Pecinka lab

Research

The goal of Pecinka lab is to understand molecular basis of mechanisms shaping plant genomes. We focus in particular on DNA repair and inactivation of repetitive DNA that both have potential to cause large genomic chages. To this end we use model species Arabidopsis thaliana and several other Brassicaceae and analyze them using forward and reverse genetics, molecular, biochemical, cytogenetic and bioinformatic methods.

Pecinka lab is hosted by the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany.

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Lab Members

• Ahmed Abdelsamad
• Chun Hsin Liu (Phoebe)
• Ales Pecinka
• Björn Pietzenuk
• Thomas Piofczyk
• Giang Vu

Visiting Students

• Pawel Mikulski
• Miriam Schleinitz

Technitians

• Barbara_Eilts
• Petra Pecinkova

Alumni

• Alexander Schott
• Anastasia Hoffmann

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Recent Publications

• Pecinka A, Mittelsten Scheid O (2012): Stress-induced chromatin changes: A critical view on their heritability. Plant Cell Physiology doi: 10.1093/pcp/pcs044. [1]
• Alcázar R, Pecinka A, Aarts MGM, Fransz PF, Koornneef M (2012): Signals of speciation within Arabidopsis thaliana in comparison with its relatives. Curr Opin Plant Biol 15:205-211. [2]
• Pecinka A, Fang W, Rehmsmeier M, Levy AA, Mittelsten Scheid O (2011): Polyploidization increases meiotic recombination frequency in Arabidopsis. BMC Biology 9:24. [3]
• Pecinka A, Dinh HQ, Rosa M, Baubec T, Lettner N, Mittelsten Scheid O (2010): Epigenetic control of repetitive elements is attenuated by prolonged heat stress in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 22: 3118–3129. [4]
• Pecinka A, Rosa M, Schikora A, Berlinger M, Hirt H, Luschnig C, Mittelsten Scheid O (2009): Transgenerational stress memory is not a general response in Arabidopsis. PLoS One 4:e5202. [5]

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Announcements

• Group meeting, journal clubs, and seminars

News

• NSF Plant Genome Research Program
  • GEPR: Elucidating gene networks regulating development in tomato
  • Molecular evolutionary genetics of crop and weed responses to crowding (2002-2008)
• Human Frontier Science Program (2004-2008)