CURRICULUM VITAE
MARTIN KATER
Professor of Plant Molecular Genetics
Date of birth: 04.09.1961
Work: Department of Biosciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 26,
20133 Milan, Italy, e-mail: [email protected]
Dissertation/Thesis
Structure, Function and Expression of plant and bacterial Enoyl-ACP reductase
genes. Date of award: 13th of April 1994, Free University, Amsterdam
Professional / research experience
CPRO-DLO, Wageningen, Netherlands
Post Doc period at CPRO-DLO (1994 – 1996):
Research focusing on flower development in Petunia and the monoecious species
cucumber.
Senior scientist period at CPRO-DLO (1997 – April 1998):
Starting from January 1997 at the department of developmental biology CPRODLO appointed as Companies Liaison.
Department of Biosciences, University of Milan, Italy (April 1998-present)
Martin Kater started his own research group in 1998. From October 2005 appointed
as Associate Professor in Genetics (BIO18).
Director Brera Astronomical Museum – Botanical Garden, Via Brera 28, Milan (from
December 2013)
Director of Botanical garden Cascina Rosa, Via Valvassori Peroni 7, Milan. (from
February 2014).
Teaching activities: 2nd year Bachelors course Genetics; 1st year Master course
Functional Genomics ; 1st year Master course Plant Development; 2nd year Master
course Laboratory Methods
Most important coordination responsibilities
- At the moment Martin Kater leads a group of 4 Post Docs, 2 PhD students and
numerous students.
- Martin Kater is since 2012 the National coordinator of “The Fascination of Plants
Day” in Italy (www.plantday.it).
- Martin Kater is responsible of the internationalization of the Department of
Biosciences (incl. ERASMUS, ERASMUS-MUNDUS).
Co-Editor
Martin Kater was Co-editor of The Plant Cell from 2008 till 2014.
Research Activities
The research group of Martin Kater has three major research lines:
1). Floral meristem and floral organ identity determination in Arabidopsis;
2). Reproductive organ and seed development in rice;
3). Rice fertility under high and low temperature conditions
Publications 2012-1015:
1. Grandi, V., Gregis, V. and Kater M.M. (2012). Uncovering genetic and molecular interactions among
floral meristem identity genes in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant J. 69, 881-893.
2. Mizzotti C, Mendes MA, Caporali E, Schnittger A, Kater MM, Battaglia R, Colombo L. (2012). The
MADS-box genes SEEDSTICK and ARABIDOPSIS BSISTER play a maternal role in fertilization and seed
development. Plant J. 70, 409-420.
3. Simonini S., Roig-Villanova I., Gregis, V., Colombo B., Colombo, L. and Kater, M.M. (2012). BPC
Proteins Mediate MADS-domain Complex Binding to the DNA for Tissue Specific Expression of Target
Genes in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell 24, 4163-4172.
4. Romani, I., Tadini, L., Rossi, F., Masiero, S., Pribil, M., Jahns, P., Kater M.M., Leister, D. and Pesaresi,
P. (2012). Versalite roles of Arabidopsis plastid ribosomal proteins in plant growth and development. Plant
J. doi: 10.1111/tpj.12000.
5. Dreni, L, Osnato, M. and Kater M.M. (2013). The Ins and Outs of the Rice AGAMOUS Subfamily.
Mol. Plant 6, 650-664.
6. Lindner, M., Simonini, S., Kooiker, M., Gagliardini, V., Somssich, M., Hohenstatt, M., Simon, R.,
Grossniklaus, U. and Kater, M.M. (2013). TAF13 Interacts with PRC2 Members and Is Essential for
Arabidopsis Seed Development. Dev. Biol. 397, 28-37.
7. Yun, D., Liang, W., Dreni, L., Yin, C., Zhou, Z., Kater, M.M. and Zhang, D. (2013). OsMADS16
genetically interacts with OsMADS3 and OsMADS58 in specifying floral patterning in rice. Mol. Plant 6,
743-756.
8. Casella, L., Greco, R., Bruschi, G., Wozniak, B., Dreni, L., Kater, M.M. Cavigiolo, S., Lupotto, E. and
Piffanelli, P. (2013). TILLING in Italian rice: hunting for mutations in agronomical traits. Crop Science 53,
2550-2562.
