Grant Cramer

Photo of Grant Cramer, Extension

Grant Cramer

Emeritus Professor

Summary

I enjoy research immensely along with the collaborative exchange and development of ideas with my colleagues. I am fascinated by how life works and the more complex interactions that occur in biology. I think that is why I have been so drawn in my early student years to whole plant physiology and later to systems biology.

My research has spanned more than 40 years and focused primarily on salinity stress during the first two decades of my career. I wanted to make more salt tolerant crop plants, crops that can even tolerate seawater irrigation. In the last two decades, I have changed my focus to abiotic stress tolerance (drought, salinity and cold) of grapes using a systems biology approach. 

A plant is a complex organism made up of many organelles, cells, tissues and organs, all of which work in harmony with each other. There are more than 250,000 plant species displaying a wide diversity of traits. Complex traits are influenced by many small quantitative trait loci (QTLs) indicating complex interactions with a lot of factors. Plant phenotypes are dependent upon genotype x environment interactions. With so many genes, proteins, metabolites and environmental variables the possible interactions are nearly infinite. Systems biology approaches are necessary to study such complexity.

Education

Clayton Valley High School, Concord, CA 1973
B.S. 1980 University of Massachusetts, Amherst
M.S. 1982 University of California, Davis
Ph.D. 1985 University of California, Davis

Courses

I am currently teaching two courses: BIOT 401, Alcoholic Fermentation Technologies, which you must be 21 to take, and BCH 487/687, Systems-Based Approaches to Biochemistry, which is taught at the senior and graduate level.

For BIOT 401, the student will learn about two specific processes: the science of wine making (enology) and the brewing of beer from barley and hops. The student will learn the basics of how to grow grapes and hops, how to make, taste and evaluate (test) beer and wine quality.

For BCH 487/687, Systems Biochemistry, the class takes a holistic approach to investigate biological questions utilizing bioinformatics, genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic technologies. This course will survey recent advances in systems biology and discuss how systems-based approaches can be applied to address research questions in disciplines including medicine, agriculture, plant biotechnology, environmental science and genetic engineering. The students will get a hands-on experience utilizing software.

I enjoy teaching and like to take creative and innovative approaches . I incorporate the use of hands-on activities, field trips, video, computers and web sites on the internet into my lectures and exercises to make for a more active-learning environment. 

News & Journal Articles, Fact Sheets, Reports...

