Dr Natasha Yelina

  • • Head of Crop Breeding Technologies
  • • Cawthorn Senior Researcher of Crop Science
Dr Natasha Yelina

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About

Natasha Yelina is Head of Crop Breeding Technologies at the Crop Science Centre as part of the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge.

Previous Positions

2021 to present - Head of Group - Department of Plant Science, University of Cambridge, England

2015 to 2020 - Broodbank Postdoctoral Fellow, Senior Research Associate - Department of Plant Science, University of Cambridge, England

2009 to 2015 - Postdoctoral Researcher - Department of Plant Science, University of Cambridge, England

2008 to 2009 - Career Development Fellow - MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, London, England

2004 to 2007 - Royal Society/NATO and EMBO Postdoctoral Fellow - Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, England

Qualifications

2003 - PhD in Plant Virology - Moscow State University, Russia

1999 - BSc and MSc in Biochemistry - Moscow State University, Russia

Research

Research Group

Crop Breeding Technologies based at the Crop Science Centre

Research Overview

Crop breeding relies on selecting new combinations of traits that result from crossovers, reciprocal exchange between parental chromosomes during meiosis, a specialized cell division to produce gametes. Crossovers are few in numbers (1-3 per chromosome) and are non-randomly distributed along chromosomes, therefore, not all traits are equally amenable for meiotic recombination and breeding. Building on the fundamental knowledge of the mechanisms of crossover control, our group aims to develop novel breeding technologies in legume crops to enable faster and more economical ways to breed new cultivars with agronomically valuable traits, for example, adapted to changing climate conditions and producing robust high yields when farmed sustainably.

School of Biological Sciences Theme Affiliations

Organisms, Evolution and Ecology

Publications

Selected publications

DNA methylation epigenetically silences crossover hot spots and controls chromosomal domains of meiotic recombination in Arabidopsis 17 September 2015 Genes & Development Nataliya E Yelina, Christophe Lambing, Thomas J Hardcastle, Xiaohui Zhao, Bruno Santos & Ian R Henderson High-throughput analysis of meiotic crossover frequency and interference via flow cytometry of fluorescent pollen in Arabidopsis thaliana 8 November 2013 Nature Protocols Nataliya E Yelina, Piotr A Ziolkowski, Nigel Miller, Xiaohui Zhao, Krystyna A Kelly, Daniela F Muñoz, David J Mann, Gregory P Copenhaver & Ian R Henderson Epigenetic Remodeling of Meiotic Crossover Frequency in Arabidopsis thaliana DNA Methyltransferase Mutants 2 August 2012 PLOS Genetics Nataliya E Yelina, Kyuha Choi, Liudmila Chelysheva, Malcolm Macaulay, Bastiaan de Snoo, Erik Wijnker, Nigel Miller, Jan Drouaud, Mathilde Grelon, Gregory P Copenhaver, Christine Mezard, Krystyna A Kelly & Ian R Henderson Putative Arabidopsis THO/TREX mRNA export complex is involved in transgene and endogenous siRNA biosynthesis 15 July 2010 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Nataliya E Yelina, Lisa M Smith, Alexandra M E Jones, Kanu Patel, Krystyna A Kelly & David C Baulcombe Long-Distance Movement, Virulence, and RNA Silencing Suppression Controlled by a Single Protein in Hordei- and Potyviruses: Complementary Functions between Virus Families 15 December 2002 Journal of Virology Natalia E Yelina, Eugene I Savenkov, Andrey G Solovyev, Sergey Y Morozov & Jari P T Valkonen