Luis Herrera-Estrella, Ph.D., President’s Distinguished Professor of Plant Genomics and Director of IGCAST

Personal Information

Dr. Herrera-Estrella is Director of IGCAST and Full Professor of the Department of Plant and Soil Science at Texas Tech University (TTU). Dr. Herrera-Estrella recieved his B.S. degree in Biochemical; Engineering from the Instituto Poltécnico Nacional in Mexico City, his M.S. in Genetics from the Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN in Mexico City and his PhD in Plant Biology from Gent University in Belgium

Research Interests

My research interests include determining the regulatory networks that control abiotic stress tolerance mechanisms in plants, particularly drougth, desiccation and nutrient deficiency. My research group is also interested in developing novel tissue culture-independent plant transformation methods, as well as designing strategies to integrate epigenetic changes in plant breeding.

Selected Publications

Complete publications. Google scholar

ResearchID

1. Martha Rendón-Anaya, Enrique Ibarra-Laclette, Alfonso Méndez-Bravo, Tianying Lan, Chunfang Zheng, Lorenzo Carretero-Paulet, Claudia Anahí Perez-Torres, Alejandra Chacón-López, Gustavo Hernandez-Guzmán, Tien-Hao Chang, Kimberly M Farr, W Brad Barbazuk, Srikar Chamala, Marek Mutwil, Devendra Shivhare, David Alvarez-Ponce, Neena Mitter, Alice Hayward, Stephen Fletcher, Julio Rozas, Alejandro Sánchez Gracia, David Kuhn, Alejandro F Barrientos-Priego, Jarkko Salojärvi, Pablo Librado, David Sankoff, Alfredo Herrera-Estrella, Victor A Albert, Luis Herrera-Estrella (2019): The avocado genome informs deep angiosperm phylogeny, highlights introgressive hybridization, and reveals pathogen-influenced gene space adaptation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 08/2019;, DOI:10.1073/pnas.1822129116

2. Javier Raya-González, Araceli Oropeza-Aburto1, Jesús Salvador López-Bucio, Angel Arturo Guevara-García, Lieven de Veylder, José López-Bucio and Luis Herrera-Estrella (2019). MEDIATOR 18 influences Arabidopsis root architecture, represses auxin signaling and is a critical factor for cell viability in root meristems. The Plant Journal 10/2018;, DOI:10.1111/tpj.14114

3.Gutiérrez-Alanís D, Ojeda-Rivera J, Yong-Villalobos L, Cárdenas-Torres L, Herrera-Estrella L (2018). Adaptation to Phosphate Scarcity: Tips from Arabidopsis Roots. Trends in Plant Science 05/2018; 23(8)., DOI:10.1016/j.tplants.2018.04.006.

4. Pandeya D, López-Arredondo D, Janga MR, M. Campbel LA, Estrella-Hernández P, Bagavathiann MV, Herrera-Estrella L, Rathore KS (2018). Selective fertilization with phosphite allows unhindered growth of cotton plants expressing the ptxD gene while suppressing weeds. PNAS 06/2018; 115(29):201804862., DOI:10.1073/pnas.1804862115.

5.Gutiérrez-Alanís D, Yong-Villalobos L, Jiménez-Sandoval P, Alatorre-Cobos F, Oropeza-Aburto A, Mora-Macías J, Sánchez-Rodríguez F, Cruz-Ramírez A and Herrera-Estrella L. (2017). Phosphate starvation-dependent iron mobilization induces CLE14 expression to trigger root meristem differentiation through CLV2/PEPR2 signaling. Developmental Cell 5(41):555-570.

6. Mora-Macias J, Ojeda-Rivera JO, Gutiérrez-Alanís D, Yong-Villalobos L, Oropeza-Aburto A, Raya-González J, Jiménez-Domínguez G, Chávez-Calvillo G, Rellán-Álvarez R and Herrera-Estrella L. (2017). Malate-dependent Fe accumulation is a critical checkpoint in the root developmental response to low phosphate. PNAS 17(114):E3563-E3572.

7. González-Morales, SI, Chávez-Montes RA, Hayano-Kanashiro C, Alejo-Jacuinde G, Rico-Cambron TY, de Folter S and Herrera-Estrella L. (2016). Regulatory network analysis reveals novel regulators of seed desiccation tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana. PNAS 113(35):E5232-41.

8. Yong-Villalobos L, González-Morales SI, Wrobel K, Gutiérrez-Alanis D, Cervantes-Pérez
SA, Hayano-Kanashiro C, Oropeza-Aburto A, Cruz-Ramírez A, Martínez O and Herrera-Estrella L. (2015). Methylome analysis reveals an important role for epigenetic changes in the regulation of the Arabidopsis response to phosphate starvation. PNAS 112(52):E7293-302.

9. 137. López-Arredondo, D.L. and Herrera-Estrella, L. (2012) Engineering phosphorous metabolism in plants to produce a dual fertilization and weed control system. Nature Biotechnology 30(9): 889-893.

10. Ibarra-Laclette E, Lyons E, Hernández-Guzmán G, Pérez-Torres CA, Carretero-Paulet L, Tien-Hao C, Lan T, Welch AJ, Abraham-Juárez MJ, Simpson J, Fernández-Cortés A, Arteaga-Vázquez M, Góngora-Castillo E, Acevedo-Hernández G, Schuster SC, Himmelbauer H, Minoche AE, Xu S, Lynch M, Oropeza-Aburto A, Cervantes-Pérez SA, Ortega-Estrada MDJ, Cervantes-Luevano JI, Michael TP, Mockler T, Bryant D, Herrera-Estrella A, Albert VA and Herrera-Estrella L. (2013). Architecture and evolution of a minute plant genome. Nature 498:94-98.

11. Hayano-Kanashiro C, Calderón-Vázquez C, Ibarra-Laclette E, Herrera-Estrella L, Simpson J (2009). Analysis of Gene Expression and Physiological Responses in Three Mexican Maize Landraces under Drought Stress and Recovery Irrigation. PLoS ONE 4(10):1-19.

12. De La Fuente, J.M., Ramírez-Rodríguez, V., Cabrera-Ponce, J.L. and Herrera-Estrella, L. (1997). Aluminum Tolerance in Transgenic Plants by Alteration of Citrate Synthesis. Science 276:1566-1568.

13. Van Den Broeck, G., Timko, M.P., Kausch, A.P., Cashmore, A.R., Van Montagu, M., and Herrera-Estrella, L. (1985). Targeting of a foreign protein to chloroplasts by fusion to the transit peptide of ribulose-1, 5-biophosphate carboxylase. Nature (London) 313: 358-363.

14. Herrera-Estrella, L., Van Den Broeck, G., Maenhaut, R., Van Montagu, M., Schell, J., Timko, M., and Cashmore, A. (1984). Light-inducible and chloroplast-associated expression of a chimaeric gene introduced into Nicotiana tabacum using a Ti plasmid vector. Nature (London) 310:115-120.

15. Herrera-Estrella, L., Depicker, A., Van Montagu, M., and Schell, J. (1983). Expression of Chimaeric genes transferred in to plant cells using a Ti plasmid-derived vector. Nature (London) 303: 209-213.

Leadership and Awards

Elected member of the National Academy of Science in 2003, Gold Medal from the World Intellectual Property Organization, Elected member of The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas and elected member of the National Academy of Inventors.