Joseph R. Ecker

Joseph R. Ecker Professor Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory ecker@salk.edu Joseph R. Ecker, a professor in the Plant Biology Laboratory, is one of the nation's leading authorities on the molecular biology and genetics of plants. Ecker was a principal investigator in the multinational project that sequenced the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana, a modest weed that has become a model organism for the study of plant genetics. This wild mustard variety is the first plant to have its genome sequenced, an achievement expected to have widespread implications for agriculture and perhaps human medicine as well. Ecker is also widely regarded as one of the foremost experts on how the gaseous hormone ethylene regulates a variety of basic plant processes. For agriculture, ethylene gas is a vital chemical messenger important for such processes as fruit ripening and how plants respond to pathogenic organisms.

Education

• B.A., Biology/Chemistry, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, N.J.
• Ph.D., Microbiology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
• Postdoctoral fellow, Stanford University School of Medicine

Awards and Honors

• 2007 National Academy of Sciences, John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science
• 2006 Elected, National Academy of Sciences
• 2005 American Society for Plant Biology, Martin Gibbs Medal
• 2004 Scientific American 50 Research Leader of the Year
• 2004 International Plant Growth Substances Association Distinguished Research Award
• 2001 Kumho Science International Award in Plant Molecular Biology
• President International Society for Plant Molecular Biology

Alonso, J.M., Stepanova, A.N., Leisse, T.J., Kim, C.J., Chen, H., Shinn, P., Stevenson, D.K., Zimmerman, J., Barajas, P., Cheuk, R., Gadrinab, C., Heller, C., Jeske, A., Koesema, E., Meyers, C.C., Parker, H., Prednis, L., Ansari, Y., Choy, N., Deen, H., Geralt, M., Hazari, N., Hom, E., Karnes, M., Mulholland, C., Ndubaku, R., Schmidt, I., Guzman, P., Aguilar-Henonin, L., Schmid, M., Weigel, D., Carter, D.E., Marchand, T., Risseeuw, E., Brogden, D., Zeko, A., Crosby, W.L., Berry, C.C. and Ecker. J.R., (2003) Genome-wide Insertional mutagenesis of Arabidopsis thaliana. Science, 301:653-657.

Yamada K, Lim J, Dale JM, Chen H, Shinn P, Palm CJ, Southwick AM, Wu HC, Kim C, Nguyen M, Pham P, Cheuk R, Karlin-Newmann G, Liu SX, Lam B, Sakano H, Wu T, Yu G, Miranda M, Quach HL, Tripp M, Chang CH, Lee JM, Toriumi M, Chan MM, Tang CC, Onodera CS, Deng JM, Akiyama K, Ansari Y, Arakawa T, Banh J, Banno F, Bowser L, Brooks S, Carninci P, Chao Q, Choy N, Enju A, Goldsmith AD, Gurjal M, Hansen NF, Hayashizaki Y, Johnson-Hopson C, Hsuan VW, Iida K, Karnes M, Khan S, Koesema E, Ishida J, Jiang PX, Jones T, Kawai J, Kamiya A, Meyers C, Nakajima M, Narusaka M, Seki M, Sakurai T, Satou M, Tamse R, Vaysberg M, Wallender EK, Wong C, Yamamura Y, Yuan S, Shinozaki K, Davis RW, Theologis A, and Ecker JR. (2003) Empirical analysis of transcriptional activity in the Arabidopsis genome, Science, 302:842-846.
Guo, H., and Ecker J.R. (2003) Plant Responses to Ethylene Gas Are Mediated by SCFEBF1/EBF2-dependent Proteolysis of EIN3 transcription factor. Cell 115: 667-677.
Wang, K. L., Yoshida, H., Lurin, C., and Ecker, J. R. (2004). Regulation of ethylene gas biosynthesis by the Arabidopsis ETO1 protein. Nature 428, 945-950.
Li, H., Johnson, P., Stepanova, A., Alonso, J. M., and Ecker, J. R. (2004). Convergence of signaling pathways in the control of differential cell growth in Arabidopsis. Dev Cell 7, 193-204.
Mockler TC, Chan S, Sundaresan A, Chen H, Jacobsen SE, Ecker JR. (2005) Applications of DNA tiling arrays for whole-genome analysis. Genomics. 85(1):1-15.
Alonso, J.M. and J.R. Ecker (2006) Moving forward in reverse: genetic technologies to enable genome-wide phenomic screens in Arabidopsis. Nat. Rev. Genet, 7:524-
Olmedo, G., G. Guo, B.D. Gregory, S.D. Nourizadeh, L. Aguilar-Henonin, H. Li, H. An, P. Guzman, and J.R. Ecker (2006) ETHYLENE-INSENSITIVE5 encodes a 5'→3' exoribonuclease required for regulation of the EIN3-targeting F-box proteins EBF1/2. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, |. 103: 13286-13293
Zhang, X., Yazaki, J., Sundaresan, A. Cokus,S., Chan, S.W.-L., Chen, H., Henderson, I.R., Shinn, P., Pellegrini, M., Jacobsen, S.E., and Ecker, J.R. (2006) Genome-wide high-resolution mapping and functional analysis of DNA methylation in Arabidopsis, Cell, 126, 1189-1201
Clark, RM, Schweikert, G., Toomajian, C., Ossowski, S., Zeller, G., Shinn, P., Warthmann, N., Hu, T.T., Fu, G., Hinds. D.A. , Chen, H., Frazer, K.A., Huson, D.H., Schölkopf, B., Nordborg, M., Rätsch, G., Ecker. J. R., and Weigel, D. (2007) Common sequence polymorphisms shaping genetic diversity in Arabidopsis thaliana, in revision