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Name	Labavitch, John M.
Education	Ph.D. (1972), Biological Sciences Stanford University
Specialty	Studies of development-related cell wall metabolism, focus on wall metabolism in ripening fruits and in plants interacting with pathogens and insects.
Location	1009 Plant Reproductive Biology
Phone Number	530-752-0920
E-Mail	jmlabavitch@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Groups	Plant Biology, Plant Pathology, Horticulture & Agronomy
Bio	The plant cell wall provides structure to individual plant cells and hence to plant tissues and organs. It also is a barrier that separates various plant peses from the plant stores of "food" molecules that these pests need to support their own growth and development. Our research group studies aspects of cell wall metabolism that are important features of plant development and plant interactions with pests. Specific studies involve: the ripening-associated softening that brings fruits to their optimum eating texture. the invasion of plant tissues by the necrotrophic gray mold pathogen, Botrytis cinerea. the damage caused to plants during the feeding of the lygus bug (Lygus herperus and related species), economically important pests of many California crop plants. In all of these instances of cell wall metabolism, the pectin polymers of the wall are cleaved into pectin-derived oligosaccharides (PDOs). PDOs can act as signals, influencing the expression of plant development - or defense-related genes. An overarching research theme in our program is the study of DPO structure and function.
Selected Publications	Powell ALT, J van Kan, A ten Have, J Visser, LC Greve, AB Benett and JM Labavitch. 2000. Transgenic expression of pear PGIP in tomato limits fungal colonization. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions. 13:942-950. Brummel DA, V Dal Cin, CH Crisosto and JM Labavitch. 2004. Cell wall metabolism during maturation, ripening and senescence of peach fruit. Journal of Experimental Botany 55:2029-2039. Shackel KA, MP Celorio-Mancera, H Ahmadi, LC Greve, LR Teuber, EA Backus and JM Labavitch. 2005. Micro-injection of Lygus salivary proteins to simulate feeding damage in alfalfa and cotton flower. Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology 58:69-83. Aguero CB, SL Uratsu, LC Greve, ALT Powell, JM Labavitch, CP Meredith and AM Dandekar. 2005. Evaluation of tolerance to Pierce's Disease and Botrytis in transgenic plants of Vitus vinifera L. expressing the pear PGIP gene. Molecular Plant Pathology 6:43-51. An HJ, S Lurie, LC Greve, D Rosenquist, C Kirmiz, JM Labavitch and CB Lebrilla. 2005. Determination of pathogen-related enzyeme action by MS analysis of pectin breakdown products of plant cell walls. Analytical Biochemistry 338:71-82.
Expertise	Plant Sciences
Campus	UC Davis Faculty
Extension Specialist	No