Nir Carmi
October 2008
Part I: CURRICULUM VITAE
I. Personal
1962
Born in Tel Aviv, Israel.
1978-1981
High school, Sedeh-Boker.
1981-1985
Military service as an air-defense officer.
Marital status: Divorced + two children
II. University Education and Additional Training
1985-1988
B.Sc. in Biology at Bar-Ilan University.
1988-1990
M.Sc. in Botany at Tel-Aviv University.
Title of thesis: Mechanism of herbicide resistance induced by
mutagenesis of the fern Pteris vitatta. Supervised by: Dr. A.
Zilberstein.
1991-1996
Ph.D. in Genetics at the Hebrew University, Faculty of Agriculture.
Title of thesis: 1) Promoter analysis of a tomato fruit-specific gene and
2) expression of the bacterial rolB gene in transgenic plants under the
control of this promoter in order to obtain parthenocarpic fruits.
Supervised by: Dr. Y. Salts.
1996-1998
Postdoctoral position at the Department of Molecular Developmental
and Cellular Biology, Yale University. Research subject: in vitro
selection of self-cleaving DNA and rational design of a DNA enzyme.
Supervised by: Dr. R. Breaker.
1998
Postdoctoral position at the Department of Cell Biology, Howard
Hughes Medical Institute, School of Medicine, Yale University.
Research subject: RNA processing. Supervised by: Dr. S. Wolin.
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1999- 2000
October 2008
Postdoctoral position at the Department of Vegetable Crops, A.R.O.
Research subject: Molecular biology of sugar metabolism of fruits.
Supervised by: Dr. A. Schaffer.
III. Position Held and Academic Status
2001-to present
Research scientist at the Plant Sciences Institute, Department of
Fruit Tree Sciences, A.R.O., Volcani Center.
IV. Training / Teaching Experience (including supervision of students and
foreign scholars)
2003 Lecturer at the Hebrew University, Faculty of Agriculture. Embryo and
fruit development.
M.Sc. students:
Laura Backerman, 2002-2004. Title of thesis: Genetic manipulation for seedlessness
in Citrus.
Adva Merom, 2003-2005. Title of thesis: Dwarfing Citrus via genetic manipulation.
Post-doctoral trainees:
Talia Saraf-Levy, 2004-2006. “Recombination of asymmetric lox site by
heterotetramer Cre recombinase.”
Noa Matrasso, 2005-2006. “Molecular directed evolution of Cre recombinase.”
Irina Sobolev, 2007- to present. “Site-specific integration of DNA fragments into the
plant genome.”
V. Membership in Scientific and Agricultural Committees
2003- to present. Citrus Board- Citrus varieties committee.
2009- Scientific Advisory Committee. The 2nd International Citrus Biotechnology
Symposium, 30th November to 2nd December, Catania, Italy.
VI. Editorial Responsibilities
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October 2008
Reviewer of manuscripts for Plant Breeding.
VII. Participation in International Meetings, Seminars, Courses, Tours and
Similar Functions
1992 UNESCO international meeting and training in plant molecular
biology, Godollo, Hungary.
1994 4th International Congress of Plant Molecular Biology. Amsterdam,
Netherlands. Poster was presented.
1998 Invited to DIMACS workshop on nucleic acid selection. Princeton
University, New Jersey, USA. Poster was presented.
2003 7th International Congress of Plant Molecular Biology, Barcelona, Spain.
2004 Invited to International Biotech Summit at University of California, Berkeley,
USA.
2006 Invited to Frontiers in Structural Biology. Keystone, Colorado, USA.
2007 Invited lecture in the UK. Invited by MTK Ltd and Chingford Ltd. to speak
about promoting citrus varieties. This lecture was published as an article
entitled “Israel builds up its status” FPJ March: 34-36.
VIII. Invitations from Professional Societies in Israel
2003
Committee organizer for the Annual Israeli Citrus Meeting.
2003, 2006, 2009 Invited lecture delivered to the Annual Israeli Citrus Meeting.
IX. Membership in Professional Societies
International Society for Plant Molecular Biology, ISPMB
X. Contributions to the Scientific Community
2006
Participation in an agricultural educational TV program.
2004, 2005 Participation in the “MASHOV” agricultural exhibition.
Our citrus exhibit was awarded the prize for “Best presentation”.
2009
Participation in radio program and an article in newspaper “Ha’ aretz”.
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XI. Research Grants
(A) International Competitive Grants
2003-2007
BARD grant. Ttle: Creating an ally from an adversary: genetic
manipulation of Citrus tristeza virus.
