Prof. Aviah Zilberstein

Education

1979 – Ph.D. Tel Aviv University

1980 – 1983 – Post-doctorate fellow – Weizmann Inst. of  Science.

1985 and summers thereafter – Visiting scientist, Max-Planck Institute, Cologne, Germany.

Since 1984 – Tel Aviv University; lecturer, senior lecturer, associate professor and full professor.

Molecular genetics approaches to improve tolerance to  environmental stresses in plants.

Specific topics include:

• Signal transduction pathways induced by different stresses in plants
• Generating plants with improved tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses using mutants identified by forward genetics approaches and DNA editing.
• Regulatory factors mediating amino acid biosynthesis.
• Correlations between proline cycle, proline-rich-proteins and stress in plants.
• The Bt delta-endotoxin Cry1C in insect resistant plants and its interaction with specific membrane lipid rafts and receptors.     
• Desert plants for enhancing CO₂ fixation and providing renewable energy resources.

Selected publications representing different topics:

Fichman Y, Koncz Z, Reznik N, Miller G, Szabados L, Kramer K, Nakagami H, Fromm H, Koncz C, Zilberstein A. (2018) SELENOPROTEIN O is a chloroplast protein involved in ROS scavenging and its absence increases dehydration tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Sci. 270: 278-291.

Fichman Y, Gerdes SY, Kovács H, Szabados L, Zilberstein A, Csonka LN. (2015) Evolution of proline biosynthesis: enzymology, bioinformatics, genetics, and transcriptional regulation. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 90: 1065-99.

Servet C, Ghelis T, Richard L, Zilberstein A, Savoure A. (2012) Proline dehydrogenase: a key enzyme in controlling cellular homeostasis. Front Biosci 17: 607-20.

Eilenberg H, Pnini-Cohen S, Rahamim Y, Sionov E, Segal E, Carmeli S, Zilberstein A. (2010) Induced production of antifungal naphthoquinones in the pitchers of the carnivorous plant Nepenthes khasiana. J Exp Bot. 61: 911-22

Miller G, Honig A, Stein H, Suzuki N, Mittler R, Zilberstein A. (2009) Unraveling delta1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate-proline cycle in plants by uncoupled expression of proline oxidation enzymes. J Biol Chem. 284: 26482-92

Avisar D, Segal M, Sneh B, Zilberstein A. (2005) Cell-cycle-dependent resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1C toxin in Sf9 cells. J Cell Sci. 118: 3163-71.