Natural Sciences

Dr Peter Mc Keown

M.Sc., M.A., Ph.D.

Biography

Peter McKeown is a Lecturer in Plant & AgriBiosciences at the University of Galway and is the coordinator of the award-winning Masters Program on Climate Change, Agriculture & Food Security (MScCCAFS; https://www.universityofgalway.ie/ccafs/).

His background is in plant science, especially in genetics and epigenetics of plant reproduction and seed development, with interests in agricultural biodiversity, plant genetic resources and climate impacts on crops. He read Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge before studying for an MSc in Plant Breeding and Biotechnology from the John Innes Centre, UK, and PhD in plant cell biology; he was awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education from the Uni. Galway Centre of Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) in 2016.

He also coordinates 1st year plant science teaching and is a member of the School of Biological & Chemical Sciences Athena Swan Working Group; he was elected to Academic Council in 2018. Peter was the local coordinator of an Erasmus+ Program on pedagogy, Decoding the Disciplines, and served as Irish representative for the COST Action Harnessing Plant Reproduction for Agricultural Improvement and Secretary to NGO Genetic Heritage Ireland. He is also a member of the EU-DEVCO Legumes 4 Development and EcoFood Systems consortia.

Peter has been an author on 30 peer-reviewed papers and has co-edited three books, including the Routledge Handbook of Agricultural Biodiversity.