Co-PI, for 4 years. Budget: Total $50,000/year
(B) Local Research Grants
2001-2005
Citrus Board Grant. Title: Breeding of new seedless citrus varieties.
PI, Budget: Total: $90,000/year.
2006-2010
Citrus Board Grant. Title: Breeding of new seedless citrus varieties.
PI, Budget: Total: $200,000/year.
2004
The Agricultural Research Organization, Director Grant. Development
of a site-specific recombination system based on asymmetric sites.
Co-PI for 1 year, Budget: Total $35,000/year.
2007-2010
Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Agriculture grant. Targeted transgene
integration into native sites in the plant genome, toward engineering
environmentally friendly and stable transgenic traits in crop plants.
Co-PI for 3 years, Budget: $38,000/year.
(C) Commercial Research Grants
2005-2006
Private company grant, Recogene LTD. Molecular directed evolution
of Cre recombinase for therapeutic purposes.
PI for 2 years, Budget: $160,000/year.
XII. Awards and Scholarships
1986 Wolf Foundation Scholarship for Undergraduate Students, Bar-Ilan University.
1994
I.C.A. Foundation Scholarship for Graduate Students, A.R.O.
Part II: LIST OF PUBLICATIONS
All publications have been classified into four major categories.
The letter following each number indicates the appropriate category.
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a Publications produced exclusively within the candidate’s research group (including
graduate and post-graduate students, technicians, associated scientists, etc.)
b Joint publications with other research group(s) in which the candidate played the major
role.
c Joint publications with other research groups for which the candidate’s contribution
was comparable in weight to that (those) of the other research group(s).
d Joint publications with other research groups for which the candidate’s group played a
secondary role.
Articles in Reviewed Journals
1. a Carmi, N., Shultz, L.A. & Breaker, R.R., (1996).
In vitro selection of self-cleaving DNA.
Chemistry & Biology 3: 1039-1046.
2. c Barg, R., Pilowsky, M., Shabtai, S., Carmi, N., Szechtman, A.D.,
Dedicova, B., & Salts, Y., (1997).
The TYLCV tolerant line MP-1 is characterized by superior transformation
competence.
Journal of Experimental Botany 48: 1919-1923.
3. a Carmi, N., Balkhi R.S. & Breaker R.R. (1998).
Cleaving DNA with DNA.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 95: 2233-2237.
Publications since last promotion:
4. a Carmi, N., & Breaker, R.R. (2001).
Characterization of a DNA-cleaving deoxyribozyme.
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 9:2589-2600.
5. c Miron, D., Petreikov M, Carmi, N., Shen, S., Levin, I., Granot, D.,
Zamski, E., & Schaffer, A.A. (2002).
Sucrose uptake, invertase localization and gene expression in developing
fruit of L. esculentum and the sucrose-accumulating L. hirsutum.
Physiologia Plantarium 114: 1-12.
6. a Carmi, N., Zhang, G., Petreikov, M., Gao, Z., Eyal, Y., Granot, D., &
Schaffer, A.A. (2003).
Cloning and functional expression of alkaline -galactosidase from melon
fruit: Similarity to plant SIP proteins uncovers a novel family of plant
glycosyl hydrolases.
Plant Journal 33: 97-106.
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7. a Carmi, N., Dedicova, B., Shabtai, S., & Barg, R. (2003).
Induction of parthenocarpy in tomato via specific expression of the rolB
gene in the ovary.
Planta 217: 726-35.
8. a Saraf-Levy, T., Santoro, S.W., Volpin, H., Kushnirsky, T., Eyal, Y.,
Schultz, P.G., Gidoni, D., & Carmi, N. (2006).
Site-specific recombination of asymmetric sites mediated by a
heterotetrameric Cre recombinase complex.
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 14:3081-9.
9. a Vardi, A., Levin, I., & Carmi, N. (2008).
Induction of seedlesness in Citrus: From classical to emerging
biotechnological approaches.
Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science 133: 117-126.
10. a Spiegel-Roy, P., Vardi, A., Elhanati, A. Yaniv, Y., Fanberstein, L., &
Carmi, N. (2007).
'Ayelet' and 'Galya' - New seedless lemon cultivars.
Hortscience. 42: 1723–1724.
11. a Gidoni, D., & Carmi, N. (2007).
Mutagenesis for seedlessness in Citrus.
Israeli Journal of Plant Sciences. 55: 133-135.
12. b Gidoni, D., Srivastava, V., & Carmi, N. (2008).
Site-specific excisional recombination strategies for elimination of
undesirable transgenes from crop plants.
