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Wassim Chehab
Faculty Fellow
Faculty Fellow in Biochemistry and Cell Biology
e-mail:[email protected]
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Ph.D. Biochemistry (2003) University of Nevada, Reno,
NV
B.S. Chemistry (1998) American University of Beirut,
Beirut, Lebanon
Primary Department
Department of BioSciences
Websites
Faculty Web Page
Research Areas
Identifying the role jasmonates play in plant responses to mechanical stimulation.
Investigating the relation between jasmonates and circadian clock regulation in plant
immunity. Identifying fungal elicitors and their corresponding plant receptors crucial in
launching the jasmonate mediated defenses. Unraveling the role jasmonates play in mediating
plant fertility
Research Statement
Plants, like other non-motile organisms, cannot change location
to escape stressful environments. Therefore, plants evolved to
respond and acclimate to diverse stimuli, including the
seemingly innocuous touch stimulus. Although some species,
such as Venus flytrap, have fast touch responses, most plants
display more gradual touch-induced morphological alterations,
called thigmomorphogenesis. Thigmomorphogenesis may be
adaptive; trees subjected to winds develop less elongated and
thicker trunks and thus are less likely damaged by powerful
wind gusts. Despite the widespread relevance of
thigmomorphogenesis, the regulation that underlies plant
mechanostimulus-induced morphological responses remains
largely unknown. Furthermore, whether thigmomorphogenesis
confers additional advantage is not fully understood. One
aspect of my research is focused on unraveling the
mechanostimulus-induced signaling and response mechanisms
in Arabidopsis and whether mechanical stimulations lead to
cross-protection of crops against insect and pathogen invaders.
Another area of research I am interested in is jasmonic acid
signaling in plant defenses. Jasmonic acid is a plant hormone
known to regulate diverse aspects of plant life such as
development and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses.
Despite significant advances in unravelling the jasmonic acid
signaling in response to stresses, crucial and fundamental
questions remain incompletely understood. There is mounting
evidence that plants are capable of differentiating fungal
infection from insect attack and wounding, and thus launching
the appropriate response to the pathogen infection even
though responses to wounding and insect herbivory are at least
in part mediated by jasmonic acid. Therefore, I am interested in identifying the signaling
mechanisms that lead to jasmonic acid induction specifically following fungal infection.
Selected Publications
Refereed articles
Koo Y, Wang J, Zhang Q, Zhu H, Chehab EW, Colvin VL, Alvarez PJ, Braam J. "Fluorescence
reports intact quantum dot uptake into roots and translocation to leaves of Arabidopsis
thaliana and subsequent ingestion by insect herbivores.." Environ Sci Technol, 49 (2014) :
626-632.
Tatyana Savchenko, Venkat Apparao Kolla, Chang-Quan Wang, Zainab Nasafi, Bpantamars
Phadungchob, E. Wassim Chehab, Federica Brandizzi, John E. Froehlich, and Katayoon Dehesh
"Functional convergence of oxylipin and ABA pathways controls stomatal closure in response
to drought." Plant Physiology, 164 (2014) : 1151-1160.
Goodspeed D, Chehab EW, Covington MF, Braam J. "Circadian control of jasmonates and
salicylates: The clock role in plant defense." Plant Signal Behav, 8(2) (2013) : e23123.
Goodspeed D, Liu JD, Chehab EW, Sheng Z, Francisco M, Kliebenstein DJ, Braam J.
"Postharvest circadian entrainment enhances crop pest resistance and phytochemical
cycling." Curr Biol , 23(13) (2013) : 1235-41.
doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.05.034
Danielle Goodspeed, E. Wassim Chehab, Amelia Min-Vinditti, Janet Braam, and Micheal
Covington. Arabidopsis synchronizes jasmonate-mediated defense with insect circadian
behavior. 2012. PNAS.109:4674-4677
E. Wassim Chehab, Chen Yao, Zachary Henderson, Se Kim, and Janet Braam. Arabidopsis
touch-induced morphogenesis is jasmonate mediated and protects against pests. 2012. Curr.
Biol. 22:701-706.
Yanme Xiao, Tatyana Savchenko, Edward Baidoo, E. Wassim Chehab, Daniel M. Hayden,
Vladimir Tolstikov, Jason A. Corwin, Daniel J. Kliebenstein, Jay D. Keasling, Katayoon Dehesh.
Retrograde signaling by the plastidial metabolite MEcPP regulates expression of nuclear stressresponse genes. 2012. Cell. 149:1525-1535.
E. Wassim Chehab, Se Kim, Tatyana Savchenko, Daniel Kliebenstein , Katayoon Dehesh, and
Janet Braam "Intronic T-DNA insertion renders Arabidopsis opr3 a conditional jasmonic acidproducing mutant." Plant Physiol., 156(2) (2011) : 770-778.
Kalie Van Ree, Bernadette Gehl, E. Wassim Chehab, Yu-Chang Tsai, Janet Braam "Nitric Oxide
Accumulation is Independent of NOA1 in the Presence of Sucrose." Plant J., 68 (2011) : 225233.
Yichuan Wang, Bochu Wang, E. Wassim Chehab, and Janet Braam "CML24 is involved in
directional growth control of Arabidopsis roots on hard-agar surfaces and regulation of cortical
microtubule orientation." J Plant Growth Regul. online
Savchenko T., Walley J.W., Chehab E.W., Kaspi R., Pye M.F., Bostock R.M. and Dehesh K.
"Arachidonic acid: an ancient signaling molecule modulates plant stress signaling networks"
Plant Cell 10.1105/tpc. 110.073858 (2010)
Book chapters
E. Wassim Chehab and Janet Braam. “ Jasmonates in plant defense responses.”
Biocommunication of plants. Eds. Guther Witzany, Burmoos: Springer, 2012. 67-88.
E. Wassim Chehab, Yichuan Wang, and Janet Braam "Mechanical Force Responses of Plant
Cells and Plants." Mechanical Integration of Plant Cells and Plants (2011) : 173-194.
Presentations
Workshops
"Pre- and Post-Harvest Treatments To Reduce Crop Biotic Stress." Gates Foundation, ARC
workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. (August 2013) With Janet Braam