Ruben Rellan-Alvarez
Bio
Research Program Overview
Our research focuses on deciphering the genetic and physiological mechanisms underlying metabolism reorganization in plants during adaptation to abiotic stresses including suboptimal temperatures and nutrient concentrations. We use a combination of quantitative and population genetics together with high precision metabolic phenotyping to identify loci that have been under selection during adaptation to particular environments and that are involved in the determination of metabolic traits. We then use reverse genetics, heterologous expression to functionally characterize the allelic effects of candidate genes. In particular we are using maize glycerolipid remodelling during the process of maize adaptation to different highland environments across the Americas as our study system. Using the approaches above together with maize landrace mapping populations grown in highland and lowland common garden fields in México, we have identified loci that explain distinct glycerolipid patterns in highland maize. We are currently functionally characterizing these loci with the goal of understanding their contribution to maize adaptation to highland conditions and transferring beneficial alleles to modern maize varieties.
Goodnight Early Career Innovator
Education
B.S. Environmental Sciences Autonomous University of Madrid 2002
M.S. Autonomous University of Madrid 2005
Ph.D. Aula Dei Experimental Station 2011
Post-doctoral Plant Sciences Carnegie Institution for Science (Stanford) 2015
Publications
- Genetic mapping of maize metabolites using high-throughput mass profiling , Plant Science (2023)
- A B73×Palomero Toluqueño mapping population reveals local adaptation in Mexican highland maize , G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics (2022)
- Allele-specific Expression Reveals Multiple Paths to Highland Adaptation in Maize , Molecular Biology and Evolution (2022)
- An adaptive teosinte mexicana introgression modulates phosphatidylcholine levels and is associated with maize flowering time , PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (2022)
- Demonstration of local adaptation in maize landraces by reciprocal transplantation , EVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS (2022)
- Genome sequencing reveals evidence of adaptive variation in the genus Zea , NATURE GENETICS (2022)
- ROOT PENETRATION INDEX 3, a major quantitative trait locus associated with root system penetrability in Arabidopsis , JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY (2022)
- Demonstration of local adaptation of maize landraces by reciprocal transplantation , (2021)
- Molecular Parallelism Underlies Convergent Highland Adaptation of Maize Landraces , Molecular Biology and Evolution (2021)
- ROOT PENETRATION INDEX 3, a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) associated with root system penetrability in Arabidopsis , (2021)