In Vitro Cell. & Dev. Biol – Plant. 44: 457-467.
Five selected Publications
Publications in Acta Horticulturae
1. c Szechtman, A.D., Salts, Y., Carmi, N., Shabtai, S., Pilowsky, M. & Barg,
R. (1997). Seedless fruit setting in response to NAM treatment of transgenic
tomato expressing the iaaH gene specifically in the ovary.
Acta Horticulturae 447: 597-598.
2. a Carmi, N., Salts, Y., Dedicova, B., Shabtai, S., Pilowsky, M., & Barg, R.
(1997).
Transgenic parthenocarpy due to specific over-sensitization of the ovary to
auxin.
Acta Horticulturae 447: 579-582.
3. c Barg, R., Shabtai, S., Carmi, N., Pilowsky, M., & Salts, Y. (2001).
Transgenic parthenocarpy in determinate and indeterminate tomato
cultivars.
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October 2008
Acta Horticulturae 560:207-210.
Articles in Reviewed Journals in Hebrew
1. c Salts, Y., Carmi, N., Szechtman, A.D., Shabtai, S., Pilowsky, M., & Barg,
R. (1997).
Innovation in genetic engineering.
Ha'sadeh 77: 16.
2. a Carmi, N., Vardi, A., Spiegel-Roy, P., Eyal, Y., Yaniv, Y., Elhanati, A.,
Fanberstein, L., Neumann H. & Friedman-Sahni, A. (2004).
Developing new grapefruits and pummelos.
Alon Ha'noteah 58: 380-381.
3. a Carmi, N. (2006).
Developing new seedless lemon varieties.
Alon Ha'noteah 60: 46.
Allowed Patents and Registered Cultivars
Patents since last promotion:
1. Carmi, N., Zhang, G., Petreikov, M., Gao, Z., Eyal, Y., Granot, D., &
Schaffer, A.A. (2003). Polynucleotide sequences encoding alkaline-agalactosidases and methods of using same. Application #: 20050208520.
2. Gidoni, D., Schultz, P.G., Santoro, S.W., Eyal, Y., & Carmi, N. (2004).
Compositions and methods for asymmetric recombination. International
Application No.: PCT/IL2005/000230.
3. Matarasso, N., Hanania, U., Gidoni, D., & Carmi, N. (2006). A conserved
region of HIV and use thereof. International Application No.:
PCT/IL2008/000968
Citrus Varieties
1. Carmi, N., Vardi, A., Spiegel-Roy, P., Elhanati, A., Neumann H., &
Friedman-Sahni, A., ‘Odem’ (2003) - Hybrid of ‘Ora’ and ‘Shani’: Easy
peeling late mandarin, red color, seedless, medium size.
2. Carmi, N., Vardi, A., Spiegel-Roy, P., Elhanati, A., Neumann H., &
Friedman-Sahni, A., ‘Dana’ (2003) - Hybrid of ‘Ora’ and ‘Murkot’: Easy
peeling late mandarin, orange color, seedless, big size.
3. Carmi, N., Vardi, A., Spiegel-Roy, P., Elhanati, A., Neumann H., &
Friedman-Sahni, A., ‘Ayelet’ (2003) - Seedless ‘Villafranka’ lemon.
4. Carmi, N., Vardi, A., Spiegel-Roy, P., Yaniv, Y., Fanberstein, L., Elhanati,
A., Neumann H., & Friedman-Sahni, A., ‘Galya’ (2003) - Seedless ‘Eureka’
lemon.
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5. Carmi, N., Vardi, A., Eyal, Y., Yaniv, Y., Fanberstein, L., Elhanati, A.,
Neumann H., & Friedman-Sahni, A., ‘Flamingo’ (2006) - Hybrid of
‘Chandler’ pummelo x ‘Shamouti’ clementine: Pummelo, red pulp, seedless.
6. Carmi, N., Vardi, A., Eyal, Y., Yaniv, Y., Fanberstein, L., Elhanati, A.,
Neumann H., & Friedman-Sahni, A., ‘Aliza’ (2006) - Hybrid of ‘Ora’ and
‘Chandler’ pummelo: Sweet grapefruit, seedless.
7. Carmi, N., Vardi, A., Eyal, Y., Yaniv, Y., Fanberstein, L., Elhanati, A.,
Neumann H., & Friedman-Sahni, A., ‘Einat’ (2006) - Hybrid of acid-less
pummelo and ‘Hudson’: Triploid pink grapefruit, seedless
8. Carmi, N., Vardi, A., Eyal, Y., Yaniv, Y., Fanberstein, L., Elhanati, A.,
Neumann H., Friedman-Sahni, A., ‘Orit’ (2008) - Hybrid of ‘Edit’ and
‘Nova’: easy peeling early mandarin, red color, seedless, , medium size.
