Prof

Prof. em. Dr. Günter Feix

Institute of Biology III
University of Freiburg
Schänzlestr. 1
D-79104 Freiburg i. Br.
Germany

Tel.: +49 761 2724 or -2742
FAX: +49 761 203 2745
E-mail: feix@biologie.uni-freiburg.de
or: feix01@aol.com

After 30 years at the Institute of Biology III with the dedicated support of many coworkers I retired at the end of 1999. During my career I was fortunate to witness the rise of the science of molecular genetics and to be from the beginning a member of its international community and, in particular, to become one of the founding members of the newly arising field of plant molecular genetics. I still keep an office at the institute which helps me to stay in close and supporting contact with many of my former students and colleagues and to entertain an active interest in science with a current emphasis on

Genetics of root formation and –function
Diversity and function of microorganisms of the rhizosphere
Gene technology and sustainable agriculture

Post-retirement activites:

2000
February	Member of the Co-ordinated Research Project on "Mutational analysis of root characters in annual food plants related to plant performance" of FAO/IAEA in Vienna / Austria
March	Lecture on "Environmental safety evaluation of transgenics" at the Agricultural University in Rehovot / Israel
May	Lecture on "Basic and Applied Aspects of Root Formation in Maize" at the Technische Universität in Munich
May	Course on “Plant Gene Biotechnology” at the University of Milano / Italy
August	Member of the Reviewing Board of the SFB1830 on “Festlegung von Zellverbänden und Zelltypspezifizierung“ in Cologne

2001
March	Foreign Member of the Steering Committee of the 01 Annual American Maize Genetics Conference in Geneva Lake / USA
April	Participation at the BIOVISION Symposium in Lyon / France
November	Participation at the annual Meeting of the American Societies of Agronomy, Crop Science and Soil Sciences in Charlotte / USA
August	Member of the Reviewing Board of the SFB1830 on “Festlegung von Zellverbänden und Zelltypspezifizierung“ in Cologne

2002
March	Foreign Member of the Steering Committee of the 02 Annual American Maize Genetics Conference in Orlando / USA
June	Lecture on “Genetic analysis of root formation in maize” at the FAO/IAEA Meeting in Krakow / Poland
July	Lecture on “Rhizogenes” at the Ph.D. students’ workshop on “Reproduction and seed formation” for students from the Universities of Milano, Perrugia and Naples in Terminillo / Italy
October	Lecture on “Increasing influence of gene technology in everyday life” in Freiburg
November	Participation at the annual Meeting of the American Societies of Agronomy, Crop Science and Soil Sciences in Indianapolis / USA

2003
March	Foreign Member of the Steering Committee of the 03 Annual American Maize Genetics Conference in Geneva Lake / USA
July	Member of the Reviewing Board of the SFB 473 on “Schaltvorgänge der Transkription” in Erlangen

Former research activities:

1960 - 1963	Thesis work in Organic Chemistry on the synthesis of dehydrochinolizinium compounds (Supervisor: Dr. Otto Westphal)
1965 - 1968	Research on RNA phage replication (as postdoc with Drs. Severo Ochoa and Charles Weissmann)
1969 - 1976	Research on in vitro synthesis of nucleic acids and study of relevant enzymes from E. coli and phage infected cells
1977 - 1991	Research on structure and expression of maize storage protein genes and nuclear rRNA genes
1990 - 1996	Research on structure and function of plant regulatory proteins (in particular chromosomal HMG proteins and the TBP factor)
1992 - 2000	1992-2000 Research on genetic and molecular analysis of maize root development

