Current Projects
- Biochemistry of the formation phenylpropylamino alkaloids in khat (Catha edulis)
- Biogeneration of aroma and flavor compounds in melon, watermelon and banana
- Biotechnology and genetic engineering to improve the aroma of tomato fruits
- Biochemical characterization of aromatic plants
List of recent publications (Since 2005)
Davidovich-Rikanati, R., Lewinsohn, E. Bar, E., Iijima, Y., Pichersky, E., and Sitrit, Y. (2008). Overexpression of the lemon basil α-zingiberene synthase gene (ZIS) increases both mono- and sesquiterpene content in tomato fruit.
The Plant Journal (In Press).
Lewinsohn, E., Portnoy, V., Benyamini, Y., Bar, E., Harel-Beza, R., Gepstein, S., Giovannoni, J.J., Schaffer, A.A., Burger, Y., Tadmor, Y., and Katzir, N. (2008). Sesquiterpene biosynthesis in melon (Cucumis melo L.) rinds. Cucurbitaceae 2008, Proceedings of the IXth EUCARPIA meeting on genetics and breeding of Cucurbitaceae (Pitrat, M. ed.), INRA, Avignon (France). pp. 249-255.
Katzir, N., Harel-Beza, R., Portnoy, V., Tzuri, G., Koren, E., Lev, S., Bar, E., Tadmor, Y., Burger, Y., Lewinsohn, E., Fei, Z., Giovannoni, J.J., and Schaffer, A.A. (2008). Melon fruit quality: a genomic approach. Cucurbitaceae 2008, Proceedings of the IXth EUCARPIA meeting on genetics and breeding of Cucurbitaceae (Pitrat, M. ed.), INRA, Avignon (France). pp. 231-240.
Burger, Y., Tadmor, Y. Lewinsohn, E., Meir, A., Sa'ar, U., Katzir, N., Paris, H.S., and Schaffer, A.A., (2008). Melon fruit color, more than just looks. Proceedings of the IXth EUCARPIA meeting on genetics and breeding of Cucurbitaceae (Pitrat, M. ed.), INRA, Avignon (France). pp. 529-533.
Schwab, W., Davidovich-Rikanati, R. and Lewinsohn, E. (2008). Biosynthesis of plant-derived flavor compounds. The Plant Journal 54: 712-732.
Portnoy, V., Benyamini, Y., Bar, E., Harel-Beza, R., Gepstein, S., Giovannoni, J.J., Schaffer, A.A., Burger, Y., Tadmor, Y., Lewinsohn, E. and Katzir, N. (2008).The molecular and biochemical basis for varietal variation in sesquiterpene content in melon (Cucumis melo L.) rinds. Plant Molecular Biology 66: 647-661.
Krizevski, R., Dudai, N., Bar, E., Dessow, I. and Lewinsohn, E. (2008).Stereochemical determination of phenylpropylamino alkaloids and 1-phenyl 1,2-propanedione in khat (Catha edulis, Forsk.) leaves.Israel Journal of Plant Sciences 56: (In Press).
Tadmor, Y., Katzir, N., Meir, A., Yaniv-Yaakov, A., Sa'ar, A., Baumkoler, F., Lavee, T., Lewinsohn, E., Schaffer, A.A. and Burger, J. (2007). Induced mutagenesis to augment the natural genetic variability of melon (Cucumis melo L.). Israel Journal of Plant Sciences 55: (In Press).
Krizevski, R., Dudai, N., Bar, E. and Lewinsohn, E. (2007). Developmental patterns of phenylpropylamino alkaloids accumulation in khat (Catha edulis, Forsk.). Journal of Ethnopharmacology 114: 432-438.
Davidovich-Rikanati, R., Sitrit, Y., Tadmor, Y., Iijima, Y., Bilenko, N., Bar, E., Carmona, B., Fallick, E., Dudai, N., Simon, J.E., Pichersky, E. and Lewinsohn, E. (2007). Enrichment of tomato flavor by diversion of the early plastidial terpenoid pathway. Nature Biotechnology 25: 899-901.
Davidovich-Rikanati, R., Azulay, Y., Sitrit, Y., Tadmor, Y. and Lewinsohn, E. (2007). Tomato aroma: biochemistry and biotechnology. In: "Biotechnology in Flavor Production" (eds. D. Havkin Frenkel and F. Belanger). Blackwell Publishing. Chapter 5. pp. 118-129 .
Tadmor, Y. and Lewinsohn, E. (2007). Frontiers in transgenic medicinal plants research. In: "Medicinal Plant Biotechnology, From Basic Research to Industrial Applications" (eds. O. Kayser and W. Quax,). WILEY-VCH, Weinheim, Germany. Vol. 2. pp. 375-395.