9. Carmi, N., Vardi, A., Eyal, Y., Yaniv, Y., Fanberstein, L., Elhanati, A.,
Neumann H., Friedman-Sahni, A., ‘Meravit’ (2008) - Hybrid of ‘Wilking’
and ‘Michal’: easy peeling mid season mandarin, red color, seedless, , medium
size.
10. Carmi, N., Vardi, A., Eyal, Y., Yaniv, Y., Fanberstein, L., Elhanati, A.,
Neumann H., Friedman-Sahni, A., ‘Rishonit’ (2008) - Triploid ‘Rishon’:
Triploid easy peeling early mandarin, medium size.
11. Carmi, N., Vardi, A., Eyal, Y., Yaniv, Y., Fanberstein, L., Elhanati, A.,
Neumann H., Friedman-Sahni, A., ‘Hanna’ (2008) - Hybrid of ‘Tahiti’
Pummelo and’ Chandler’ Pummelo: Sweet Pummelo, seedless.
12. Carmi, N., Vardi, A., Eyal, Y., Yaniv, Y., Fanberstein, L., Elhanati, A.,
Neumann H., Friedman-Sahni, A., ‘Yael’ (2008) - Hybrid of ‘Ora’ and
‘Shani’: easy peeling late mandarin, red color, seedless, medium size.
13. Carmi, N., Vardi, A., Eyal, Y., Yaniv, Y., Fanberstein, L., Elhanati, A.,
Neumann H., Friedman-Sahni, A., ‘Vardit’ (2008) – Seedless ‘vered’: easy
peeling mandarin, orange color, seedless, big size.
14. Carmi, N., Vardi, A., Yaniv, Y., Fanberstein, L., Elhanati, A., FriedmanSahni, A., ‘Yifat’ (2008)- - Hybrid of ‘Yafit’ and ‘Tample’: easy peeling late
mandarin, red color, seedless, big size.
15. Carmi, N., Vardi, A., Yaniv, Y., Fanberstein, L., Elhanati, A., FriedmanSahni, A., Kanonich Joshua., ‘Danit’ (2009) - Hybrid of ‘Ora’ and ‘Murkot’:
Easy peeling late mandarin, orange color, seedless, medium size.
16. Carmi, N., Vardi, A., Yaniv, Y., Fanberstein, L., Elhanati, A., FriedmanSahni, A., Kanonich Joshua., ‘Ronit’ (2009) - Hybrid of ‘Ora’ and ‘Shani’:
Easy peeling late mandarin, orange color, seedless, medium size.
17. Carmi, N., Yaniv, Y., Fanberstein, L., Friedman-Sahni, A., Kanonich Joshua.,
‘Hinanit’ (2009) – Seedless ‘Daisy’: Easy peeling late mandarin, orange
color, seedless, medium size.
18. Carmi, N., Yaniv, Y., Fanberstein, L., Friedman-Sahni, A., Kanonich Joshua.,
‘Meital’ (2009) – Seedless ‘GP377’: Easy peeling early mandarin, orange
color, seedless, medium size.
19. Carmi, N., Yaniv, Y., Elhanati, A., Fanberstein, L., Friedman-Sahni, A.,
Kanonich Joshua., ‘Bambi’ (2009) – Seedless ‘Kumquat’.
Abstracts
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1. Carmi, N., Barg, R., & Salts, Y. (1994). Expression of a tomato young fruit
specific proline-rich coding gene. In: 4th International Congress of Plant
Molecular Biology. Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2. Carmi, N., Balkhi R.S., & Breaker, R.R. (1998). Cleaving DNA with DNA.
DIMACS Workshop on Nucleic Acid Selection. Princeton University. New
Jersey, USA.
3. Carmi, N., Burger, Y., Zhang, G., Katzir, N., Petreikov, M., Yeselson, Y.,
Shen, S., Granot, D., & Schaffer, A.A. (2000) Sucrose accumulation in melon
(Cucumis melo L.) fruit: Role of expression of sucrose transporter (sut) and
invertase genes. 6th International Congress of Plant Molecular Biology.
Quebec, Canada
4. Dai, N., Cohen, S., Carmi, N., Zhang, G., Portnoy, V., Katzir, N., & Schaffer,
A. A. (2006). Cloning and expression analysis of the raffinose sugar
metabolism pathway in melon fruit: Development of a CPM- (Complete
Pathway Macroarray). ISPMB meeting, Weizmann Institute, Israel. Israel
Journal of Plant Sciences.