Peer Reviewed Journals

	Year	Publication
	(2019)	'Paternally Expressed Imprinted Genes under Positive Darwinian Selection in Arabidopsis thaliana' Tuteja, R;McKeown, PC;Ryan, P;Morgan, CC;Donoghue, MTA;Downing, T;O'Connell, MJ;Spillane, C (2019) 'Paternally Expressed Imprinted Genes under Positive Darwinian Selection in Arabidopsis thaliana'. Molecular Biology And Evolution, 36 :1239-1253 [DOI] [Details]
	(2019)	'Transgenerational effects of inter-ploidy cross direction on reproduction and F2 seed development of Arabidopsis thaliana F1 hybrid triploids' Duszynska D;Vilhjalmsson B;Castillo Bravo R;Swamidatta S;Juenger TE;Donoghue MTA;Comte A;Nordborg M;Sharbel TF;Brychkova G;McKeown PC;Spillane C; (2019) 'Transgenerational effects of inter-ploidy cross direction on reproduction and F2 seed development of Arabidopsis thaliana F1 hybrid triploids'. Plant Reproduction, 32 (3) [DOI] [Details]
	(2018)	'Reduction in nutritional quality and growing area suitability of common bean under climate change induced drought stress in Africa' Hummel M;Hallahan BF;Brychkova G;Ramirez-Villegas J;Guwela V;Chataika B;Curley E;McKeown PC;Morrison L;Talsma EF;Beebe S;Jarvis A;Chirwa R;Spillane C; (2018) 'Reduction in nutritional quality and growing area suitability of common bean under climate change induced drought stress in Africa'. Scientific Reports, 8 (1) [DOI] [Details]
	(2017)	'Agricultural biodiversity, the key to sustainable food systems in the 21st century INTRODUCTION' Hunter, D;Guarino, L;Spillane, C;McKeown, PC (2017) 'Agricultural biodiversity, the key to sustainable food systems in the 21st century INTRODUCTION'. Routledge Handbook Of Agricultural Biodiversity, :1-12 [Details]
	(2017)	'EDIBLE INSECT DIVERSITY FOR FOOD AND NUTRITION' McGill, WL,Fiaboe, KKM,Ekesi, S,Subramanian, S,Hunter, D,Guarino, L,Spillane, C,McKeown, PC (2017) 'EDIBLE INSECT DIVERSITY FOR FOOD AND NUTRITION'. Routledge Handbook Of Agricultural Biodiversity, :364-376 [Details]
	(2017)	'Allele-specific splicing effects on DKKL1 and ZNF419 transcripts in HeLa cells' Martin, G,Selcuklu, SD,Schouest, K,Nembaware, V,McKeown, PC,Seoighe, C,Spillane, C (2017) 'Allele-specific splicing effects on DKKL1 and ZNF419 transcripts in HeLa cells'. Gene, 598 :107-112 [DOI] [Details]
	(2016)	'Disaggregating polyploidy, parental genome dosage and hybridity contributions to heterosis in Arabidopsis thaliana' Fort, A,Ryder, P,McKeown, PC,Wijnen, C,Aarts, MG,Sulpice, R,Spillane, C (2016) 'Disaggregating polyploidy, parental genome dosage and hybridity contributions to heterosis in Arabidopsis thaliana'. New Phytologist, 209 :590-599 [DOI] [Details]
	(2016)	'Disaggregating polyploidy, parental genome dosage and hybridity contributions to heterosis in Arabidopsis thaliana' Fort, A;Ryder, P;McKeown, PC;Wijnen, C;Aarts, MG;Sulpice, R;Spillane, C (2016) 'Disaggregating polyploidy, parental genome dosage and hybridity contributions to heterosis in Arabidopsis thaliana'. New Phytologist, 209 :590-599 [DOI] [Details]
	(2016)	'A Polynucleotide Repeat Expansion Causing Temperature-Sensitivity Persists in Wild Irish Accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana' Tabib, A,Vishwanathan, S,Seleznev, A,McKeown, PC,Downing, T,Dent, C,Sanchez-Bermejo, E,Colling, L,Spillane, C,Balasubramanian, S (2016) 'A Polynucleotide Repeat Expansion Causing Temperature-Sensitivity Persists in Wild Irish Accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana'. Frontiers in Plant Science, 7 [DOI] [Details]
	(2016)	'Genome-wide identification and in silico characterisation of microRNAs, their targets and processing pathway genes in Phaseolus vulgaris L' Cardoso, TCD,Portilho, LG,de Oliveira, CL,McKeown, PC,Maluf, WR,Gomes, LAA,Teixeira, TA,do Amaral, LR,Spillane, C,Gomes, MD (2016) 'Genome-wide identification and in silico characterisation of microRNAs, their targets and processing pathway genes in Phaseolus vulgaris L'. Plant Biology, 18 :206-219 [DOI] [Details]
	(2015)	'Moving Toward a Comprehensive Map of Central Plant Metabolism' Sulpice R, McKeown PC (2015) 'Moving Toward a Comprehensive Map of Central Plant Metabolism'. Annu Rev Plant Biol, [DOI] [Details]
	(2014)	'C(m)CGG Methylation-Independent Parent-of-Origin Effects on Genome-Wide Transcript Levels in Isogenic Reciprocal F1 Triploid Plants' Donoghue, MTA,Fort, A,Clifton, R,Zhang, X,McKeown, PC,Voigt-Zielinksi, ML,Borevitz, JO,Spillane, C (2014) 'C(m)CGG Methylation-Independent Parent-of-Origin Effects on Genome-Wide Transcript Levels in Isogenic Reciprocal F1 Triploid Plants'. Dna Research, 21 :141-151 [DOI] [Details]
	(2014)	'Analysis of genomic imprinting by quantitative allele-specific expression by Pyrosequencing(Â®)' McKeown PC, Fort A, Spillane C (2014) 'Analysis of genomic imprinting by quantitative allele-specific expression by Pyrosequencing(Â®)'. Methods Mol Biol, 1112 :85-104 [DOI] [Details]
	(2014)	'Landscaping plant epigenetics' McKeown PC, Spillane C (2014) 'Landscaping plant epigenetics'. Methods Mol Biol, 1112 :1-24 [DOI] [Details]
	(2014)	'Landscaping Plant Epigenetics' Spillane, C,Spillane, C,McKeown, PC (2014) 'Landscaping Plant Epigenetics'. Methods Mol Biol, 1112 :1-24 [DOI] [Details]
	(2014)	'Genomics in Agriculture and Food Processing' McKeown, PC,Keshavaiah, C,Fort, A,Tuteja, R,Chatterjee, M,Varshney, RK,Spillane, C,Panesar, PS,Marwaha, SS (2014) 'Genomics in Agriculture and Food Processing'. Biotechnology In Agriculture And Food Processing: Opportunities And Challenges, :45-70 [Details]
