Ralph Dewey

Bio

Research in the Dewey Lab focuses on the application of the techniques of molecular biology toward crop improvement.
Current projects include:

• Reducing the levels of carcinogenic compounds found in tobacco products
• Developing ultra-low nicotine tobaccos that can be used in products designed to help smokers quit
• Utilizing genome editing tools to modify the mitochondrial genome in plants as a means of developing: (1) novel CMS-based hybrid seed production systems; and (2) new strategies for creating seedless fruit phenotypes

Dewey Lab Homepage

Publications

• Optimization of Adventitious Shoot Regeneration Protocols for Six Vaccinium corymbosum Cultivars , HortScience (2025)
• BBL enzymes exhibit enantiospecific preferences in the biosynthesis of pyridine alkaloids in Nicotiana tabacum L. , Phytochemistry (2024)
• Engineering Sclareol Production on the Leaf Surface of Nicotiana tabacum , Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (2024)
• Nitrate assimilation pathway is impacted in young tobacco plants overexpressing a constitutively active nitrate reductase or displaying a defective CLCNt2 , BMC Plant Biology (2024)
• Cytoplasmic Male Sterility and Abortive Seed Traits Generated through Mitochondrial Genome Editing Coupled with Allotopic Expression ofatp1in Tobacco , (2023)
• Cytoplasmic male sterility and abortive seed traits generated through mitochondrial genome editing coupled with allotopic expression of atp1 in tobacco , Frontiers in Plant Science (2023)
• CLCNt2 Mediates Nitrate Content in Tobacco Leaf, Impacting the Production of Tobacco-Specific Nitrosamines in Cured Leaves , Frontiers in Plant Science (2022)
• Knockout of a key gene of the nicotine biosynthetic pathway severely affects tobacco growth under field, but not greenhouse conditions , BMC Research Notes (2022)
• Constitutive activation of nitrate reductase in tobacco alters flowering time and plant biomass , Scientific Reports (2021)
• Discovery of a naturally-occurring allele of eIF4E1.S in Nicotiana tabacum and development of a co-dominant marker , Euphytica (2021)