Karen E. Koch

About

Karen E. Koch is a Professor in the Department of Horticultural Sciences at the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Her research focuses on the physiology and genetics of sugar metabolism, sensing, and partitioning in plants. She teaches graduate courses such as Environmental Physiology of Plants and Plant Biochemistry - Central Metabolism, and mentors a diverse group of students and research personnel including high school interns, undergraduates, PhD students, postdoctoral associates, and associate research professors. Dr. Koch has a distinguished career in plant biology, with educational backgrounds in biology from the University of Wisconsin and botany with a focus on plant physiology from the University of Iowa. She has been a faculty member at the University of Florida since 1981, contributing significantly to research, teaching, and community service. Her honors include the Charles Reid Barnes Life Membership Award from the American Society of Plant Biologists, fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and recognition as a Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists. She has also received the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Distinguished Mentor Award. Dr. Koch has served on numerous national panels and committees related to plant biology and genetics, and has made substantial contributions to the scientific community through her research, mentorship, and service.

Research topics

• Biology
• Genetics
• Biochemistry
• Botany
• Endocrinology
• Evolutionary biology
• Agronomy

Selected publications

• The maize W22 genome provides a foundation for functional genomics and transposon biology

  Nature Genetics · 2018-07-23 · 252 citations

  articleOpen access

  The maize W22 inbred has served as a platform for maize genetics since the mid twentieth century. To streamline maize genome analyses, we have sequenced and de novo assembled a W22 reference genome using short-read sequencing technologies. We show that significant structural heterogeneity exists in comparison to the B73 reference genome at multiple scales, from transposon composition and copy number variation to single-nucleotide polymorphisms. The generation of this reference genome enables acc…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Maize resistance to witchweed through changes in strigolactone biosynthesis

  Science · 2023 · 98 citations

  -resistant maize.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The sugar transporter ZmSUGCAR1 of the nitrate transporter 1/peptide transporter family is critical for maize grain filling

  The Plant Cell · 2022 · 62 citations

  Maternal-to-filial nutrition transfer is central to grain development and yield. nitrate transporter 1/peptide transporter (NRT1-PTR)-type transporters typically transport nitrate, peptides, and ions. Here, we report the identification of a maize (Zea mays) NRT1-PTR-type transporter that transports sucrose and glucose. The activity of this sugar transporter, named Sucrose and Glucose Carrier 1 (SUGCAR1), was systematically verified by tracer-labeled sugar uptake and serial electrophysiological s…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Effects of long‐term exposure to elevated temperature on <i>Zea mays</i> endosperm development during grain fill

  The Plant Journal · 2019-02-12 · 50 citations

  articleOpen access

  Cereal yields decrease when grain fill proceeds under conditions of prolonged, moderately elevated temperatures. Endosperm-endogenous processes alter both rate and duration of dry weight gain, but underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Heat effects could be mediated by either abnormal, premature cessation of storage compound deposition or accelerated implementation of normal development. This study used controlled environments to isolate temperature as the sole environmental variable during Zea m…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• <i>BonnMu</i>: A Sequence-Indexed Resource of Transposon-Induced Maize Mutations for Functional Genomics Studies

  PLANT PHYSIOLOGY · 2020 · 46 citations

  insertions provides an important resource for functional genetics studies of maize.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• EAGER: An Unexplored Avenue of Striga Resistance in Maize

  NSF · $360k · 2015–2019

Frequent coauthors

• J. Remohi

  192 shared

• John Martin

  128 shared

• Joop S.E. Laven

  Erasmus University Rotterdam

  128 shared

• Ken McElreavey

  Institut Pasteur

  120 shared

• C. Rubio

  Copenhagen University Hospital

  72 shared

• J. Giles

  The Open University

  64 shared

• P. H. Vogt

  Drexel University

  64 shared

• J. McGrath

  64 shared

Labs

• Koch LabPI

Awards & honors

• Charles Reid Barnes Life Membership Award, American Society…
• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sc…
• Elected Member-at-Large for AAAS National Section on Agricul…
• Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists (2012-pre…
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Distinguished Mentor…

Similar researchers at University of Florida

• Donald R. McCartyh-61
• Robert J. Ferlh-60
• Bala Rathinasabapathih-55