9. Gregis, V., Andrés, F., Sessa, A., Guerra, R.F., Simonini, S., Mateos, J.L., Torti, S., Zambelli, F.,
Prazzoli, G., Bjerkan, K.N., Grini, P.E., Pavesi, G., Colombo, L., Coupland, G. and Kater, M.M. (2013).
Identification of Pathways Directly Regulated by SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE During Vegetative and
Reproductive Development in Arabidopsis. Genome Biol. 14, R56.
10. Allahvrdiyeva, Y., Suorsa M., Rossi, F. Pavesi, A., Kater, M.M., Antonacci, A., Tadini, L., Pribil, M.,
Schneider, A., Wanner, G., Leister, D., Aro, E.M., Barbato, R., and Pesaresi, P. (2013) The subunit
composition of the oxygen-evolving complex influences photoautotrophic growth, PSII supercomplex
organization and short-term adaptive mechanisms. Plant J. 75, 671-684.
11. Mendes, M.A., Guerra, R.F., Berns, M.C., Manzo, C., Masiero, S., Finzi, L., Kater, M.M., Colombo, L.
(2013) MADS Domain Transcription Factors Mediate Short-Range DNA Looping That Is Essential for
Target Gene Expression in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 25, 2560-2572.
12. Dreni, L. and Kater M.M. (2014). MADS reloaded: evolution of the AGAMOUS subfamily genes. New
Phytologist 201, 717-732.
13. Wellmer, F., Bowman, J.L., Davies, B., Ferrándiz, C., Fletcher, J.C., Franks, R.G., Graciet, E., Gregis,
V., Ito, T., Jack, T.P., Jiao, Y., Kater, M.M., Ma, H., Meyerowitz, E.M., Prunet, N., Riechmann, J.L.
(2014). Flower development: open questions and future directions. Methods Mol Biol. 1110, 103-124. doi:
10.1007/978-1-4614-9408-9_5.
14. Simonini, S. and Kater M.M. (2014). Class I BASIC PENTACYSTEINE factors regulate
HOMEOBOX genes involved in meristem size maintenance. J. Exp. Bot. 65, 1455-1465.
15. Mantegazza, O., Gregis, V., Chiara M, Selva, C., Leo, G., Horner, D.S., Kater, M.M. (2014). Gene
Coexpression Patterns During Early Development of the Native Arabidopsis Reproductive Meristem:
Novel candidate developmental regulators and patterns of functional redundancy. Plant J. 79, 861-877.
doi: 10.1111/tpj.12585.
16. Mantegazza, O., Gregis, V., Mendes, M.A., Morandini, P., Alves-Ferreira, M., Patreze, C.M., Nardeli,
S.M., Kater, M.M., Colombo, L. (2014). Analysis of the Arabidopsis REM gene family predicts functions
during flower development. Ann Bot. 114, 1505-1515.
17. Andrés, F., Porri, A., Torti, S., Mateos, J., Romera-Branchat, M., García-Martínez, J.L., Fornara, F.,
Gregis, V., Kater, M.M., Coupland, G. (2014). SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE reduces gibberellin
biosynthesis at the Arabidopsis shoot apex to regulate the floral transition. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 111:
E2760-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1409567111
18. Xiao, Y., Chen, Y., Charnikhova, T., Mulder, P.P., Heijmans, J., Hoogenboom, A., Agalou, A., Michel,
C., Morel, J.B., Dreni, L., Kater, M.M., Bouwmeester, H., Wang, M., Zhu, Z., Ouwerkerk, P.B. (2014).
OsJAR1 is required for JA-regulated floret opening and anther dehiscence in rice. Plant Mol Biol. 86, 1933.
19. Mizzotti, C., Ezquer, I., Paolo, D., Rueda-Romero, P., Guerra, R.F., Battaglia, R., Rogachev, I.,
Aharoni, A., Kater, M.M., Caporali, E. and Colombo, L. (2014). SEEDSTICK is a Master Regulator of
Development and Metabolism in the Arabidopsis Seed Coat. PLoS Genet. 10:e1004856. doi:
10.1371/journal.pgen.1004856.
20. Colombo, M., Mizzotti, C., Masiero, S., Kater, M.M., Pesaresi, P. (2015). Peptide aptamers: The
versatile role of specific protein function inhibitors in plant biotechnology. J Integr Plant Biol. 2015 May
13. doi: 10.1111/jipb.12368.