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Publications

  1. Raza Ullah, Kasie Raymann, Julia Farias, Martin Tsz-Ki Tsui, Alex Chow, Clinton Williams, Ayalew Ligaba-Osena (2025) Integrated effects of polyamide microplastics and common antimicrobials in reclaimed water on the growth of lettuce (Lactuva sativa L.) and soil bacterial communities (in press, Environmental Systems Research)
  2. Anastasia V. Romanov, Tyler N. Graf, Warren Vidar, Dereje D. Jima, Nicholas H. Oberlies, Zhenquan Jiad, Ayalew Ligaba-Osena (2025) Studying the molecular mechanisms of tef (Eragrostis tef) antioxidant properties in human THP-1 monocytes. Journal of Functional Foods 135 (2025) 107092
  3. Raza Ullah, Kasie Raymann, Julia Farias, Patrick Gallagher, Martin Tsz-Ki Tsui, Alex Chow, Clinton Williams, Ayalew Ligaba-Osena (2025) Polyamide microplastics and common antimicrobials in treated wastewater: Unveiling their effects on rice plant growth and soil microbiome dynamics (Submitted)
  4. Muhammad Numan, Biruk A Feyisa, Warren Vidar, Sajjad Asaf, Robert VanBuren, Miguel Piñeros, Olena K Vatamaniuk and Ayalew Ligaba-Osena (2025) Transcriptomic and metabolomic changes under Fe deficiency reveal combined Fe acquisition strategies in the orphan crop tef (Eragrostis tef) (Submitted).
  5. Raza Ullah, Julia Farias, Biruk Feyissa, Martin Tsz-Ki Tsui, Alex Chow, Clinton Williams, Tanju Karanfil, Ayalew Ligaba-Osena (2025) Organic soil amendments and sub-irrigation techniques reduce the bioavailability of antimicrobials and improve plant growth in rice and lettuce (Submitted)
  6. Tasmia Islam, Ayalew Ligaba-Osena and Eric A. Joseph (2025) Systematic Optimization Enables Near-Perfect In Vitro Transformation Efficiencies for Spirodela polyrhiza (Greater Duckweed) (submitted).
  7. Tariq Shah and Ayalew Ligaba-Osena (2025) Silicon-mediated alleviation of salinity stress in plants: A comprehensive meta-analysis (Submitted).
  8. Bloodworth, K.J., Frost, M.D.T., Young, A.L., Allred, G.A., Araya Staples, D., Bunch, Z.LT., Ford, J.M., Glass, E.A., Green, C.E., Johnson, A.L., Mann, W.T., Mota, S., Numan, M., Reyes, C., Russell, S.L., Sabiston, N.C., Shell, A.J., Terry, R.S., Tuider, F.J., Turner, P.A., Gora, S.L., Winter, J.A., Ligaba-Osena, A., Koerner, S.E. Heatwaves leave a legacy on a dominant understory grass in longleaf pine savanna. Ecosphere. 2025;16:e70481.
  9. Abreham Bekele-Alemu, Obssi Dessalegn-Hora, Tura Safawo-Jarsoand Ayalew Ligaba-Osena (2025) Rethinking Progress: Rationalizing discourse on genetically modified crops. Front. Plant Sci. – Plant Biotechnology, Volume 16 – 2025 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2025.1547928
  10. Bertrand Bachaumond Hankoua, Marieme Diao, Ayalew Ligaba-Osena, Rafael A Garcia, Sarahani Harun  (2024) Constitutive Overexpression of Qui-Quine Starch Gene Simultaneously Improves Starch and Protein Content in Bioengineered Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz). Front. Plant Sci. – Plant Biotechnology, Volume 15 – 2024 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2024.1442324
  11. Eric Whisnant, Christian Keith, Louis Smieska, Ju-Chen Chia, Abreham Bekele-Alemu, Olena Vatamaniuk, Robert VanBuren, Ayalew Ligaba-Osena (2024) Biggest of tinies: Natural variation in seed size and mineral distribution in the ancient crop tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter]. Front. Plant Sci. – Plant Biotechnology, doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1485819.
  12. Abreham Bekele-Alemu, Deribew Girma-Tola and Ayalew Ligaba-Osena (2024) The Potential of CRISPR/Cas9 to Circumvent the Risk Factor Neurotoxin β-N-oxalyl-L-α, β-diaminopropionic acid Limiting Wide Acceptance of the Underutilized Grass Pea (Lathyrus sativus L.): Curr. Issues Mol. Biol. 46(9), 10570-10589.
  13. Raza Ullah, Julia Farias, Biruk A. Feyissa, Martin Tsz-Ki Tsui, Alex Chow, Clinton Williams, Tanju Karanfil, Ayalew Ligaba-Osena (2024) Combined effects of polyamide microplastic and sulfamethoxazole in modulating the growth and transcriptome profile of hydroponically grown rice (Oryza sativa L.), Science of The Total Environment, Volume 952, 2024,175909,ISSN 0048-9697,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175909.
