Thamir Al-Niemi

AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY

Research in physiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology of plants under abiotic stress conditions, specially, cellular mechanisms of stress physiology in plants adapted to extreme environments in Yellowstone

EDUCATION

• B.S. Agriculture and Forestry Sciences University of Mosoul, Iraq 1975
• M.S. Crop Sciences University of Baghdad, Iraq 1979
• Ph.D. Plant Sciences Utah State University, USA 1993

MEMBERSHIPS IN PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

American Society of Plant Biologists

RECENT PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Research on the physiology of plants adapted to geothermally-heated environments in Yellowstone National Park

PUBLICATIONS FROM 1998 TO PRESENT

Refereed Journals

Al-Niemi, T. S., M. L. Kahn, and T. R. McDermott. 1998. Phosphorus uptake by bean nodules. Plant and Soil. 198:71-78.

Lina M. Botero, T. S. Al-Niemi, and Timothy R. McDermott. 2000. Characterization of two inducible phosphate transport systems in Rhizobium tropici. Appl. Environ. Microbiology. 66: 15-22.

Elumalai Sivamani, Ahmed Baheildin, Jon M. Wraith, T. S. Al-Niemi, William E.Dyer, Tuan-Hua David Ho, and Rongda Qu. 2000. Improved biomass productivity and water use efficiency under water deficit conditions in transgenic wheat constitutively expressing the barley HVA1 gene. Plant Science. 155:1-9.

Stout, R. G. and T. S. Al-Niemi. 2002. Heat-tolerant flowering plants of active geothermal areas in Yellowstone National Park. (Annals of Botany, in press).

Al-Niemi, T. S. and R. G. Stout. 2002. Heat-shock protein expression in a grass commonly associated with active geothermal areas in western North America. (Journal of Thermal Biology, in press).

CURRENT PROGRAMS

Cellular mechanisms involved in long-term heat tolerance of plants adapted to geothermally heated soils

Nature of plant-fungal mutualism in geothermal environments

Production of salt-tolerant alfalfa and sunflower plants through over-expression of tonoplast Na+/H+ antiporter to be used in remediation of salty soils from coal bed methane industry

Analysis of genetic variation between populations of Dichanthelium lanuginosum from Yellowstone

National Park using Inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR)