CSHL Menu
Ullas Pedmale

Ullas Pedmale

Assistant Professor

Ph.D., University of Missouri, Columbia, 2008

pedmale@cshl.edu | 516-367-5991

Pedmale Lab Website   Faculty Profile

Unlike animals, plants neither have specific organs that see or hear various stimuli, yet, plants are sensitive to their surrounding environment and modify their development according to various external signals. My lab studies how the environment of a plant modulates its growth and development. Understanding environmental control of growth will have far-reaching implications for agriculture, energy production, and many other human activities.

Plants and animals interact with their environment. Since plants are incapable to move around, they are sensitive to their surrounding environment and modify their development according to external signals. Plants face variability in growth conditions – temperature, light quality and quantity, herbivores, pathogens, water availability etc. Yet, plants respond to these biotic and abiotic factors and survive substantial fluctuations in its environment.  Plants also must balance the range of potential threats and benefits confronting it and should make appropriate decisions on resource allocation. Such adaptability is essential for the sessile nature of the plants. The mechanisms that underlie this adaptability likely involve complex signaling to generate the appropriate response. In some adaptive responses, for example, when the plants have to cope with climate change and increased competition for light, there is a decrease in productivity (yield, biomass) as the plant relocates resources to better adapt.

The Pedmale Lab’s research goals seek to determine the mechanisms behind how a plant perceives and successfully adapts to its environment.  We also aim to understand how a plant must integrate intrinsic and extrinsic cues and ‘decide’ how best to respond to environmental cues. Understanding how plants deal with, and respond to a multitude of environmental signals could help to develop crops that cope with unfavorable growth conditions without significant changes in yield.

See all Pedmale news

All Publications

WRKY transcription factors and ethylene signaling modify root growth during the shade avoidance response

27 Oct 2021 | Plant Physiology
Rosado, Daniele, Ackermann, Amanda, Spassibojko, Olya, Rossi, Magdalena, Pedmale, Ullas

Current status of the multinational Arabidopsis community

1 Jul 2020 | Plant Direct | 4(7)
Parry, G, Provart, N, Brady, S, Uzilday, B, Adams, K, Araújo, W, Aubourg, S, Baginsky, S, Bakker, E, Bärenfaller, K, Batley, J, Beale, M, Beilstein, M, Belkhadir, Y, Mendel, G, Berardini, T, Bergelson, J, Blanco-Herrera, F, Brady, S, Braun, H, Briggs, S, Brownfield, L, Cardarelli, M, Castellanos-Uribe, M, Coruzzi, G, Dassanayake, M, De Jaeger, G, Dilkes, B, Doherty, C, Ecker, J, Edger, P, Edwards, D, El Kasmi, F, Eriksson, M, Exposito-Alonso, M, Falter-Braun, P, Fernie, A, Ferro, M, Fiehn, O, Friesner, J, Greenham, K, Guo, Y, Hamann, T, Hancock, A, Hauser, M, Heazlewood, J, Ho, C, Hõrak, H, Huala, E, Hwang, I, Iuchi, S, Jaiswal, P, Jakobson, L, Jiang, Y, Jiao, Y, Jones, A, Kadota, Y, Khurana, J, Kliebenstein, D, Knee, E, Kobayashi, M, Koch, M, Krouk, G, Larson, T, Last, R, Lepiniec, L, Li, S, Lurin, C, Lysak, M, Maere, S, Malinowski, R, Maumus, F, May, S, Mayer, K, Mendoza-Cozatl, D, Mendoza-Poudereux, I, Micol, J, Millar, H, Mock, H, Mukhtar, K, Mukhtar, S, Murcha, M, Nakagami, H, Nakamura, Y, Nicolov, L, Nikolau, B, Nowack, M, Nunes-Nesi, A, Palmgren, M, Parry, G, Patron, N, Peck, S, Pedmale, U, Perrot-Rechenmann, C, Pieruschka, R, Pío-Beltrán, J, Pires, J, Provart, N, Rajjou, L, Reiser, L

Chimeric Activators and Repressors Define HY5 Activity and Reveal a Light-Regulated Feedback Mechanism

21 Feb 2020 | The Plant Cell
Burko, Y, Seluzicki, A, Zander, M, Pedmale, U, Ecker, J, Chory, J

High-Resolution Laser Scanning Reveals Plant Architectures that Reflect Universal Network Design Principles

26 Jul 2017 | Cell Systems | 5(1):53-62.e3
Conn, A, Pedmale, U, Chory, J, Navlakha, S

A Statistical Description of Plant Shoot Architecture

5 Jul 2017 | Current Biology
Conn, A, Pedmale, U, Chory, J, Stevens, C, Navlakha, S

Cryptochromes Interact Directly with PIFs to Control Plant Growth in Limiting Blue Light

14 Jan 2016 | Cell | 164(1-2):233-45
Pedmale, U, Huang, S, Zander, M, Cole, B, Hetzel, J, Ljung, K, Reis, P, Sridevi, P, Nito, K, Nery, J, Ecker, J, Chory, J

Integration of Light and Photoperiodic Signaling in Transcriptional Nuclear Foci

9 Nov 2015 | Developmental Cell | 35(3):311-21
Kaiserli, E, Paldi, K, O'Donnell, L, Batalov, O, Pedmale, U, Nusinow, D, Kay, S, Chory, J

PIL1 Participates in a Negative Feedback Loop that Regulates Its Own Gene Expression in Response to Shade (vol 7, pg 1582, 2014)

Dec 2014 | Molecular Plant | 7(12):1805-1806
Li, Lin, Zhang, Qian, Pedmale, Ullas, Nito, Kazumasa, Fu, Wei, Lin, Li, Hazen, Samuel, Chory, Joanne

PIL1 participates in a negative feedback loop that regulates its own gene expression in response to shade

Oct 2014 | Molecular Plant | 7(10):1582-5
Li, L, Zhang, Q, Pedmale, U, Nito, K, Fu, W, Lin, L, Hazen, S, Chory, J

Linking photoreceptor excitation to changes in plant architecture

15 Apr 2012 | Genes and Development | 26(8):785-90
Li, L, Ljung, K, Breton, G, Schmitz, R, Pruneda-Paz, J, Cowing-Zitron, C, Cole, B, Ivans, L, Pedmale, U, Jung, H, Ecker, J, Kay, S, Chory, J

See more publications