  14. Bekele-Alemu, A, Girma-Tola. D, and Ligaba-Osena, A. The Potential of CRISPR/Cas9 to Circumvent the Risk Factor Neurotoxin β-ODAP Limiting Wide Acceptance of the Underutilized Grass Pea (Lathyrus sativus L). Preprints 2024, 2024070890. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0890.v1
  15. Abreham Bekele-Alemu, and Ayalew Ligaba-Osena (2023). In silico analysis of the underutilized crop tef (Eragrostis tef (Zucc. Trotter) genome reveals drought tolerance signatures. BMC Plant Biology, 23:506.
  16. Christopher Cotter, Allison J. Wright, Anastasia Romanov, Tyler N. Graf, Eric Whisnant, Laura Flores-Bocanegra, Megan Doldron, Nicholas H. Oberlies, Zhenquan Jia, Ayalew Ligaba-Osena (2023) Evaluating the Antioxidant Properties of an Ancient Crop Tef (Eragrostis tef) Grain Extracts in THP-1 Monocytes. Antioxidants, 12, 1561.
  17. Raza Ullah, Martin Tsz-Ki Tsui, Alex Chow, Huan Chen, Clinton Williams, Ayalew Ligaba-Osena (2023) Polystyrene micro(nano)plastics in terrestrial ecosystem: From soil, plants, animals, to humans – A systematic review. Environ Monit Assess 195, 252 (2023).
  18. Ayalew Ligaba-Osena, Mohammad Salehin, Muhammad Numan, Xuegeng Wang, Snag Chul Choi, Dereje Jima, Louis-Marie Bobay, Wnali Guo.(2022) Genome-Wide Transcriptome Analysis of the orphan crop tef (Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter) Under Long-term Low Calcium Stress. Sci Rep 12, 19552.
  19. Rammyani Bagchi, Rachel Tinker-Kulberg, Mohammad Salehin, Tinku Supakar, Sydney Chamberlain, Ayalew Ligaba-Osena, Eric A. Josephs (2022). Polyvalent Guide RNAs for CRISPR Antivirals. iScience, 25, 105333.
  20. Muhammad Numan, Wanli Guo, Sang Chul Choi, Xuegeng Wang, Boxuan Du, Weibo Jin, Ramji Kumar Bhandari, Ayalew Ligaba-Osena. 2022. Analysis of miRNAs responsive to long-term Calcium deficiency in tef (Eragrostis tef (Zucc.), Plant Direct, 10;6(5):e400
  21. Muhammad Numan, Desalegn D. Serba and Ayalew Ligaba-Osena. Alternative Strategies for Multi-Stress Tolerance and Yield Improvement in Millets (Genes 2021, 12(5), 739; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes12050739
  22. Rammyani Bagchi, Rachel Tinker-Kulberg, Tinku Supakar, Sydney Chamberlain, Ayalew Ligaba-Osena, and Eric A. Josephs. Polyvalent Guide RNAs for CRISPR Antivirals. bioRixv 2021-02-25: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.25.430352
  23. Ayalew Ligaba-Osena, Mitiku Mengistu, Getu Beyene, John Cushman, Raymond Glahn, Miguel Piñeros. Grain mineral nutrient profiling and iron bioavailability of an ancient crop tef (Eragrostis tef): (in press, Australian Journal of Crop Science).
  24. Raza Ullah, Huan Chen, Alex Chow, Martin Tsui, Ayalew Ligaba-Osena. Microplastics interaction with terrestrial plants and its impacts on agriculture (in press, Journal of Environmental Quality).
  25. Qianqian Xiang, Siyuan Hu, Ayalew Ligaba-Osena, Jiayao Yang, Fudan Tong, Wanli Guo (2021) Seasonal Variation in Transcriptomic Profiling of Tetrastigma hemsleyanum Fully Developed Tuberous Roots Enriches Candidate Genes in Essential Metabolic Pathways and Phytohormone Signaling. Frontiers in Plant Sciences (Front. Plant Sci. | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2021.659645 ).
  26. Muhammad Numan, Abdul Latif Khan, Sajjad Asaf, Mohammad Salehin, Getu Beyene, Zerihun Tadele and Ayalew Ligaba-Osena (2021) From traditional breeding to cutting edge genome editing in boosting productivity of the ancient grain tef (Eragrostis tef): A review: Plants, 2021, 10(4), 628.
  27. Ayalew Ligaba-Osena, Wanli Guo, Sang chul Choi, Matthew Alan Limmer, Angelia L. Seyfferth, Bertrand B. Hankoua (2020). Silicon enhances biomass and grain yield in an ancient crop tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter]. Frontiers in Plant Sciences, Vol. 11, Article 608503.
