Education

Ph.D in Biology, Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, 1994

Current position

Professor and Group head in Migal, research Institute and Head of the graduate program in the Department of Biotechnology, Tel Hai Collage, Israel

Publications (since 2005)

1. Orgil, O., Spector, L., Holland, D., Mahajna, J. and Amir, R. (2016). The anti-proliferative and anti-androgenic activity of different pomegranate accessions. Journal of Functional Foods 26: 517–528.

2. Hacham, Y., Hershenhorn, J., Dor, E. and Amir, R. (2016). Primary metabolic profiling of Egyptian broomrape (Phelipanche aegyptiaca) compared to its host tomato roots. J Plant Physiol 205: 11-19.

3. Cohen, H. and Amir, R. (2016). Dose-dependent effects of higher methionine levels on the transcriptome and metabolome of transgenic Arabidopsis seeds. Plant Cell Rep.

4. Cohen, H., Shir, O. M., Yu, Y., Hou, W., Sun, S., Han, T. and Amir, R. (2016). Genetic background and environmental conditions drive metabolic variation in wild type and transgenic soybean (Glycine max) seeds. Plant Cell Environ 39(8): 1805-1817.

5. Cohen, H., Pajak, A., Pandurangan, S., Amir, R. and Marsolais, F. (2016). Higher endogenous methionine in transgenic Arabidopsis seeds affects the composition of storage proteins and lipids. Amino Acids 48(6): 1413-1422.

6. Galili, G., Amir, R. and Fernie, A. R. (2016). The Regulation of Essential Amino Acid Synthesis and Accumulation in Plants. Annu Rev Plant Biol 67: 153-178.

7. Matityahu, I., Marciano, P., Holland, D., Ben-Arie, R. and Amir, R. (2016). Differential effects of regular and controlled atmosphere storage on the quality of three cultivars of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.). Postharvest Biology and Technology 115: 132–141.

8. Stein, O., Damari-Weissler, H., Secchi, F., Rachamilevitch, S., German, M. A., Yeselson, Y., Amir, R., Schaffer, A., Holbrook, N. M., Aloni, R., Zwieniecki, M. A. and Granot, D. (2016). The tomato plastidic fructokinase SlFRK3 plays a role in xylem development. New Phytol 209(4): 1484-1495.

9. Brychkova, G., Yarmolinsky, D., Batushansky, A., Grishkevich, V., Khozin-Goldberg, I., Fait, A., Amir, R., Fluhr, R. and Sagi, M. (2015). Sulfite Oxidase Activity Is Essential for Normal Sulfur, Nitrogen and Carbon Metabolism in Tomato Leaves. Plants (Basel) 4(3): 573-605.

10. Frank, A., Cohen, H., Hoffman, D. and Amir, R. (2015). Methionine and S-methylmethionine exhibit temporal and spatial accumulation patterns during the Arabidopsis life cycle. Amino Acids 47(3): 497-510.

11. Cohen, H., Israeli, H., Matityahu, I. and Amir, R. (2014). Seed-specific expression of a feedback-insensitive form of CYSTATHIONINE-gamma-SYNTHASE in Arabidopsis stimulates metabolic and transcriptomic responses associated with desiccation stress. Plant Physiol 166(3): 1575-1592.

12. Chen, C., Letnik, I., Hacham, Y., Dobrev, P., Ben-Daniel, B. H., Vankova, R., Amir, R. and Miller, G. (2014). ASCORBATE PEROXIDASE6 protects Arabidopsis desiccating and germinating seeds from stress and mediates cross talk between reactive oxygen species, abscisic acid, and auxin. Plant Physiol 166(1): 370-383.

13. Hacham, Y., Koussevitzky, S., Kirma, M. and Amir, R. (2014). Glutathione application affects the transcript profile of genes in Arabidopsis seedling. J Plant Physiol 171(15): 1444-1451.

14. Orgil, O., Schwartz, E., Baruch, L., Matityahu, I., Mahajna, J. and Amir, R. (2014). The antioxidative and anti-proliferative potential of non-edible organs of the pomegranate fruit and tree. LWT - Food Science and Technology 58: 571-577.

15. Matityahu, I., Glazer, I., Holland, D., Bar-Ya'akov, I., Ben-Arie, R. and Amir, R. (2014). Total antioxidative capacity and total phenolic levels in pomegranate husks correlate to several post-harvest fruit quality parameters. Food and Bioprocess Technology 7: 1938-1949.

16. Matityahu, I., Godo, I., Hacham, Y. and Amir, R. (2013). Tobacco seeds expressing feedback-insensitive cystathionine gamma-synthase exhibit elevated content of methionine and altered primary metabolic profile. BMC Plant Biol 13: 206.

17. Hacham, Y., Matityahu, I. and Amir, R. (2013). Light and sucrose up-regulate the expression level of Arabidopsis cystathionine -synthase, the key enzyme of methionine biosynthesis pathway. Amino Acids 45:1179-90.

18. Song, S., Hou, W., Godo, I., Wu, C., Yu, Y., Matityahu, I., Hacham, Y., Sun, S., Han, T. and Amir, R. (2013). Soybean seeds expressing feedback-insensitive cystathionine gamma-synthase exhibit a higher content of methionine. J Exp Bot 64(7): 1917-1926.

19. Galili, G. and Amir, R. (2013). Fortifying plants with the essential amino acids lysine and methionine to improve nutritional quality. Plant Biotechnol J 11(2): 211-222.

