- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Kaya, who joined the UC Davis faculty in 1976 and retired in 2010, has known Lynn and her husband, Robert "Bob," for more than four decades. Both the Kimseys received their bachelor and doctoral degrees in entomology from UC Davis.
"I never had Lynn in a classroom situation, but she was always helpful in helping others ID insects," Kaya said. He and Lynn worked on a McKnight Foundation potato grant project in Peru for four years. He remembers Bob as a "super student in my insect pathology class."
Lynn, then Lynn Siri, received her bachelor's degree in 1975 and her doctorate in 1979, while Bob received his bachelor's degree in 1977 and his doctorate in 1984. Lynn joined the UC Davis faculty in 1989 and has directed the Bohart Museum since 1990. Bob, a forensic entomologist, joined the UC Davis faculty in 1984 as a lecturer. Both plan to retire this year.
Harry Kaya is internationally recognized for his contributions to insect pathology and insect nematology, which include more than 250 peer-reviewed publications. He co-authored an insect pathology book in 1993; co-edited another insect pathology book in 2012; and co-edited five books in several disciplines including forest entomology, entomopathogenic nematology, and invertebrate pathology.
He was named a fellow of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) in 2007.
At the seminar, co-organizer Lynn Lebeck, then executive director of the Association of Natural Biocontrol Producers, praised him as a top-notch researcher and as "a warm human being." She recalled the "many years of fun times and great research experiences with him." (See news story)
Kaya co-founded the journal Biological Control, and served as the co-editor of the first and second editions of Field Manual of Techniques in Invertebrate Pathology, Application and Evaluation of Pathogens for Control of Insects and other Invertebrate Pests.
Born and raised in Honolulu, Harry received his bachelor's degree in entomology in 1962 from the College of Tropical Agriculture, University of Hawaii (UH). He served in the U.S. Army, and after being discharged as a first lieutenant, earned his master's degree in entomology from UH in 1964, specializing in insect ecology. In 1970, UC Berkeley awarded him his doctoral degree in entomology. with research in insect pathology.
From 1971 to 1976, Kaya worked as an entomologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven and conducted research on biological control of forest insects. In 1976, he joined the UC Davis faculty as an assistant professor, attaining the rank of full professor in 1984. He became a distinguished professor of entomology in 2008.
Kaya chaired the Department of Nematology from 1994 to 2001. He also served as an officer in the Society of Invertebrate Pathology (treasurer, 1990–1994, vice-president, 2000–2002, and president-elect 2002–2004), and was one of the founding editors of the journal Biological Control.
Highly honored by his peers, Kaya received the 1998 C. W. Woodworth Award, the highest honor presented by the Pacific Branch, ESA. In 2000, he received the 2000 Recognition Award in Entomology from ESA and Fellow of the Society of Nematologists. The Society for Invertebrate Pathology and UH also presented him with several awards.
In honoring him as a Fellow, ESA posted this on its website: "Kaya has mentored many graduate students and post-doctoral researchers who have proceeded to establish their own careers and excel in research and teaching. His laboratory hosted and trained many visiting scientists from other countries who have become leaders in research with entomopathogenic nematodes upon their return to their own countries. These include scientists from Korea, Thailand, Turkey, Mexico, Ukraine, and Peru. Kaya maintains a strong relationship with many of them and he had research projects with scientists from Korea and Turkey."
Kaya's first four PhD students--Raquel Alatorre, Arnold Hara, Phyllis Hotchkin {Weintraub) and Robin Goblin-Davis--are all retired from their faculty and research positions. Arnold Hara died Nov. 18, 2022.
Kaya resides in Davis with his wife, Joanna. He enjoys spending time with his grandchildren and gardening, and used to fish with colleague Les Ehler (1946-2016). "No fishing since Les passed away," he related.
One of his granddaughters, Madelyn Lee, a freshman at UC Riverside, may follow in his footsteps. "She has always been interested in the biological sciences and has become an active member of the Entomology Club at Riverside. She is thinking about being an entomology major."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Doctoral student Ching-Jung Lin of the laboratory of nematologist Shahid Siddique, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is the recipient of a two-year, $32,000 Ministry of Education Taiwan Government Scholarship to Study Abroad (GSSA).
The scholarships are awarded to young Taiwanese doctoral students in various fields to support their research.
Lin enrolled in the UC Davis plant pathology doctoral program, with a designated emphasis in biotechnology, in 2020. In the Siddique lab, she is working on nematode transformation and nematode-induced plant immunity.
Lin received her bachelor's degree in agronomy in 2015 from the National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan, and her master's degree in plant biology in 2018 from National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. Her master's research, in the lab of Chiu-Ping Cheng, involved the study of tomato innate immunity mediated by bacterial-wilt-associated QTL (quantitative trait locus) genes. Before joining the Siddique lab, she was a research assistant in the lab of Erh-Min Lai of Academic Sinica, where she studied Agrobacterium-triggered immunity in Arabidopsis.
