Olsen, Odd-Arne

Professor

E-mail: odd-arne.olsen@umb.no

Phone: (work) +47-64965559; (cellular) +47-91581293

Degree: dr.agric. UMB (former NLH) in genetics.

Current positions: Professor at Department of Plant and Environmental sciences (IPM), the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB) and Faculty of Education & Natural Sciences, Hamar University College (HUC), EU Marie Curie Fellow: International Reintegration Grants (2010-2014)

Current organizational responsibilities and project portfolio: Coordinator of BIOKLIMA National Infrastructure for Studying Climate Effects in Natural and Agro-ecosystems, pre-project to coordinate application an ecotron facility - 15 national partners (Norwegian Research Council, NFR 2010); Expanding the technology base for Norwegian wheat breeding: Sequencing wheat chromosome 7B, project co-coordinator (NFR 2010-2014); Was the DEK1 protein key to the development of differentiated multicellular land plants? Project coordinator (NFR-FRIBIO 2010-2014); Evolution and function of the plant calpain DEK1, an essential regulator of plant development and growth, project coordinator (NFR-strategic University College program, 2009-2013).

Professional background: Associate professor in genetics, University of Oslo (1981-89), Research Director, Ag. Res.Council of Norway (1989-1991), Professor of genetics, UMB (1991-2001), Research Fellow, Pioneer Hi-Bred Int’l, a DuPont company, Johnston, Iowa (2001-2006); Research Scientist, Monsanto Company in St.Louis (2006-2008). Sabbatical leaves at University of California, Davis, Stanford University, Cornell University.

Selected publications:
  • Lid, S. E., Gruis, D., Jung, R., Lorentzen, J. A., Ananiev, E., Chamberlin, M., Niu, X., Meeley, R., Nichols, S. E., and Olsen, O.-A. (2002). The defective kernel 1 (dek1) gene required for aleurone cell development in the endosperm of maize grains encodes a membrane protein of the calpain gene superfamily. PNAS 99, 5460-5465.
  • Wang C, Barry JK, Min Z, Tordsen G, Rao AG, Olsen OA.(2003). The calpain domain of the maize DEK1 protein contains the conserved catalytic triad and functions as a cysteine proteinase. J Biol Chem. 5;278(36):34467-74.
  • Shen B, Li C, Min Z, Meeley RB, Tarczynski MC, Olsen OA. (2003). sal1 determines the number of aleurone cell layers in maize endosperm and encodes a class E vacuolar sorting protein. PNAS 27;100(11):6552-7.
  • Barry JK, Selinger DA, Wang C, Olsen OA, Rao AG. (2005). Biochemical characterization of a truncated penta-EF-hand Ca(2+) binding protein from maize. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1764:239-245.
  • Gruis, F., Guo, H., Selinger, D., Tian,Q and Olsen, O.-A.(2006). Surface position, not signaling from surrounding maternal tissues, specify aleurone epidermal cell fate in maize endosperm organ cultures. Plant Physiology 141:898-909.
  • Qing Tian, Lene Olsen, Beimeng Sun, Stein Erik Lid, Roy C. Brown, Betty E. Lemmon, Kjetil Fosnes, Darren (Fred) Gruis, Hilde-Gunn Opsahl-Sorteberg, Marisa S. Otegui, and Odd-Arne Olsen. 2007. Subcellular Localization and Functional Domain Studies of DEFECTIVE KERNEL1 in Maize and Arabidopsis Suggest a Model for Aleurone Cell Fate Specification Involving CRINKLY4 and SUPERNUMERARY ALEURONE LAYER1. The Plant Cell 19:3127-3145 (2007). 

    • REVIEW ARTICLES (since 2001):
  • Olsen, O.-A. (2001). Endosperm development: cellularization and cell fate specification. Annu. -Rev. of Plant Physiol. Plant Mol. Biol. 52:233-267.
  • Olsen O-A (2004) Nuclear Endosperm Development in Cereals and Arabidopsis thaliana. The Plant Cell 16: S214-S227

    • BOOK EDITOR
  • Endosperm; developmental and molecular biology. Editor: O.-A-Olsen. The book is part of the Plant Cell Monograph (PCM) series of Springer Verlag, Berlin.

    • PATENTS AND PATENT APPLICATIONS
  • WO9515389 PROMOTER. Inventor(s): Olsen, Odd-Arne ; Kalla, Roger. Application No. NO9400190, Filed 19941124, A2 Published 19950608 ,A3 Published 19950608. United States Patent 5,525,716.
  • US5977437 Transgenic plants or algae expressing an AGP enzyme coupled to a transit peptide. Danisco A/S Inventor(s): Villand, Per ; Kleczkowski, Leszek ; Olsen, Odd-Arne ; Poulsen, Peter ; Okkels, Finn ; Marcussen, Jan. Issued 19991102
  • Seed preferred promoters from END genes. C.Linnestad, K.K.Lappegard, S.H.Abbitt S.J. Martino-Catt and Olsen, O-A. Patent granted.
  • Seed preferred promoters from barley. S.Jiao, J.E.Habben, X.Niu and Olsen,O.-A. Provisonal patent application. Patent granted.
  • Methods for Improving Seed Characteristics. 2001. Mitchell C. Tarzcynski, Odd-Arne Olsen, Bo Shen, Stein E. Lid, Changjiang Li, Rudolf Jung, Darren B. Gruis, Evgueni Ananiev and Scott E. Nichols. Patent granted 2007.