	(2014)	'Inference of Allele-Specific Expression from RNA-seq Data' Korir, PK,Seoighe, C,Spillane, C,McKeown, PC (2014) 'Inference of Allele-Specific Expression from RNA-seq Data'. Methods Mol Biol, 1112 :49-69 [DOI] [Details]
	(2014)	'Analysis of Genomic Imprinting by Quantitative Allele-Specific Expression by Pyrosequencing (R)' Fort, A,Spillane, C,Spillane, C,McKeown, PC (2014) 'Analysis of Genomic Imprinting by Quantitative Allele-Specific Expression by Pyrosequencing (R)'. Methods Mol Biol, 1112 :85-104 [DOI] [Details]
	(2014)	'Epigenetics and Heterosis in Crop Plants' Ryder, P,McKeown, PC,Fort, A,Spillane, C,AlvarezVenegas, R,DeLaPena, C,CasasMollano, JA (2014) 'Epigenetics and Heterosis in Crop Plants'. Epigenetics In Plants Of Agronomic Importance: Fundamentals And Applications: Transcriptional Regulation And Chromatin Remodelling In Plants, :13-31 [DOI] [Details]
	(2014)	'Landscaping Plant Epigenetics' McKeown, PC;Spillane, C (2014) 'Landscaping Plant Epigenetics'. Methods in Molecular Biology, 1112 :1-24 [DOI] [Details]
	(2014)	'Genomics in Agriculture and Food Processing' McKeown, PC;Keshavaiah, C;Fort, A;Tuteja, R;Chatterjee, M;Varshney, RK;Spillane, C (2014) 'Genomics in Agriculture and Food Processing'. Biotechnology In Agriculture And Food Processing: Opportunities And Challenges, :45-70 [Details]
	(2014)	'Epigenetics and Heterosis in Crop Plants' Ryder, P;McKeown, PC;Fort, A;Spillane, C (2014) 'Epigenetics and Heterosis in Crop Plants'. Epigenetics In Plants Of Agronomic Importance: Fundamentals And Applications: Transcriptional Regulation And Chromatin Remodelling In Plants, :13-31 [DOI] [Details]
	(2014)	'Plant Epigenetics and Epigenomics Methods and Protocols Preface' Spillane, C;McKeown, PC (2014) 'Plant Epigenetics and Epigenomics Methods and Protocols Preface'. Methods in Molecular Biology, 1112 [Details]
	(2014)	'Analysis of Genomic Imprinting by Quantitative Allele-Specific Expression by Pyrosequencing (R)' McKeown, PC;Fort, A;Spillane, C (2014) 'Analysis of Genomic Imprinting by Quantitative Allele-Specific Expression by Pyrosequencing (R)'. Methods in Molecular Biology, 1112 :85-104 [DOI] [Details]
	(2013)	'Analysis of genomic imprinting by quantitative allele-specific expression by pyrosequencing' Peter C. McKeown, Klaudia M. Sikora and Charles Spillane (2013) 'Analysis of genomic imprinting by quantitative allele-specific expression by pyrosequencing'. Methods Mol Biol, [Details]
	(2013)	'CmCGG-methylation independent parent-of-origin effects on genome-wide transcript levels in isogenic reciprocal F1 triploid plants' Donoghue MTA, Fort A, Clifton R, Xhang X, McKeown PC, Borevitz JO and Spillane C (2013) 'CmCGG-methylation independent parent-of-origin effects on genome-wide transcript levels in isogenic reciprocal F1 triploid plants'. Dna Research, [Details]
	(2013)	'Emerging molecular mechanisms for biotechnological harnessing of heterosis in crops' McKeown PC, Fort A, Duszynska D, Sulpice R, Spillane C (2013) 'Emerging molecular mechanisms for biotechnological harnessing of heterosis in crops'. Trends In Biotechnology, 31 (10):549-551 [DOI] [Details]
	(2013)	'Gamete fertility and ovule number variation in selfed reciprocal F1 hybrid triploid plants are heritable and display epigenetic parent-of-origin effects' Duszynska, D,McKeown, PC,Juenger, TE,Pietraszewska-Bogiel, A,Geelen, D,Spillane, C (2013) 'Gamete fertility and ovule number variation in selfed reciprocal F1 hybrid triploid plants are heritable and display epigenetic parent-of-origin effects'. New Phytologist, 198 :71-81 [DOI] [Details]
	(2013)	'Landscaping plant epigenetics' McKeown, Peter C. and Spillane, C. (2013) 'Landscaping plant epigenetics'. Methods Mol Biol, [Details]
	(2013)	'CmCGG Methylation-Independent Parent-of-Origin Effects on Genome-Wide Transcript Levels in Isogenic Reciprocal F1 Triploid Plants' Donoghue MT, Fort A, Clifton R, Zhang X, McKeown PC, Voigt-Zielinksi M, Borevitz JO, Spillane C (2013) 'CmCGG Methylation-Independent Parent-of-Origin Effects on Genome-Wide Transcript Levels in Isogenic Reciprocal F1 Triploid Plants'. Dna Research, [DOI] [Details]
	(2011)	'Identification of imprinted genes subject to parent-of-origin specific expression in Arabidopsis thaliana seeds' McKeown, PC;Laouielle-Duprat, S;Prins, P;Wolff, P;Schmid, MW;Donoghue, MTA;Fort, A;Duszynska, D;Comte, A;Lao, NT;Wennblom, TJ;Smant, G;Kohler, C;Grossniklaus, U;Spillane, C (2011) 'Identification of imprinted genes subject to parent-of-origin specific expression in Arabidopsis thaliana seeds'. BMC Plant Biology, 11 [DOI] [Details]
	(2011)	'Identification of imprinted genes subject to parent-of-origin specific expression in Arabidopsis thaliana seeds' McKeown, PC,Laouielle-Duprat, S,Prins, P,Wolff, P,Schmid, MW,Donoghue, MTA,Fort, A,Duszynska, D,Comte, A,Lao, NT,Wennblom, TJ,Smant, G,Kohler, C,Grossniklaus, U,Spillane, C (2011) 'Identification of imprinted genes subject to parent-of-origin specific expression in Arabidopsis thaliana seeds'. Bmc Plant Biology, 11 [DOI] [ARAN Link] [Details]
	(2011)	'The Structure of rDNA Chromatin' Shaw, PJ,McKeown, PC,Olson, MOJ (2011) 'The Structure of rDNA Chromatin'. Nucleolus, 15 :43-55 [DOI] [Details]
	(2011)	'The Structure of rDNA Chromatin' Shaw, PJ;McKeown, PC (2011) 'The Structure of rDNA Chromatin'. Nucleolus, 15 :43-55 [DOI] [Details]
	(2009)	'Chromatin: linking structure and function in the nucleolus' McKeown P.C. and Shaw P.J. (2009) 'Chromatin: linking structure and function in the nucleolus'. Chromosoma, 118 (1):11-23 [Details]

