Background

Transposable elements (TEs) are DNA fragments that have the ability to “jump” from one site to another in the genome; as such they are also called "jumping genes". Transposable elements are the single largest component of most eukaryote genomes. Rice and wheat offer ideal systems to study epigenetic regulation of TEs and to investigate the evolution of TEs following allopolyploidization. Almost 40% of the rice genome and ~90% of the wheat genome are derived from TEs. Most elements contain inactivating mutations, whereas others are reversibly silenced by epigenetic mechanisms. The presence of TE sequences in EST and cDNA databases indicates that those elements escaped silencing and are expressed. The transcriptional activation of TEs might impact the expression of adjacent host genes. The underlying mechanism(s) whereby TEs alter expression of adjacent genes through readout transcription and the potential significant biological role of transcriptional interference between retro-elements and cellular genes are poorly understood.

Current Projects

1. Transposon dynamics in wheat.
2. Underlying mechanisms of TEs rearrangements in newly formed wheat polyploids.
3. Epigenetic variation in wild emmer wheat.
4. Salinity and drought resistance in wheat .

Recent Publications

Yaakov B., Ceylan E., Domb K. and Kashkush K. (2012) Marker utility of miniature inverted repeat transposable elements for wheat biodiversity and evolution. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 124: 1365-1373.

Baruch O. and Kashkush K. (2012) Analysis of copy number variation, insertional polymorphism, and methylation status of the tiniest class I (TRIM) and class II (MITE) transposable element families in various rice species. Plant Cell Reports, 31: 885-893.

Yaakov B. and Kashkush K. (2012) Mobilization of Stowaway-like MITEs in newly formed allohexaploid wheat species. Plant Molecular Biology, 80: 419-427.

Yaakov B., Ben-David S. and Kashkush K. (2012) Genome-wide analysis of Stowaway-like MITEs in wheat revealed high sequence conservation, association with genes and genomic diversification. Plant Physiology, 161: 486-496.

Yaakov B., Meyer K., Ben-David S. and Kashkush K. (2013) Copy number variation of transposable elements in Triticum–Aegilops genus suggests evolutionary and revolutionary dynamics following allopolyploidization. Plant Cell Reports, 32: 1615-1624.

Ben-David S., Yaakov B. and Kashkush K. (2013) Genome-wide analysis of short interspersed nuclear elements (SINEs) revealed high sequence conservation, gene association and transpositional activity in wheat. The Plant Journal, 201-210.

Ph.D. Weizmann Institute of Science, 2003