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Bologna for his work on the genetic improvement of plants. He was also given a
Faculty Teaching Award from the College of Biological Sciences at UC Davis in 2017 for his innovations in teaching and his encouragement of high motivation among his students. The 2017 "Innovation Prize for Agricultural Technology" from the
368:
Comai was named a Fellow of the (AAAS) in 2012. The
Distinguished Research Award was given to Comai in 2015 from the College of Biological Sciences at UC Davis thanks to his accomplishments in the TILLING protocol. In 2016, Comai was awarded with a Institute Honorary Fellowship from the University of
296:
in
October 1985 describing how he and his colleagues at Calgene had created glyphosate-resistant plants using the gene mutation Comai had found years earlier. This outcompeting of Monsanto's flagship product created a strong sense of rivalry with Calgene and subsequent layoffs at Monsanto at the end
271:
enzyme. He proposed to
Calgene's science board that they try to develop a plant gene mutation that changed the shape of EPSP synthase so that glyphosate would be unable to bind to it. His suggestion was rejected due to glyphosate being a product produced by another company, but he decided to work on
314:
to co-develop what was referred to as the TILLING protocol. This system included developing gene models and inbred lines, including an expanded EcoTILLING protocol developed in 2004, to compare differences in these plant lines to the reference genome and isolate new mutations and traits for further
266:
in
January 1981. But when this position wasn't offered to him, he instead joined the biotech company Calgene in the latter half of 1981 during its initial opening period. While he had been attempting to get support among the Riverside faculty for his application, he had been informed of the
342:, along with general mutational trait research. He is also well known for his work as a teacher of the "BIS 101" undergraduate genetics course and his use of whiteboard writing and his co-produced video series alongside the university. A collaboration between Comai's lab and
289:
and demonstrated that he had made a superior form of the resistance gene than the one
Monsanto had been working on. Though it was still not good enough for agricultural production and Comai continued his independent work. He published a paper in the journal
315:
research. He would later lead the TILLING Core
Service Facility at UC Davis that continued developing a genetic analysis platform called "TILLING-by-Sequencing" that would be used on not just Arabidopsis, but was expanded to also include
995:
185:) protocol that allows for new mutations and traits to be quickly identified within a target plant species through genome and sequence analysis. He has received a number of research and teaching awards, along with being named a
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331:. An award sponsorship of $ 489,000 was given to Comai's lab in 2014 from a joint donation of three companies in order to sponsor the further use of TILLING in current tomato cultivar populations.
873:
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Forest
Products Research Conference, 1986: Matching Utilization Research with the Needs of Timber Managers : October 21-23, 1986, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, WI
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990:
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First becoming a professor at the
University of Washington in 1990, Comai's lab focused on the development of improved agricultural genetic traits by using the
980:
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438:
970:
912:
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81:
654:
728:
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360:, this discovery opened up agricultural opportunities for trait improvement and the research received significant media interest.
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and subsequent application of glyphosate to try and stumble across the EPSP synthase mutation he was seeking and he succeeded.
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found through investigating the genomes of several dozen male and female plants the specific genes involved in their
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In 1982, Comai presented his glyphosate tolerance mutation to a fellow scientist, Steve Rogers, who worked at
874:"The future of agriculture - Lecture by Luca Comai, Department of Plant Biology and Genome Center, UC Davis"
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46:
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His research since then has focused on developing the
Targeting Induced Local Lesions in Genomes (
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to the plant hormone production of the same name in plants that is encoded in the genome as
155:
586:
439:"Luca Comai and Michele Igo Receive College of Biological Sciences Faculty Teaching Award"
348:
218:
151:
99:
334:
Comai joined UC Davis in 2006 with his lab's research focusing on glyphosate resistance,
940:
617:
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was presented to Comai for his work on TILLING protocols and plant trait development.
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699:
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at the same university. His doctoral thesis was on the subject of how
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and on developing protocols and systems for identifying new genes and
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780:
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Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
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28th North American Agricultural Biotechnology Council Conference
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in 2014 on the genetic sex reproduction of the persimmon species
507:
Lords Of The Harvest: Biotech, Big Money, And The Future Of Food
324:
237:(IAA) is produced in bacteria and how this genetic function was
225:. He then went on to earn his Ph.D. in plant pathology from the
174:
resistance gene and is considered a pioneer in the field of
647:
Kriz, Alan L.; Larkins, Brian A., eds. (14 November 2008).