“I am fascinated by plant-microbe interaction,” Lin says. ‘Currently I am interested in the development of functional genetic tools in plant-parasitic nematodes and the characterization of nematode-induced plant immunity.
A frequent presenter at conferences, Lin presented her research at the 2023 Bay Area Worm meeting at UC Davis; the 2019 International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (IS-MPMI) Congress in Glasgow, and at several Taiwanese conferences. She will compete in a 12-minute presentation competition at the 62nd annual Society of Nematologists' meeting, to be held July 9-14 at The Ohio State University, Columbus. She received a $600 Bayer Crop Science Student Travel Award to attend the conference.
Lin also presented at the 2019 at International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (IS-MPMI) Congress in Glasgow, and at several Taiwanese conferences.
Plant-parasitic nematodes are destructive pests causing losses of billions of dollars annually. Siddique says the research in his lab “focuses on elucidating interactions between plant parasitic nematodes and their hosts using molecular and applied methodologies.”
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Sales, on track to receive his bachelor's degree in biotechnology (with an emphasis on plant biotechnology) in June 2022, submitted his successful research application on “Toward a More Resistant Plant: Uncovering Plant Host Targets of Novel Plant Parasitic Nematode Effectors.” He is one of only four students to be awarded the summer fellowship.
“Ado is a highly gifted student with a strong interest in agriculture and plant biology,” said Siddique. “I have really enjoyed one-on-one interaction with Ado and I have observed him growing academically and intellectually. He has a level of maturity in his research, including contributing ideas for troubleshooting, that I had no hesitations about giving him the space to continue his project independently. The IIFH fellowship program will add to his personal and professional growth and contribute to the experience of first-generation immigrant students like himself.”
ILFH awards Undergraduate Research Center Fellowships (URC-IIFH) to faculty-guided undergraduate students who perform research related to food, agriculture and health. Each fellow receives a summer research stipend, and funds for travel and/or research supplies. The fellows also will participate in professional development and entrepreneurship training, including the on-campus Entrepreneurship Academy. They will present their research results at the annual IIFH Innovator Summit in spring 2022, with opportunities to participate in the UC Davis Little Bang poster competition and the Big Bang competition.
His research involves RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), and gel electrophoresis, as well as GreenGate Cloning of plant parasitic nematodes genes. His skills also include seed germination and nematode hatching for plant-nematode assays, and the microscopic evaluation of nematode damage on plants.
Sales' journey to the Siddique lab began in May 2019 when he was selected a research scholar in the campuswide program, Research Scholar in Insect Biology (RSPIB), launched by UC Davis Entomology and Nematology faculty Jay Rosenheim, Joanna Chiu and Louie Yang to provide undergraduates with a closely-mentored research experience in biology. Students join in their first or second year and are placed in a faculty mentor's laboratory where they receive ongoing training and career guidance in research and scientific writing. They also learn how to present their research results at professional scientific meetings and to prepare applications for graduate or professional schools.
When Sales learned that Rosenheim, a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, also co-leads RSPIB, “I knew that I should apply to this program to gain more research experience and valuable connections with professors in campus.”
Sales said he chose the Siddique lab because “I found his research impactful, engaging, and unique. As someone who has always been fascinated by agriculture and plant biotechnology, I found plant parasitic nematode research as an important field of research that is underestimated and unexplored. I wanted to be part of this research because I think I would have more room to grow as a researcher and a student.”
He initially worked in the Siddique lab with postdoctoral researcher Henok Yimer. “At first, I had zero lab experience and knowledge, so I had to be intentional and attentive when it came to following lab procedures and lab experiments such as PCR or gel electrophoresis. Gradually, I became familiar with the basic assays and techniques and when Fall 2020 came, I was given my very first independent research. My research involved the identification of plant host targets of plant parasitic nematode effector proteins using cloning and microscopy techniques.”
With assistance from Siddique, Sales learned of the URC-IIFH summer fellowship and submitted a research summary, innovation statement, and letters of recommendation. An interview followed. “I was fortunate to be awarded this fellowship,” he said, “and continue my research in Dr. Siddique's lab to learn and do competent research.”
Born and raised in Manila, the Philippines, Sales moved to the United States as a teen and is a graduate of Dougherty Valley High School, San Ramon. He serves as a student intern at the UC Davis Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies to help preserve the oral history of Filipino-Americans in the Greater Sacramento Area.