20. Glazer, I., Masaphy, S., Marciano, P., Bar-Ilan, I., Holland, D., Kerem, Z. and Amir, R. (2012). Partial identification of antifungal compounds from Punica granatum peel extracts. J Agric Food Chem 60(19): 4841-4848.

21. Amir, R., Han, T. and Ma, F. (2012). Bioengineering approaches to improve the nutritional values of seeds by increasing their methionine content. Molecular Breeding 29: 915-924.

22. Dafny-Yalin, M., Glazer, I., Bar-Ilan, I., Kerem, Z., Holland, D. and Amir, R. (2010). Color, sugars and organic acids composition in aril juices and peel homogenates prepared from different pomegranate accessions. J Agric Food Chem 58(7): 4342-4352.

23. Amir, R. (2010). Current understanding of the factors regulating methionine content in vegetative tissues of higher plants. Amino Acids 39(4): 917-931.

24. Schwartz, E., Tzulker, R., Glazer, I., Bar-Ya'akov, I., Wiesman, Z., Tripler, E., Bar-Ilan, I., Fromm, H., Borochov-Neori, H., Holland, D. and Amir, R. (2009). Environmental conditions affect the color, taste, and antioxidant capacity of 11 pomegranate accessions' fruits. J Agric Food Chem 57(19): 9197-9209.

25. Czuj, T., Żuk, M., Starzycki, M., Amir, R. and Szopa, J. (2009). Engineering increases in sulfur amino acid contents in flax by overexpressing the yeast Met25 gene. Plant Science 177: 584-592.

26. Stein, H., Wilensky, M., Tsafrir, Y., Rosenthal, M., Amir, R., Avraham, T., Ofir, K., Dgany, O., Yayon, A. and Shoseyov, O. (2009). Production of bioactive, post-translationally modified, heterotrimeric, human recombinant type-I collagen in transgenic tobacco. Biomacromolecules 10(9): 2640-2645.

27. Shwartz, E., Glazer, I., Bar-Ya’akov, I., Matityahu, I., Bar-Ilan, I., Holland, D. and Amir, R. (2009). Changes in chemical constituents during the maturation and ripening of two commercially important pomegranate cultivars. Food Chemistry 115: 965-973.

28. Galili, S., Amir, R. and Galili, G. (2008). Genetic Engineering of Amino Acid Metabolism in Plants. Advances in Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 1: 49-80.

29. Amir, R. (2008). Towards improving methionine content in plants for enhanced nutritional quality. Functional Plant Science and Biotechnology 2: 36-46.

30. Hacham, Y., Matityahu, I., Schuster, G. and Amir, R. (2008). Overexpression of mutated forms of aspartate kinase and cystathionine gamma-synthase in tobacco leaves resulted in the high accumulation of methionine and threonine. Plant J 54(2): 260-271.

31. Tzulker, R., Glazer, I., Bar-Ilan, I., Holland, D., Aviram, M. and Amir, R. (2007). Antioxidant activity, polyphenol content, and related compounds in different fruit juices and homogenates prepared from 29 different pomegranate accessions. J Agric Food Chem 55(23): 9559-9570.

32. Hacham, Y., Song, L., Schuster, G. and Amir, R. (2007). Lysine enhances methionine content by modulating the expression of S-adenosylmethionine synthase. Plant J 51(5): 850-861.

33. Katz, Y. S., Galili, G. and Amir, R. (2006). Regulatory role of cystathionine-gamma-synthase and de novo synthesis of methionine in ethylene production during tomato fruit ripening. Plant Mol Biol 61(1-2): 255-268.

34. Hacham, Y., Schuster, G. and Amir, R. (2006). An in vivo internal deletion in the N-terminus region of Arabidopsis cystathionine gamma-synthase results in CGS expression that is insensitive to methionine. Plant J 45(6): 955-967.

35. Matityahu, I., Kachan, L., Bar Ilan, I. and Amir, R. (2006). Transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing the Met25 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae exhibit enhanced levels of cysteine and glutathione and increased tolerance to oxidative stress. Amino Acids 30(2): 185-194.

36. Galili, G., Amir, R., Hoefgen, R. and Hesse, H. (2005). Improving the levels of essential amino acids and sulfur metabolites in plants. Biol Chem 386(9): 817-831.

37. Golan, A., Avraham, T., Matityahu, I., Badani, H., Galili, S. and Amir, R. (2005). Soluble methionine enhanced the accumulation of 15 kD zein, a methionine rich storage protein, in BY2 cells and in alfalfa transgenic plants but not in transgenic tobacco plants. Journal of Experimental Botany 56: 2443-2452.

38. Avraham, T. and Amir, R. (2005). The expression level of threonine synthase and cystathionine-gamma-synthase is influenced by the level of both threonine and methionine in Arabidopsis plants. Transgenic Res 14(3): 299-311.

39. Gamrasni, D., Matityahu, I. and Amir, R. (2005). Aggregates formed as a result of the expression of yeast Met2 gene in transgenic tobacco plants, stimulate the production of stress-protective metabolites and increased the plants tolerance to heat stress. Molecular Breeding.15: 65-74.

40. Avraham, T., Badani, H., Galili, S. and Amir, R. (2005). Enhanced levels of methionine and cysteine in transgenic alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) plants over-expressing the Arabidopsis cystathionine gamma-synthase gene. Plant Biotechnol J 3(1): 71-79.