Book Chapter(s)
Plant proteogenomics: from protein extraction to improved gene predictions. Chapman, B., Castellana, N., Apffel, A., Ghan, R., Cramer, G. R., Bellgard, M., Haynes, P. A., Van Sluyter, S. C. 2013, In M. Zhou and T. Veenstra (Ed.), Proteomics for Biomarker Discovery. Series: Methods in Molecular Biology, Vol. 1002 (vol. 1002, pp. 267-294). Humana Press.
Bioinformatics Tools in Grapevine Genomics. Grimplet, J., Dickerson, J. A., Adam-Blondon, A.F., Cramer, G. R. 2010, In Martinez-Zapater & Adam-Blondon (Ed.), Grapevine Genomics. Bioinformatics Tools in Grapevine Genomics. Encyclopedia of Plant Genomics/Scientific Publishers, Inc..
Functional Genomics: Proteomics and Metabolomics. Lund, S., Cramer, G. R. 2010, In Martinez-Zapater & Adam-Blondon (Ed.), Grapevine Genomics: Functional Genomics: Proteomics and Metabolomics. Encyclopedia of Plant Genomics/Scientific Publishers, Inc.
Sodium-calcium interactions under salinity stress. Cramer, G.R. 2002, In: Salinity. Environment-Plants-Molecules. Eds. A. Läuchli and U. Lüttge. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 205-227
Fact Sheets
Towards wine grape (Vitis vinifera) vineyard establishment in Northern Nevada: varietal studies in the dry desert climate. J. Evans, E.A.R. Tattersall, W. Johnson, and G.R. Cramer 2005, NAES publication #51055382
Journals
A sense of place: transcriptomics identifies environmental signatures in Cabernet Sauvignon berry skins in the late stages of ripening. G.R. Cramer, N. Cochetel, R. Ghan, A. Destrac-Irvine, and S. Delrot. 2020, BMC Plant Biology. 20:41
Drought tolerance of the grapevine, Vitis champinii cv. Ramsey, is associated with higher photosynthesis and greater transcriptomic responsiveness of abscisic acid biosynthesis and signaling. N. Cochetel, R. Ghan, H. Toups, A. Degu, R.L. Tillett, K.A. Schlauch, G.R. Cramer. 2020, BMC Plant Biology 20:55
Transcriptomic response is more sensitive to water deficit in shoots than roots of Vitis riparia Vedbar Singh Khadka, Kimberley Vaughn, Juan Xie, Padmapriya Swaminathan, Qin Ma,Grant R. Cramer and Anne Y. Fennell 2019, BMC Plant Biology
What makes for sound science? Costa, F., Cramer, G. R., Finnegan, E. J. 2017, BMC Plant Biology, 17, 196.
The common transcriptional subnetworks of the grape berry skin in the late stages of ripening. Ghan, R., Petereit, J., Tillet, R., Schlauch, K., Toubiana, D., Fait, A., Cramer, G. R. 2017, BMC Plant Biology, 17(1), 94.
Phased diploid genome assembly with single molecule real-time sequencing. Chen-Shan Chin, Paul Peluso, Fritz Sedlazeck, Maria Nattestad, Gregory Concepcion, Alicia Clum, Christopher Dunn, Ronan O'Malley, Rosa Figueroa-Balderas, Abraham Morales-Cruz, Grant R. Cramer, Massimo Delledonne, Chongyuan Luo, Joseph Ecker, Dario Cantu, David Rank, Michael C Schatz 2016, Nature Methods 13:1050-1054
Transcriptomic network analyses of leaf dehydration responses identify highly connected ABA and ethylene signaling hubs in three grapevine species differing in drought tolerance. Hopper DW, Ghan R, Schlauch KA, Cramer GR. 2016, BMC Plant Biol.;16(1):118. PMID: 27215785.
Abscisic acid transcriptomic signal varies with grapevine organ. Rattanakon S, Ghan R, Gambetta GA, Deluc LG, Schlauch KA, Cramer GR. 2016, BMC Plant Biol.;16(1):72. PMID:27001301 PMCID: PMC4802729
Short day transcriptomic programming during induction of dormancy in grapevine. Fennell AY, Schlauch KA, Gouthu S, Deluc LG, Khadka V, Sreekantan L, Grimplet J, Cramer GR, Mathiason KL. 2015, Front Plant Sci. 4;6:834. PMID: 26582400 PMCID: PMC4632279
Cultivar specific metabolic changes in grapevines berry skins in relation to deficit irrigation and hydraulic behavior. Hochberg, U., Degu, A., Cramer, G. R., Rachmilevitch, S., Fait, A. 2015, Plant Physiol Biochem, 88, 42-52.
Transcriptomic analysis of the late stages of grapevine (Vitis vinifera cv. Cabernet Sauvignon) berry ripening reveals significant induction of ethylene signaling and flavor pathways in the skin. Cramer, G. R., Ghan, R., Schlauch, K., Tillett, R., Heymann, H., Ferrarini, A., Delledonne, M., Fasoli, M., Zenoni, S., Pezzotti, M. 2014, BMC Plant Biology, 14, 370.
