The focus of research in the Van Eck laboratory is biotechnological approaches to the study of gene function and crop improvement. For our studies, we apply several genetic engineering strategies to two major food crops: potato and tomato. The development of biotechnological techniques has made it possible to design and introduce gene constructs into plant cells withnts that express the introduced genes. Genes of interest to us have the potential to strengthen a plant’s resistance to disease, improve fruit characteristics, and enhance nutritional quality.
Van Eck, J., A. M. Walmsey, H. Daneill. 2004. Tomato Transformation: Nuclear and Chloroplast Genomes. Transgenic Crops of the World - Essential Protocols 0:
Frary, A., J. Van Eck. 2004. Organogenesis from Transformed Tomato Explants. Transgenic Plants: Methods and Protocols 286: 141-150
Joshi, L., J. M. Van Eck, K. Mayo, R. Di Silvestro, M. E. Blake (Nieto), T. Ganapathi, V. Haridas, J. U. Gutterman, C. J. Arntzen. 2002. Metabolomics of plant saponins: Bioprospecting triterpene glycoside diversity with respect to mammalian cell targets. OMICS 6: 235-246
Liu, J., J. Van Eck, B. Cong, S. D. Tanksley. 2002. A new class of regulatory genes underlying the cause of pear-shaped tomato fruit. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 99: 13302-13306
Kamo, K., M. Roh, A. Blowers, F. Smith, J. Van Eck. 2001. Transgenic Gladiolus In: Y. P. S. Bajaj (ed.). Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry 48: 155-170
Ganapathi, T. R., N. S. Higgs, P. J. Balint-Kurti, C. J. Arntzen, G. D. May, J. Van Eck. 2001. Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of embryogenic cell suspensions of the banana cultivar Rasthali (AAB). Plant Cell Reports 20: 157-162