Aranovich, D., Lewinsohn, E. and Zaccai, M. (2007). Postharvest enhancement of aroma in transgenic lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) using the Clarkia breweri benzyl alcohol acetyl transferase (BEAT) gene. Postharvest Biology and Technology 43: 255-260.
Sorek, N., Poraty, L., Sternberg, H., Bar, E., Lewinsohn, E., and Yalovsky, S. (2007).Activation status coupled transient S-acylation determines membrane partitioning of a plant Rho-related GTPase. Molecular and Cellular Biology 27: 2144-2154.
Larkov, O., Matasyoh, J.C., Dudai, N., Lewinsohn, E., Mayer, A.A. and Ravid, U. (2007). Distribution of piperitone oxide stereoisomers in Mentha and Micromeria species and their chemical syntheses. Flavour and Fragrance Journal 22: 328-333.
Ibdah, M., Azulay, Y., Portnoy, V., Wasserman, B., Bar, E., Meir, A., Burger, Y., Hirschberg, J., Schaffer, A.A., Katzir, N., Tadmor, Y., and Lewinsohn, E. (2006).Functional characterization of CmCCD1, a carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase from melon. Phytochemistry 67: 1579-1589.
Burger, Y., Sa'ar, U., Paris, H.S., Lewinsohn, E., Katzir, N., Tadmor Y., and Schaffer, A.A. (2006).Genetic variability for valuable fruit quality traits in Cucumis melo. Israel Journal of Plant Sciences 54: 233-242.
Gross, M., Joel, D.M., Cohen, Y., Bar, E., Friedman, J. and Lewinsohn, E. (2006). Ontogenesis of mericarps of bitter fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill. var. vulgare) as related to t-anethole accumulation. Israel Journal of Plant Sciences 54: 309-316.
Lewinsohn, E. (2006). Genetic engineering to modify the aroma of fruits and flowers.
In: Crops: Growth, Quality and Biotechnology. V. Plant Breeding and Biotechnology Application in Crops (ed. R. Dris). WFL Publishers, Helsinki, Finland. 9 pp.
Vainstein, A., Lewinsohn E. and Weiss, D. (2006). An integrated genomics approach to identifying floral scent genes in rose.In: Biology of Floral Scent. (eds. N. Dudareva and E. Pichersky). CRC Press, USA. Chapter 5 pp. 91-104.
Lewinsohn, E. and Tadmor, Y. (2005). Biotechnology in medicinal crops improvement. In: Handbook of Medicinal Plants. (eds. Z. Yaniv and U. Bachrach). The Haworth Press, Inc. Binghamton, NY. Chapter 12 pp. 235-260.
Tadmor, T., Paris, H.S., Meir, A., Schaffer, A.A. and Lewinsohn, E. (2005). The dual role of the pigmentation gene B in affecting carotenoid and Vitamin E content in pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) mesocarp. J. Agric. Food Chem. 53: 9759-9763.
Frydman, A., Weisshaus, O., Huhman, D.V., Sumner, L.W., Bar-Peled, M., Lewinsohn, E., Fluhr, R., Gressel, J., and Eyal, Y. (2005). Metabolic engineering of plant cells for transformation of hesperedin into neohesperidin, a substrate for production of the low-calorie sweetener and flavor enhancer NHDC. J. Agric. Food Chem. 53: 9708-9712.
Lewinsohn, E., Sitrit, Y., Bar, E., Azulay Y., Ibdah, M., Meir, A., Yosef, E., Zamir, D., and Tadmor, Y. (2005). Not just color - Carotenoid degradation as a link between color and aroma in tomato and watermelon fruit. Trends in Food Science and Technology 16: 407-415.
Lewinsohn, E., Sitrit, Y., Bar, E., Azulay Y., Meir, A., Zamir, D., and Tadmor, Y. (2005). Carotenoid pigmentation affects the volatile composition of tomato and watermelon fruits, as revealed by comparative genetic analyses. J. Agric. Food Chemistry 53: 3142-3148.
Holland, D., Larkov, O., Bar Yaakov, I., Bar, E., Zax, A., Brandeis, E., Ravid, U., and Lewinsohn, E. (2005). Developmental and varietal differences in volatile ester formation and acetyl CoA: alcohol acetyl transferase activities in apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) fruit. J. Agric. Food Chem. 53: 7198-7203.
Tadmor, Y., King, S., Levi, C., Davis, A., Meir, A., Wasserman, B., Hirschberg, J., and Lewinsohn, E. (2005). Comparative fruit colouration in watermelon and tomato. Food Research International 38 837-841.
Dafny-Yelin, M., Guterman, I., Menda, N., Ovadis, M., Shalit, M., Pichersky, E., Zamir, D., Lewinsohn, E., Adam, Z., Weiss, D. and Vainstein, A. (2005). Flower proteome: changes in protein spectrum during the advanced stages of rose petal development. Planta 222: 37-46.