Luca Comai

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Luca Comai
EducationBachelor's in Agricultural Science (1976)
Master's in Plant Pathology (1978)
Ph.D. in Plant Pathology (1980)
Alma mater
Calgene
Washington State University
University of California, Davis
Websitecomailab.org

Luca Comai is an Italian

plant biotechnology
research.

His research since then has focused on developing the Targeting Induced Local Lesions in Genomes (TILLING) protocol that allows for new mutations and traits to be quickly identified within a target plant species through genome and sequence analysis. He has received a number of research and teaching awards, along with being named a Fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In 2023, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.[1]

Education

Comai received his

T-DNA from Agrobacterium.[4]

Career

Calgene researcher

Comai first applied for a teaching position at the University of California, Riverside in January 1981.[5] But when this position wasn't offered to him, he instead joined the biotech company Calgene in the latter half of 1981 during its initial opening period.[6] While he had been attempting to get support among the Riverside faculty for his application, he had been informed of the properties of glyphosate and its specific targeting of the EPSP synthase enzyme. He proposed to Calgene's science board that they try to develop a plant gene mutation that changed the shape of EPSP synthase so that glyphosate would be unable to bind to it. His suggestion was rejected due to glyphosate being a product produced by another company, but he decided to work on the gene mutation on his own time.[5] Using Salmonella, he used random mutagenesis and subsequent application of glyphosate to try and stumble across the EPSP synthase mutation he was seeking and he succeeded.[7]

In 1982, Comai presented his glyphosate tolerance mutation to a fellow scientist, Steve Rogers, who worked at Monsanto and demonstrated that he had made a superior form of the resistance gene than the one Monsanto had been working on. Though it was still not good enough for agricultural production and Comai continued his independent work. He published a paper in the journal Nature in October 1985 describing how he and his colleagues at Calgene had created glyphosate-resistant plants using the gene mutation Comai had found years earlier.[5] This outcompeting of Monsanto's flagship product created a strong sense of rivalry with Calgene and subsequent layoffs at Monsanto at the end of 1985.[5]

University of Washington and UC Davis professor

First becoming a professor at the University of Washington in 1990, Comai's lab focused on the development of improved agricultural genetic traits by using the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana to co-develop what was referred to as the TILLING protocol.[8] This system included developing gene models and inbred lines, including an expanded EcoTILLING protocol developed in 2004, to compare differences in these plant lines to the reference genome and isolate new mutations and traits for further research.[9] He would later lead the TILLING Core Service Facility at UC Davis that continued developing a genetic analysis platform called "TILLING-by-Sequencing" that would be used on not just Arabidopsis, but was expanded to also include Camelina, tomato, rice, and wheat.[10] An award sponsorship of $489,000 was given to Comai's lab in 2014 from a joint donation of three companies in order to sponsor the further use of TILLING in current tomato cultivar populations.[11]

Comai joined UC Davis in 2006 with his lab's research focusing on glyphosate resistance,

Diospyros lotus found through investigating the genomes of several dozen male and female plants the specific genes involved in their sex determination. As these persimmons are among the few plants exhibiting dioecy, this discovery opened up agricultural opportunities for trait improvement and the research received significant media interest.[12][13]

Awards and honors

Comai was named a Fellow of the (AAAS) in 2012.[14] The Distinguished Research Award was given to Comai in 2015 from the College of Biological Sciences at UC Davis thanks to his accomplishments in the TILLING protocol.[15] In 2016, Comai was awarded with a Institute Honorary Fellowship from the University of Bologna for his work on the genetic improvement of plants.[15] He was also given a Faculty Teaching Award from the College of Biological Sciences at UC Davis in 2017 for his innovations in teaching and his encouragement of high motivation among his students.[3] The 2017 "Innovation Prize for Agricultural Technology" from the American Society of Plant Biologists was presented to Comai for his work on TILLING protocols and plant trait development.[16]

References

  1. ^ "2023 NAS Election".
  2. ^ "Luca Comai". ORCID. 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Slipher, David (17 August 2017). "Luca Comai and Michele Igo Receive College of Biological Sciences Faculty Teaching Award". College of Biological Sciences. University of California, Davis. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  4. ^ "Speakers: Luca Comai". 28th North American Agricultural Biotechnology Council Conference. Washington State University. 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  5. ^
    ISBN 9780786723768
    .
  6. ISBN 9780521327497
    .
  7. ^ Forest Products Research Conference, 1986: Matching Utilization Research with the Needs of Timber Managers : October 21-23, 1986, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, WI. Forest Products Laboratory. 1987. p. 43.
  8. PMID 26170439
    . Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  9. ISBN 9783540689225
    .
  10. PMID 20977660
    . Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  11. ^ "Engaging the Region's Seed Industry Cluster" (PDF). Office of Research. University of California, Davis. 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  12. S2CID 45018093
    . Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  13. ^ Bhanoo, Sindya N. (3 November 2014). "What Determines the Sex of a Persimmon". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  14. ^ "2012 AAAS Fellows" (PDF). aaas.org. American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  15. ^ a b "The future of agriculture - Lecture by Luca Comai, Department of Plant Biology and Genome Center, UC Davis". Instituto Di Studi Avanzati. University of Bologna. 27 September 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  16. ^ Kronfeld, Shoshana (28 March 2017). "Announcing the 2017 ASPB Award Winners". Plant Science Today. American Society of Plant Biologists. Retrieved 4 August 2021.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Luca_Comai&oldid=1212446878"