You are currently viewing Eran Tauber

Eran Tauber

Associate Professor

Email: etauber@univ.haifa.ac.il

Phone: +972-4-8288784

Office location: Multi-Purpose Building, room M-15

Webpage

 

Research Interests:

The circadian clock is a fascinating system that drives daily cycles of our activity, hormone level, gene expression and large number of other processes. Our research focuses on the genetics of the circadian clock, seasonal timing and molecular evolution of clock genes. What is the genetic basis for the difference between ‘morning’ and ‘evening’ people? What molecular adaptation have been evolved in cold and warm environments?

Our main model organism is the fruitfly Drosophila. We are particularly interested in natural genetic variation. We employ a broad range of cutting edge techniques such as high-throughput sequencing, molecular cloning, CRISPR transgenics and bioinformatics) to identify functional adaptations. We are also studying the molecular basis of photoperiodism, a mechanism used by many animals and plant to track the change in daylength for seasonal timing. We are testing the impact of epigenetic mechanism such as DNA methylation and microRNA on photoperiodic timing.

 

Specific research interests:

  1. The genetics of biological clocks and their evolution.
  2. The molecular basis of photoperiodic timing and the role of epigenetics.
  3. The genetics of morningness and eveningness in model organisms and human.

 

Selected publications:

  1. Adewoye AB, Nuzhdin SV, Tauber E.  2017. Mapping quantitative trait loci underlying circadian light sensitivity in Journal of Biological Rhythms. doi:10.1177/0748730417731863. Link
  2. Pegoraro M, Zonato V, Tyler ER, Fedele G, Kyriacou CP, Tauber E. 2017. Geographical analysis of diapause inducibility in European Drosophila melanogaster Journal of Insect Physiology.  doi:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2017.01.015. Link
  3. Khericha M, Kolenchery JB and Tauber E. 2016. Neural and non-neural contributions to sexual dimorphism of mid-day sleep in Drosophila melanogaster: a pilot study. Physiological Entomology 41: 327–334. doi:10.1111/phen.12134  Link
  4. Pegoraro M, Bafna A, Davies NJ, Shuker DM, Tauber E. 2015. DNA methylation changes induced by long and short photoperiods in Nasonia. Genome Research. doi:10.1101/gr.196204.115 Link
  5. Adewoye, AB, Kyriacou CP & Tauber E. 2015. Identification and functional analysis of early gene expression induced by circadian light-resetting in Drosophila. BMC Genomics.16: 570. doi:10.1186/s12864-015-1787-7. Link
  6. Pegoraro M, Picot E, Hansen CN, Kyriacou CP, Rosato, E & Tauber, E. 2015. Gene Expression Associated with Early and Late Chronotypes in Drosophila melanogaster. Frontiers in Neurology. 6:100. DOI:10.3389/fneur.2015.00100 Link
  7. Pegoraro, M., Gesto, JS.,Kyriacou, CP. & Tauber, E. 2014. Role for Circadian Clock Genes in Seasonal Timing: Testing the Bünning Hypothesis. PLoS Genetics 10(9): e1004603. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1004603. Link
  8. Pegoraro, M., Noreen, S., Bhutani, S., Tsolou, A.  Schmid, R., Kyriacou, C.P. & Tauber, E. 2014.  Molecular evolution of a pervasive natural amino-acid substitution in Drosophila cryptochrome. PLoS ONE 9(1): e86483. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0086483 Link
  9. Tauber, E. 2012. Open season on the Bünning hypothesis and seasonal timing. What kind of insights can quantitative genetics provide us about this controversial hypothesis? Heredity. 108:469-470 Link
  10. Tauber, E, Sandrelli, F., Zordan, MA, Pegoraro, M. Cisotto, P, Osterwalder, N. Piccin, A. Daga, A., Mazzotta, G., Rosato, E., Kyriacou C.P., & Costa R. 2007. Natural selection favours a newly derived allele of the circadian clock gene timeless in European Drosophila melanogaster Science 316: 1895-1898. Link