  28. Edossa Wayima, Ayalew Ligaba-Osena, Kifle Dagne, Kassahun Tesfaye, Eunice Machuka, Samuel Mutiga and Emmanuel Delhaize. Screening of diverse Ethiopian durum wheat accessions for aluminium tolerance. Agronomy 2019, 9, 440
  29. Ayalew Ligaba-Osena, Kay DiMarco, Tom Richard & Bertrand Hankoua. 2018. The maize Corngrass1 miRNA-regulated developmental alterations are restored by a bacterial ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase in transgenic tobacco. 2018 (10): 1-13
  30. Ayalew Ligaba-Osena, Jenna Jones, Emanuel Donkor, Sanjeev Chandrayan, Farris Poole, Chang-Hao Wu, Claire Vieille, Michael W. W. Adams & Bertrand Hankoua. 2018. Novel bioengineered cassava expressing an archaeal starch degradation system and a bacterial ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase for starch self-digestibility and yield increase. Front Plant Sci. Vol. 9, February 26, 2018 (Jenna Jones and Emanuel Donkor are undergraduates)
  31. Ayalew Ligaba-Osena, Bertrand Hankoua, Kay DiMarco, Robert Pace, Mark Crocker, Jesse McAtee, Nivedita Nagachar, Ming Tien & Tom Richard. 2017. Reducing biomass recalcitrance by heterologous expression of a bacterial peroxidase in tobacco. Sci Rep, 7: 17104
  32. Ayalew Ligaba-Osena, Zhangjun Fei, Jiping Liu, Yumin Xu, Jon Shaff, Sung-Chul Lee, Sheng Luan, Joerg Kudla, Leon Kochian & Miguel Piñeros. 2017. Loss-of-function mutation of the calcium sensor CBL1 increases aluminum-sensitivity in Arabidopsis. New Phytol. 214, 830–841
  33. Rita Kusi-Appiah Hayford, Ayalew Ligaba-Osena, Mayavan Subramani, Adrianne Brown, Latha Melmaiee, Khwaja Hossain & Venu (Kal) Kalavacharla. 2017. Expression analysis of the common bean histone deacetylase gene at Different Developmental Stages and during Cold Stress. Int J Genomics 2017, Article ID 2502691
  34. Ayalew Ligaba, Ingo Dreyer, Armine Margaryan, David J Schneider, Leon Kochian & Miguel Piñeros. 2013. Functional, structural and phylogenetic analysis of domains underlying the Al sensitivity of the aluminum-activated malate/anion transporter, TaALMT1. Plant J 76:766-180
  35. Ayalew Ligaba, Lyza Maron, Miguel Piñeros, Jon Shaff & Leon Kochian. 2012. Maize ZmALMT2 is a root anion transporter that mediates constitutive root malate efflux.  Plant Cell Environ. 35: 1185-1200
  36. Ayalew Ligaba, Maki Katsuhara, Mineo Shibasaka & Gemechis Djira. 2011. Cloning and functional analysis of major intrinsic proteins in barley: abiotic stresses modulate expression of barley MIP genes. Compt Rend Biol. 334: 127-139.
  37. Ayalew Ligaba & Maki Katsuhara. 2010. Insights into the salt tolerance mechanisms in barley (Hordeum vulgare) from comparisons of cultivars that differ in salt sensitivity. J Plant Res, 123: 105-118.
  38. Ayalew Ligaba, Leon Kochian & Miguel Piñeros. 2009. Phosphorylation at S384 regulates the activity of the TaALMT1 malate transporter that underlines aluminum resistance in wheat. Plant J 60:411-423
  39. Ayalew Ligaba, Maki Katsuhara, Wataru Sakamoto & Hideaki Matsumoto. 2007. The BnALMT1 protein that is an aluminum-activated malate transporter is localized in the plasma membrane. Plant Signal Behav 2: 255-257.
  40. Ayalew Ligaba, Maki Katsuhara, Peter. R. Ryan, Mineo Shibasaka & Hideaki Matsumoto. 2006. The BnALMT1and BnALMT2 genes from Brassica napus L. encode aluminum-activated malate transporters that enhance the aluminum resistance of plant cells. Plant Physiol 142: 1294-1303.
  41. Hong Shen., Fei Long He, Takayuki Sasaki, Yoko Yamamoto, Shao Jian Zheng, Ayalew Ligaba, Xiaolong Yan, Sung Ju Ahn, Mineo Yamaguchi, Hideo Sasakawa & Hideaki Matsumoto. 2005. Citrate secretion coupled with the modulation of soybean root tip under aluminum stress: Up-regulation of transcription, translation and threonine-oriented phosphorylation of plasma membrane H+-ATPase. Plant Physiol 138, 287-296
  42. Ayalew Ligaba, Hong Shen, Koichi Shibata, Yoko Yamamoto, Shigemi Tanakamaru, & Hideaki Matsumoto. 2004. The role of phosphorus in aluminum-induced citrate and malate exudation from rape (Brassica napus L.). Physiol Plant 120: 575-584
  43. Ayalew Ligaba, Mineo Yamaguchi, Hong Shen, Takayuki Sasaki, Yoko Yamamoto & Hideaki Matsumoto. 2004. Phosphate deficiency enhances plasma membrane H+-ATPase activity and citrate exudation in greater purple lupin (Lupinus pilosus). Funct Plant Biol. 31: 1075-1083
  44. Hong Shen, Ayalew Ligaba, Mineo Yamaguchi, Hiroki Osawa, Koichi Shibata, Xialolong Yan & Hideaki Matsumoto. 2004. Effect of K-252a and abscisic acid on the efflux of citrate from Soybean (Glycine max). J Exp Bot. 55: 663-671

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