparison with interferon. Ciba Foundation Symposia 133, 109-119.

Editors: David Evered and Sara Harnett Ciba Foundation Symposium 133 - Plant Resistance to Virus.

*2. Flaishman, M.A.,Shargal, A., Shlizerman, L., Stern, R.A., Lev-Yadun, S., and Grafi, G. (2005). The synthetic cytokinins CPPU and TDZ prolong the phase of cell division in developing pear (Pyrus communis L.) fruits. Acta Hort. 671, 151-157.

Editor: K.I. Theron ISHS Acta Horticulturae 671: IX International Pear Symposium

*3. Flaishman, M.A., Brayer, Y., Shargal, A., and Grafi, G. (2005). Resumption of cyclin B and histone H1 kinase activity marks reproductive bud break in pear grown in the hot climate of Israel. Acta Hort. 671, 275-281.

Editor: K.I. Theron ISHS Acta Horticulturae 671: IX International Pear Symposium

Update Date: 05/10/2011