Jean Finnegan

Elizabeth Jean Finnegan FAA is an Australian botanist who researches plant flowering processes and epigenetic regulation in plants.[1][2][3] She currently works at the CSIRO as a senior scientist where she leads research on the 'Control of Floral Initiation', part of the CSIRO Agriculture Flagship (formerly known as CSIRO Plant Industry)[4]

Education

Finnegan received her bachelor of science (honors) from the University of Adelaide, and her PhD from the University of Adelaide in 1979. (Thesis: "Transcriptional studies of bacteriophage 186")[5]

Recognition

Finnegan was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in May 2014 on the basis of her world leading research on plant gene expression.[6] Her contribution to plant science includes her early work, cloning the first plant (METI), and her work demonstrating that DNA methylation (a biochemical process that modifies the plant's DNA) is essential for normal plant development[7] and by reducing levels of methylation changes the plant's size and shape, flowering time, structure of the flowers and number of seeds.

In 2012, Finnegan was awarded the 'Julian Wells Medal' for contributions to research on the organisation and expression of the genome.[8]

Finnegan is on the editorial board for BMC Plant Biology[9]

Research

Finnegan's research focuses on epigenetic mechanisms of flowering processes in plants, specifically, the role of DNA methylation in normal plant development. DNA methylation is a biochemical process that modifies DNA, with Finnegan's work some of the first to show this in plants. She generated plants with reduced levels of DNA methylation using an antisense against METI, and determined the molecular basis for the abnormal phenotypes displayed by plants with reduced levels of methylation. She continues to be a leader in her field through her research on flowering processes and the role of DNA methylation and epigenetics helping to understand the mechanisms contributing to the down-regulation of flowering locus C (FLC) in vernalized plants.[10][11] The focus of her current research is investigating the role of DNA methylation in regulating traits of agronomic importance in wheat.

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References
  1. "Dr Jean Finnegan: understanding flowering". CSIRO. 2013-10-14. Archived from the original on December 15, 2014. Retrieved 2015-11-11.
  2. Finnegan, E. J.; Genger, R. K.; Peacock, W. J.; Dennis, E. S. (1998). "DNA Methylation in Plants". Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology. 49: 223–247. doi:10.1146/annurev.arplant.49.1.223. PMID 15012234.
  3. Finnegan, E J; Peacock, W J; Dennis, E S (2000). "DNA methylation, a key regulator of plant development and other processes". Current Opinion in Genetics & Development. 10 (2): 217–223. doi:10.1016/S0959-437X(00)00061-7. PMID 10753779.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-12-15. Retrieved 2015-11-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. Finnegan, Elizabeth Jean (1979). Transcriptional studies of bacteriophage 186 (Thesis). Adelaide. hdl:2440/20053.
  6. "Dr Elizabeth Jean Finnegan". Australian Academy of Science. 2014. Archived from the original on 2016-12-21. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  7. Finnegan, E J; Peacock, W J; Dennis, E S (1996). "Reduced DNA methylation in Arabidopsis thaliana results in abnormal plant development". PNAS. 93 (16): 8449–8454. Bibcode:1996PNAS...93.8449F. doi:10.1073/pnas.93.16.8449. PMC 38691. PMID 8710891.
  8. "Julian Wells Medal". Victoria, Australia: Lorne Genome Conference. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  9. "BMC Plant Biology Editorial Board". Archived from the original on 2011-11-24.
  10. Finnegan, E J; Dennis, E S (2007). "Vernalization-Induced Trimethylation of Histone H3 Lysine 27 at FLC Is Not Maintained in Mitotically Quiescent Cells". Current Biology. 17 (22): 1978–1983. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.10.026. PMID 17980595.
  11. Jean Finnegan, E.; Kovac, Kathryn A.; Jaligot, Estelle; Sheldon, Candice C.; James Peacock, W.; Dennis, Elizabeth S. (2005). "The downregulation of FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) expression in plants with low levels of DNA methylation and by vernalization occurs by distinct mechanisms". The Plant Journal. 44 (3): 420–432. doi:10.1111/j.1365-313X.2005.02541.x. PMID 16236152.
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