Selected Publications

Westphal, O. and G. Feix: Zur Synthese des Dehydrochinolizinium-Systems. Angew. Chemie 75, 206 (1963).
Feix, G., M. Schneider, Ch. Weissmann, and S. Ochoa: Synthesis of virus-specirif RNA with RNA synthetase from E. coli infected with phage MS2 or Qb. Science 157, 701-703 (1967).
Feix, G., R. Pollet, and Ch. Weissmann: Enzymatic synthesis of infectious viral RNA with non-infectious Qb.-minus strands as template. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 59, 145-152 (1968).
Weissmann, Ch., G. Feix and H. Slor: In vitro synthesis of phage RNA: The nature of the intermediates. Symp. on Quant. Biology, Cold Spring Harbor, XXXIII, 83-100 (1968)
Feix, G.: Initiation of DNA synthesis by oligoribonucleotides In "Gene Expression. and its Regulation" (ed. by F. Kenney et al.), p. 301-309 (1973)
Sano, H. and G. Feix: RNA nicking activity associated with DNA ligase of T4 infected E. coli: Properties and influences on in vitro reactions of ligase. Nucleic Acids Research, 2, 1609-1620 (1975).
Sano, H. and G. Feix: Termincal riboadenylate transferase from Escherichia coli. Characterization and Application. Eur. Journ. of Biochem. 71, 577-583 (1976).
Feix, G., H. Sano, and G. Hobom: Integration of a poly(dA) poly(dT) segment into ldv DNA. Hoppe Seyler Zeitschr. Physiol. Chem. 357, 313-314 (1976).
Wienand, U. and G. Feix: Electrophoretic fractionation and in vitro translation of poly (rA)-containing RNA from maize endosperm: Evidence for two m-RNAs coding for zein protein. Eur. Journ. Biochem., 92, 605-611 (1978).
Wienand, U., C. Brüschke, and G. Feix: Cloning of double stranded DNAs derived from polysomal mRNA of maize endosperm: Isolation and characterization of zein clones. Nucleic Acids Research 6, 2707-2715 (1979).
Wienand, U., P. Langridge, and G. Feix: Isolation and characterization of a genomic sequence of maize coding for a zein gene. Molec. Gen. Genet. 182, 440-444 (1981).
Pintor-Toro, J., P. Langridge, and G. Feix: Isolation and characterization of maize genes coding for zein proteins of the 21000 dalton size class. Nucl. Acids Res. 10, 3845-3860 (1982).
Langridge, P. and G. Feix: A zein gene of maize is transcribed from two widely separated promoter regions. Cell 34, 1015-1022 (1983).
Toloczyki, Chr. and G. Feix: Occurrence of 9 homologous repeat units in the external spacer region of a nuclear maize rRNA gene unit. Nucl. Acids Res. 14, 4969-4986 (1986).
Maier, U.-G., J.W.S. Brown, Chr. Toloczyki, and G. Feix: Binding of a nuclear factor to a consensus sequence in the 5' flanking region of zein genes from maize. The EMBO J. 6, 17-22 (1987).
Schmitz, M. L., U.G. Maier, J.W.S. Brown, and G. Feix: Specific binding of nuclear proteins to the promoter region of a maize nuclear rRNA gene unit. J. Biol. Chem. 264, 1467-1472 (1989).
Maier, U.-G., K.D. Grasser, M.M. Haaß, and G. Feix: Multiple proteins bind to the P2 promoter region of the zein gene pMS1 of maize. Molec. Gen. Genet. 221, 164-170 (1990).
Grasser, K.D. and G. Feix: Isolation and characterization of maize cDNAs encoding a high mobility group protein displaying a HMG-box. Nucl. Acids Res. 19, 2573-2577 (1991).
Quayle, T. and G. Feix: Functional analysis of the -300 region of maize zein genes. Molec. Gen. Genet. 231, 369-374 (1992).
Feix, G. and T. Quayle: Structure and expression of zein genes of maize. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, 12, 111-127 (1993).
Griess, E.A., K.D. Grasser and G. Feix: Repeat units from a maize rDNA external spacer region exhibit DNA-curvature and interact with HMG proteins. Planta, 191, 524-531 (1993).
Grasser, K.D., A.B. Krech, and G. Feix: The maize chromosomal HMGa protein recognizes structural features of DNA and increases DNA flexibility. The Plant Journal 6, 351-358 (1994).
Hetz, W., F. Hochholdinger, M. Schwall, and G. Feix: Isolation and characterization of rtcs, a maize mutant deficient in the formation of nodal roots. The Plant Journal 10, 845-857 (1996).
Hochholdinger, F. and G. Feix: Eearly post-embryonic root formation is specifically affected in the maize mutant lrt1. The Plant Journal 16, 247-255 (1998).
Hochholdinger, F., W.J. Park, and G. Feix: Cooperative action of SLR1 and SLR2 is required for lateral root specific cell-elongation in maize. Plant Physiology 125, 1529-1539 (2001).
Feix, G., F. Hochholdinger and W.J. Park: Maize root system and genetic analysis of its formation. In: "Plant Roots: "The Hidden Half", 3rd Edition (ed. by Waisel, A. Eshel, U. Kafkafi), p. 239-248 (2002)

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