He is also vice president of the UC Davis French Club; a member of the Pilipinx Americans in Science and Engineering; and the UC Davis representative to the Cornell Institute for Digital Agriculture Hackathon, which explores what technology can do for agriculture.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The nine-member research team, led by Frank Schroeder, a BTI professor and also a professor in Cornell University's Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, detailed how plants speak “roundworm language” for self-defense. The work is published Jan. 10 in the journal Nature Communications.
The researchers studied chemicals called ascarosides, which the worms produce and secrete to communicate with each other. Williamson helped analyze the data and helped make some key insights toward the paper's conclusions, the BTI scientists related.
The team found that plants “talk” to nematodes by metabolizing ascarosides and secreting the metabolites back into the soil.
“It's not only that the plant can ‘sense' or ‘smell' a nematode,” Schroeder said in a BTI news release. “It's that the plant learns a foreign language, and then broadcasts something in that language to spread propaganda that ‘this is a bad place.' Plants mess with nematodes' communications system to drive them away.”
The study built on the team's previous work showing that plants react to ascr#18 – the predominant ascaroside secreted by plant-infecting nematodes – by bolstering their own immune defenses, thereby protecting them against many types of pests and pathogens.
In those earlier studies, “We also saw that when ascr#18 was given to plants, the chemical disappears over time,” according to lead author Murli Manohar, a senior research associate at BTI.
That observation, along with published literature suggesting plants could modify pest metabolites, led the team to hypothesize that “plants and nematodes interact via small molecule signaling and alter one another's messages,” Schroeder said.
To probe that idea, the team treated three plant species – Arabidopsis, wheat and tomato – with ascr#18 and compared compounds found in treated and untreated plants. They identified three ascr#18 metabolites, the most abundant of which was ascr#9.
The researchers also found Arabidopsis and tomato roots secreted the three metabolites into the soil, and that a mixture of 90% ascr#9 and 10% ascr#18 added to the soil steered nematodes away from the plant's roots, thereby reducing infection.
The team hypothesized that nematodes in the soil perceive the mixture as a signal, sent by plants already infected with nematodes, to “go away” and prevent overpopulation of a single plant. Worms may have evolved to hijack plant metabolism to send this signal. Plants, in turn, may have evolved to tamper with the signal to appear as heavily infected as possible, thereby fooling would-be invaders.
“This is a dimension of their relationship that no one has seen before,” said Manohar. “And plants may have similar types of chemical communication with other pests.”
Although the mixture of ascr#9 and ascr#18 could serve as a crop protectant, Schroeder said there should be no detriment to using straight ascr#18 on crops, as described in the team's earlier research.
“Ascr#18 mainly primes the plant to respond more quickly and strongly to a pathogen, rather than fully inducing the defensive response itself,” he said. “So there should be no cost to the plant in terms of reduced growth, yield or other problems.”
The team also showed that plants metabolize ascr#18 via the peroxisomal β-oxidation pathway, a system conserved across many plant species.
“This paper uncovers an ancient interaction,” Schroeder said. “All nematodes make ascarosides, and plants have had millions of years to learn how to manipulate these molecules.”
He added: “Plants aren't passive green things. They are active participants in an interactive dialog with the surrounding environment, and we will continue to decipher this dialog.”
These discoveries are being commercialized by a BTI and Cornell University-based startup company, Ascribe Bioscience, as a family of crop protection products named PhytalixTM.
Scientists affiliated with four institutions--BTI, Cornell, UC Davis and the USDA's Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health--co-authored the paper. Grants from USDA and the National Institutes of Health funded the research.
Sources:
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ella Mae Noffsinger, 84, who retired in 1991 as the senior museum scientist in charge of the UC Davis Nematode Collection, passed away March 22, 2018 in Woodland. She was a longtime resident of Palm Gardens Assisted Living, Woodland.
Noffsinger was instrumental in the development of the nematode collection, and collaborated with many nematologists in the description of species, said Steve Nadler, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. Active in the Society of Nematologists (SOM) when few women were participating, she served on the SOM executive board and as the editor of the Nematology Newsletter, as well as numerous other committees.
During her career, her research and work took her from Colorado to Wisconsin to Chile: from the Beet Sugar Development Foundation in Fort Collins, to the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, and to Santiago, Chile, from 1967 to 1969. She worked with UC Davis nematologist M. W. Allen for many years.
A native of Center, Colo., she was born into the rural ranching family of Doc and Ruth Noffsinger on March 15, 1934. She received her bachelor's degree at what is now Colorado State University, and her master's degree in 1958 from California State University in zoology.
After retiring, she spent most of her time along the coast of Brookings, Ore., enjoying fishing, and other coastal pursuits. She is preceded in death by her parents and brothers. Survivors include her many nieces and nephews, as well as her close friends in the Woodland and Davis area.
Memorial donations may be made to the Salvation Army, "or the charity of your choice," her family indicated.
Resource:
History of Nematology at UC Davis