Zachary Lippman
Professor & HHMI Investigator
Jacob Goldfield Professor of Genetics
Ph.D., Watson School of Biological Sciences at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 2004
lippman@cshl.edu | 516-367-8897
My research team studies the genes that determine when and where, and thus how many, flowers are produced on plants. Flowers form on branches called inflorescences, which originate from stem cells. By studying the genes that control how stem cells become inflorescences, we are able to manipulate flower production to improve crop yields.
Zachary Lippman’s research focuses on the process of flowering and flower production in plants, which are major contributors to reproductive success and crop yield. Specifically, Lippman’s research program integrates development, genetics, genomics, and gene editing to explore the mechanisms that determine how plant stem cells become shoots and flowers. The lab takes advantage of extensive natural and mutant variation in inflorescence production and architecture in tomato and related nightshade species (e.g. potato, pepper, groundcherry) to explore how differences in these processes explain the remarkable diversity in the architectures of flower-bearing shoots (inflorescences) observed in nature and agriculture. Recent discoveries on the genes and networks underlying this diversity have led to broader questions on the significance of genomic structural variation, gene redundancy, and epistasis in development, domestication, and breeding. Based on our fundamental discoveries, Lippman is developing and applying innovative concepts and tools for crop improvement.
Do you have the dirt on plant research?
March 31, 2022
New research is constantly sprouting. Take this quiz and test your plant knowledge.
For plant geneticists, some genes are double the trouble
March 28, 2022
It pays to check whether genetic tweaks that improve one kind of crop could get foiled by backup genes in a different crop.
Tools of the trade at CSHL: The greenhouse
September 13, 2021
The greenhouse provides a beautiful space for hundreds of experimental plants to grow all year round, which could allow scientists to build better crops so
Using “guilt by association” to classify cells
July 14, 2021
Using a new computational statistics tool, CSHL researchers classify cells to understand how an organism functions.
Zach Lippman elected to the National Academy of Sciences
April 29, 2021
CSHL Professor & HHMI Investigator Zach Lippman is honored for his work on plant genetics and crop improvement.
For tomato genes, one plus one doesn’t always make two
April 12, 2021
CSHL scientists made a series of mutations in tomatoes to see how they interact with one other. Some combinations yield larger changes than expected.
CSHL professor weighs in: Are CRISPR plants GMOs?
March 15, 2021
CSHL Professor Zach Lippman was interviewed on a BBC podcast about the future of agriculture in the UK and Europe.
WOX9: A jack of all trades
March 4, 2021
A single gene can have many functions across different plant genomes. Changing the gene’s regulatory region can change the traits it produces.
Designing crops for a changing climate
December 15, 2020
In the face of climate change, engineering genetic modifications into new crops will ensure future food supplies.
Leshan, Lippman address “Life Science Across the Globe” series
September 11, 2020
Professor Zach Lippman and Executive Director of the Banbury Center Rebecca Leshan give talks as part of the “Life Science Across the Globe” series.
Selected Publications
Rapid customization of Solanaceae fruit crops for urban agriculture
23 Dec 2019 | Nature Biotechnology | 38:182-188
Kwon, C, Heo, J, Lemmon, Z, Capua, Y, Hutton, S, Van Eck, J, Park, S, Lippman, Z
Revolutions in agriculture chart a course for targeted breeding of old and new crops
5 Sep 2019 | Science | 366(6466)
Eshed, Y, Lippman, Z
Duplication of a domestication locus neutralized a cryptic variant that caused a breeding barrier in tomato
6 May 2019 | Nature Plants | 5(5):471-497
Soyk, S, Lemmon, Z, Sedlazeck, F, Jimenez-Gomez, J, Alonge, M, Hutton, S, Van Eck, J, Schatz, M, Lippman, Z
All Publications
Dynamic evolution of small signalling peptide compensation in plant stem cell control
28 Mar 2022 | Nature Plants
Kwon, Choon-Tak, Tang, Lingli, Wang, Xingang, Gentile, Iacopo, Hendelman, Anat, Robitaille, Gina, Van Eck, Joyce, Xu, Cao, Lippman, Zachary
Automated assembly scaffolding elevates a new tomato system for high-throughput genome editing
19 Nov 2021 | bioRxiv
Alonge, Michael, Lebeigle, Ludivine, Kirsche, Melanie, Aganezov, Sergey, Wang, Xingang, Lippman, Zachary, Schatz, Michael, Soyk, Sebastian
Conserved pleiotropy of an ancient plant homeobox gene uncovered by cis-regulatory dissection.
1 Apr 2021 | Cell | 184(7):1724-1739.e16
Hendelman, Anat, Zebell, Sophia, Rodriguez-Leal, Daniel, Dukler, Noah, Robitaille, Gina, Wu, Xuelin, Kostyun, Jamie, Tal, Lior, Wang, Peipei, Bartlett, Madelaine, Eshed, Yuval, Efroni, Idan, Lippman, Zachary
Dissecting cis-regulatory control of quantitative trait variation in a plant stem cell circuit.
Apr 2021 | Nature Plants | 7(4):419-427
Wang, Xingang, Aguirre, Lyndsey, Rodríguez-Leal, Daniel, Hendelman, Anat, Benoit, Matthias, Lippman, Zachary
Optimized sample selection for cost-efficient long-read population sequencing.
May 2021 | Genome Research | 31(5):910-918
Ranallo-Benavidez, T, Lemmon, Zachary, Soyk, Sebastian, Aganezov, Sergey, Salerno, William, McCoy, Rajiv, Lippman, Zachary, Schatz, Michael, Sedlazeck, Fritz
A review of nutritional properties and health benefits of Physalis species
Sep 2020 | Plant Foods for Human Nutrition | 75(3):316-325
Shenstone, E, Lippman, Z, Van Eck, J
New Horizons for Dissecting Epistasis in Crop Quantitative Trait Variation
1 Sep 2020 | Annual Review of Genetics | 54:287-307
Soyk, S, Benoit, M, Lippman, Z