A rapid dehydration leaf assay reveals stomatal response differences in grapevine genotypes. Hopper, D.W., R. Ghan, and G.R. Cramer. 2014, Horticulture Research 1: 2; doi:10.1038/hortres.2014.2
Proteomics analysis indicates massive changes in metabolism prior to the inhibition of growth and photosynthesis of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) in response to water deficit. Cramer, G. R., Van Sluyter, S., Hopper, D. W., Pascovici, D., Keighly, T., Haynes, P. A 2013, BMC Plant Biology 2013, 13:49
The Basic Leucine Zipper Transcription Factor ABSCISIC ACID RESPONSE ELEMENT-BINDING FACTOR2 is an important transcriptional regulator of abscisic acid-dependent grape berry ripening processes. Nicolas, P., Lecourieux, D., Kappel, C., Cluzet, S., Cramer, G. R., Delrot, S., Lecourieux, F 2013, Plant Physiology, 164(1), 365-383.
The Vitis vinifera C-repeat binding protein 4 (VvCBF4) transcriptional factor enhances freezing tolerance in wine grape. Tillet, R., Wheatley, M., Tattersall, E. A.R., Schlauch, K., Cramer, G. R., Cushman, J. C. 2012, Plant Biotechnology Journal, 10, 105-124.
Transcriptomic analysis during heat stress and the following recovery of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) leaves. Wang, L., Li, S., Cramer, G. R., Dai, Z., Duan, W., Xu, H., Wu, B., Fan, P. 2012, BMC Plant Biology, 12, 174.
Water deficit increases stilbene metabolism in Cabernet Sauvignon berries. Deluc, L.G., A. Decendit, Y. Papastomoulis, J.-M. Mérillon, J.C. Cushman and G.R. Cramer. 2011, JAFC 59:289-297
Water deficit alters differentially metabolic pathways affecting important flavor and quality traits in grape berries of Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. Deluc, L.G., J. Grimplet, M.D. Wheatley, A. Decendit, K. Schlauch, D. Quilici, J.-M. Mérillon, J.C. Cushman and G.R. Cramer. 2009, BMC Genomics 10:212
CBF4 is a unique member of the CBF transcription factor family of Vitis vinifera and Vitis riparia. Xiao, H., Tattersall, E. A.R., Siddiqua, M. K., Cramer, G. R., Nassuth, A. 2008, Plant Cell and Environment, 31, 1-10
Water and salinity stress in grapevines: early and late changes in transcript and metabolite profiles. Cramer, G.R., A. Ergül, J. Grimplet, R.L. Tillett, E.A.R. Tattersall, M.C. Bohlman, D. Vincent, J. Sonderegger, J. Evans, C. Osborne, D. Quilici, K.A. Schlauch, D.A. Schooley and J.C. Cushman 2007, Functional and Integrative Genomics 7:111-134
Kinetics of maize leaf elongation. IV. Effects of (+)- and (-)-abscisic acid. Cramer, G.R., M. Krishnan, and S. Abrams. 1998, Journal of Experimental Botany 49:191-198
Kinetics of maize leaf elongation. I. Increased yield threshold limits short-term, steady-state elongation rates after exposure to salinity. Cramer, G.R., and D.C. Bowman. 1991, Journal of Experimental Botany 42:1417-1426
Displacement of Ca2+ by Na+ from the plasmalemma of root cells. A primary response to salt stress? G.R. Cramer, A. Läuchli, V.S. Polito 1985, Plant Physiology 79:207-211
Lay or Popular Publications
Home vineyards in Nevada. Allen, L., Hanson, W., Cramer, G. R. 2008, UNCE Magazine
Proceedings
Early and Late Responses of Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) to Water Deficit: A Proteomics Perspective. Cramer, G. R., Hopper, D. W., Quilici, D. R., Woolsey, R. J., Cushman, J. C., Vincent, D., Van Sluyter, S. C., George, I., Haynes, P. A. 2017, Acta Horticulturae, 1157, 263-272.
DIGE substantially reduces protein spot variability caused by 2-D PAGE and increases detection of differentially expressed proteins. Cramer, G. R., Deluc, L. G., Spreeman, K., Schegg, K., Fennell, A. 2014, Acta Horticulturae, 1046, 385-388.
Reviews
Abiotic stress in plants: a systems biology perspective Cramer, G. R., Urano, K., Delrot, S., Pezzotti, M., Shinozaki, K. 2011, BMC Plant Biology, 11, 163.
Abiotic stress & plant responses - from the whole vine to the genes. G.R. Cramer 2010, Aust J Grape Wine Res 16:86-93
Regulation of malate metabolism in grape berry and other developing fruits Sweetman, C., Deluc, L. G., Cramer, G. R., Ford, C., Soole, K. L. 2009, Phytochemistry, 70, 1329-1344