Dirk B. Hays
Assistant Professor of Seed Development and Genetics
Department of Soil & Crop Sciences
Molecular and Environmental Plant Sciences
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Office Address: Lab: 979-845-8924 Phone: 979-458-0032 Fax: 979-845-0456 Email: dbhays@neo.tamu.edu URL: Dirk B. Hays |
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Ph.D. 1997. Plant Physiology, Plant Physiology Research Group, Division of Botany, Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Our research focuses on developing a better understanding of the mechanisms that regulate seed development and associated end-use quality in wheat, related cereals, and model Brassicaceae. In cereals, the plant seed, comprised of the endosperm and embryo, develop in an ordered sequence that is poorly understood at the molecular level. Seed and endosperm development also have the dynamic capacity to alter their temporal development and maturation pattern in response to heat stress and other environmental and biotic cues and stresses. In human terms, this modulation in seed development often, however, adversely impacts grain end-use quality and yield. Our research uses genomics, proteomics, plant physiology and cell biology to characterize the genes and signaling molecules that operate between neighboring seed and distal maternal tissues to regulate seed development, nuclear endosperm cellularization, maturation and their temporal modulation in response to adverse abiotic and biotic stresses in cereals and Brassicaceae, This research creates a foundation for developing wheat and cereal varieties with outstanding grain yield and quality for traditional end-uses and novel high value identity preserved markets adapted to the unique environmental challenges faced by Texas producers.
MEPS-601- The Physiology of Plants: This course is designed to give students the background necessary to enter the specialized course in the interdepartmental graduate program in Molecular and Environmental Plant Sciences. The course is taught as an advanced survey or overview of the various sub-disciplines of plant physiology and to integrate them into a comprehensive theory of whole plant growth and development. Attention is given to controversies and topics experiencing significant change in recent years or months.
Dirk B. Hays, Edward C. Yeung, Richard P. Pharis. 2002. Role of gibberellins during axis development of microspore-derived embryos of Brassica napus. Journal of Experimental Botany. 35: 1747-1751.
Dirk B. Hays, D. Z. Skinner. 2001. Development of an expressed sequence tag library (EST) of Medicago sativa. Plant Science 161: 517-526.
Dirk B. Hays, Roger M. Mandel, Richard P. Pharis. 2001. Hormone physiology of Brassica napus zygotic and microspore-derived embryos, Plant Growth Regulation 35:47-58.
Dirk B. Hays, David M. Reid, Edward C. Yeung, Richard P. Pharis. 2000. Role of ethylene in cotyledon development of microspore-derived embryos of Brassica napus, Journal of Experimental Botany 51, 1851-1859.
Dirk B. Hays, Ronald W. Wilen, Chuxing Sheng, Maurice M. Moloney, Richard P. Pharis. 1999. Regulation of storage protein gene expression in Brassica napus: interactions between abscisic acid and jasmonic acid. Plant Physiology 119, 809-1149.
Dirk B. Hays, David R. Porter, James A. Webster, and Brett F. Carver. 1999. Feeding behavior of biotypes E and H of greenbug (Homoptera: Aphididae) on previously infested near-isolines of barley (Hordeum vulgare). Journal of Economic Entomology 92: 1223-1229.
Dean Kindler, and Dirk B. Hays. 1999. Susceptibility of cool-season grasses to greenbug biotypes. Journal of Urban and Agricultural Entomology 16: 235-244.
Dirk B. Hays, Patricia A. Rose, Suzanne R. Abrams, Maurice M. Moloney 1996. Biological activity of optically pure C-1 altered ABA analogs in Brassica napus microspore embryos. Journal of Plant Growth Regulation 15, 5-11.
John Cairney, Ronald J. Newton, Edward A. Funkhouser, Shujun Chang, Dirk B. Hays. 1995. Nucleotide sequence of a cDNA for a water channel protein (aquaporin) homolog from Atriplex canescens (Pursh.) Nutt. Plant Physiology 108 1291-1292.
Ronald W. Wilen, Dirk B. Hays, Roger M. Mandel, Suzanne R. Abrams, Maurice M. Moloney. 1993. Competitive inhibition of abscisic acid-regulated gene expression by stereoisomeric acetylenic analogs of abscisic acid. Plant Physiology. 101: 469-476.