5. Gidoni, D., Ben-Daniel, B-H., Mett, A., Feiler, J., Sobolev, I., Carmi N., &
Nir, U. (2007).Excision of a selectable marker gene mediated by trans
activated FLP recombinase in tobacco cells.
In Vitro Cell. & Dev. Biol. 43: S26, P-1005 (Abstracts of the World Congress
of the Society for In Vitro Biology, 9-13 June, 2007, Indianapolis, IN, USA).
LIST OF MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS
1. General contribution to agricultural science
Parthenocarpy
During my studies of the molecular control of parthenocarpy I carried out promoter
analyses that led to an understanding of promoter expression at early stage of fruit set.
As part of this research I contributed in developing a transgenic tomato capable of
setting fruit without pollination and producing parthenocarpic tomato fruit.
Transgenic plants are able to set fruits under extreme climatic conditions that affect
pollen viability and prevent pollination and fruit set. In addition, parthenocarpy is of
considerable importance for the canning industry, which spends large sums to remove
seeds from tomato paste.
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I am presently continuing this area of research and development, in collaboration with
Drs Gidoni, Barg and Salts, we are in the process of developing a site-specific
recombination system for the propagation of transgenic parthenocarpic strains.
Tomato cultivar with a superior transformation competence
In addition, during the course of my work, I discovered a tomato cultivar with a
superior transformation competence, the MP-1 cultivar (Journal of Experimental
Botany 48: 1919-1923). Today, plants of this selected cultivar are the standard
cultivar used for practically all transformation research at the Volcani Center, due to
its excellent regeneration capabilities and the cultivar has starred in numerous
publications reporting the effects of genes in transgenic tomatoes.
Carbohydrate metabolism
When I returned from my postdoctoral work at Yale, I spent one year working
in Arthur Schaffer’s laboratory at the Volcani Center in the area of plant
carbohydrate metabolism and its molecular control. During that period, I
discovered and cloned a novel alkaline -galactosidase from the
Cucurbitaceae family which contributed significantly to our understanding of
the initial steps of metabolism during sink import in this novel stachyose and
raffinose translocating family. The enzyme is the first committed step in sink
import metabolism and its identification also led to the functional
characterization of the previously undefined SIP family of proteins. The
enzyme cleaves the galactose residues of stachyose and raffinose under neutral
pH and is presently being developed for applications in the food and
pharmaceutical industries.
In addition, I cloned the first sucrose transporter and invertase genes from melon
plants. A functional analysis of these genes was conducted for sweet and non-sweet
genotypes of melon and variation in developmental expression of these genes was
revealed. These genes, which were found to play a key role in sugar accumulation in
melon fruits, are currently being used in a breeding program conducted in
collaboration with the cucurbit group of Neve Ya’ar.
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Molecular directed evolution of Cre recombinase
We obtained a scientific breakthrough in our development of a new recombinase
system platform by using molecular directed evolution of Cre recombinase to develop
an HIV1 provirus excision process to be used for therapeutic purposes. We already
applied for two PCT patents in connection with this work. Recogene LTD, has taken
this project for developing and commercializing.
2. Achievements in applied research specifying major contribution to
agriculture in Israel and abroad
Citrus Breeding
For the last seven years, I have led the Volcani Citrus Breeding program, which is
aimed at developing new seedless Citrus varieties. The program is supported by the
Citrus board and the chief scientist of the ministry of agriculture who both have
increased their funding in light of our successful results and has also benefited
royalties from South Africa and California. The decision to emphasize seedless
cultivars was taken in light of European market demands. Our advantage versus our
competitors is mainly the producing of late season easy peeling mandarin cultivars.
The staff working in the breeding program includes three technicians. The breeding
program at the 10 hectare field in Volcani combines breeding and selection strategies
together with inducing mutations.
To date, nineteen commercially important selected cultivars for local and foreign
markets have been registered. These include selections of lemons, mandarins,
grapefruit, pomeloes and kumquat. Among the mandarins we have selected an easy
peeling mandarin cultivar name ‘Yael’ that has the potential to replace the ‘Or’
cultivar as worldwide leading cultivar. We have also developed the sweet grapefruit
cultivar ‘Aliza’, ranked with a very high in flavor test. The latter may become a
dominant cultivar in the grapefruit market. Additionally, we have also selected high
lycopen pomelo cultivar named ‘Flamingo’ which has recently become commercially
available.
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