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properties of glyphosate and its specific targeting of the
356:. As these persimmons are among the few plants exhibiting
1006:
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
64:
Development of glyphosate resistant plants, created the
136:
849:
American Association for the Advancement of Science
262:Comai first applied for a teaching position at the
191:
American Association for the Advancement of Science
131:
109:
95:
80:
2017 Innovation Prize for Agricultural Technology (
72:
60:
42:
30:
23:
650:Molecular Genetic Approaches to Maize Improvement
170:, Comai was one of the first discoverers of the
301:University of Washington and UC Davis professor
729:"Engaging the Region's Seed Industry Cluster"
8:
591:"The Genetic Map Enters Its Second Century"
868:
866:
20:
616:
499:
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432:
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272:the gene mutation on his own time. Using
34:Bachelor's in Agricultural Science (1976)
905:"Announcing the 2017 ASPB Award Winners"
811:"What Determines the Sex of a Persimmon"
991:University of California, Davis faculty
382:
193:(AAAS). In 2023, he was elected to the
986:University of California, Davis alumni
809:Bhanoo, Sindya N. (3 November 2014).
679:"TILLING and Associated Technologies"
655:Springer Science & Business Media
7:
913:American Society of Plant Biologists
903:Kronfeld, Shoshana (28 March 2017).
687:Journal of Integrative Plant Biology
535:Marx, Jean L., ed. (16 March 1989).
371:American Society of Plant Biologists
981:Washington State University faculty
264:University of California, Riverside
76:Distinguished Research Award (2015)
976:Washington State University alumni
209:in agricultural sciences from the
36:Master's in Plant Pathology (1978)
14:
437:Slipher, David (17 August 2017).
700:10.1111/j.1744-7909.2010.00999.x
18:Italian-American plant biologist
761:LaFlamme B (24 November 2014).
740:University of California, Davis
447:University of California, Davis
227:University of California, Davis
166:in plants. Through his work at
122:University of California, Davis
55:University of California, Davis
38:Ph.D. in Plant Pathology (1980)
504:Charles, Dan (4 August 2008).
443:College of Biological Sciences
1:
763:"Persimmon sex determination"
538:A Revolution in Biotechnology
78:Faculty Teaching Award (2017)
971:University of Bologna alumni
195:National Academy of Sciences
878:Instituto Di Studi Avanzati
609:10.1534/genetics.115.178434
476:Washington State University
223:Washington State University
118:Washington State University
51:Washington State University
1022:
573:Forest Products Laboratory
543:Cambridge University Press
154:whose work has focused on
127:
88:
158:discovery for improving
694:(11): 1027–1030. 2010.
468:"Speakers: Luca Comai"
882:University of Bologna
211:University of Bologna
47:University of Bologna
311:Arabidopsis thaliana
235:Indole-3-acetic acid
909:Plant Science Today
884:. 27 September 2016
838:"2012 AAAS Fellows"
575:. 1987. p. 43.
391:"2023 NAS Election"
336:functional genomics
205:Comai received his
176:plant biotechnology
104:Plant biotechnology
966:Italian biologists
816:The New York Times
736:Office of Research
258:Calgene researcher
160:agricultural crops
956:Phytopathologists
364:Awards and honors
354:sex determination
278:, he used random
207:bachelor's degree
145:
144:
90:Scientific career
1013:
961:Biotechnologists
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344:Kyoto University
229:and completed a
217:in the field of
213:in 1976 and his
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545:. p. 139.
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349:Diospyros lotus
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219:plant pathology
215:Master's degree
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152:plant biologist
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100:Plant pathology
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43:Alma mater
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941:Google Scholar
937:Author profile
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931:External links
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603:(3): 671–674.
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61:Known for
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589:(July 2015).
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247:Agrobacterium
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916:. Retrieved
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405:"Luca Comai"
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309:
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147:
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110:Institutions
89:
15:
512:Basic Books
340:epigenetics
280:mutagenesis
178:research.
950:Categories
587:Henikoff S
377:References
275:Salmonella
239:homologous
172:glyphosate
148:Luca Comai
25:Luca Comai
297:of 1985.
201:Education
164:mutations
31:Education
918:4 August
888:4 August
855:4 August
845:aaas.org
822:4 August
794:4 August
789:45018093
746:4 August
713:4 August
708:20977660
632:4 August
627:26170439
596:Genetics
482:4 August
452:4 August
417:4 August
317:Camelina
287:Monsanto
189:for the
137:comailab
68:protocol
618:4512531
231:postdoc
183:TILLING
168:Calgene
132:Website
114:Calgene
66:TILLING
851:. 2012
787:
768:Nature
742:. 2015
706:
661:
625:
615:
549:
518:
478:. 2016
413:. 2021
358:dioecy
338:, and
327:, and
321:tomato
293:Nature
253:Career
187:Fellow
96:Fields
73:Awards
841:(PDF)
785:S2CID
732:(PDF)
682:(PDF)
410:ORCID
329:wheat
245:from
243:T-DNA
156:trait
920:2021
890:2021
857:2021
824:2021
796:2021
748:2021
715:2021
704:PMID
659:ISBN
634:2021
623:PMID
547:ISBN
516:ISBN
484:2021
454:2021
419:2021
325:rice
139:.org
82:ASPB
939:on
777:doi
696:doi
613:PMC
605:doi
601:200
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911:.
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880:.
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