Books

	Year	Publication
	(2014)	Plant Epigenetics and Epigenomics. Spillane C and McKeown PC (2014) Plant Epigenetics and Epigenomics. Berlin: Springer Verlag. [Details]

Book Chapters

	Year	Publication
	(2013)	'Harnessing genomics to improve nutritional content and bioavailability of plant-derived foods' McKeown P.C. Keshaviaiah C., Fort A., Tuteja R., Chatterjee M., Varshney R., Spillane, C. (2013) 'Harnessing genomics to improve nutritional content and bioavailability of plant-derived foods' In: Biotechnology in Agriculture and Food Processing: Opportunities and Challenges. USA: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group. [Details]
	(2009)	'Plant produced biopharmaceuticals' Gerlach J.Q., Kilcoyne M., McKeown P., Spillane C., and Joshi L (2009) 'Plant produced biopharmaceuticals' In: Development and Deployment of Transgenic Plants. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. [Details]
	(2008)	'Preparation of Arabidopsis nuclei and nucleoli' McKeown P.C., Pendle A.F. Shaw P.J. (2008) 'Preparation of Arabidopsis nuclei and nucleoli' In: Methods in Molecular Biology. New York: Humana Inc, Springer. [Details]
	(2011)	'Structure of rDNA chromatin' Peter J. Shaw and Peter C. McKeown (2011) 'Structure of rDNA chromatin' In: The nucleolus. New York: Springer. [Details]
	(2012)	'Genomic imprinting: Parental control of gene expression in higher plants' Peter C. McKeown, Antoine Fort and Charles Spillane (2012) 'Genomic imprinting: Parental control of gene expression in higher plants' In: Plant Polyploidy and Hybrid Genomics. Unknown: 2012. [Details]

Published Reports

	Year	Publication
	(2011)	Assessment of biological barriers and R&D priorities for enhancement of microalgal strains for biorefinery applications. Kaur S., McKeown P.C. and Spillane C. (2011) Assessment of biological barriers and R&D priorities for enhancement of microalgal strains for biorefinery applications. Enterprise Ireland Competence Centre for Biorefinery and Bioenergy Report, Dublin. [Details]

Other Journals

	Year	Publication
	(2007)	'Preparation of Arabidopsis nuclei and nucleoli' McKeown P.C., Pendle A.F. Shaw P.J. (2007) 'Preparation of Arabidopsis nuclei and nucleoli' Plant Proteomics, . [Details]

Conference Contributions

	Year	Publication
	(2012)	International Conference on Polyploidy, Hybridisation, and Biodiversity, Peter C. McKeown, Dorota Duszynska, Thomas Juenger and Charles Spillane (2012) Reproductive effects in polyploid Arabidopsis. [Poster Presentation], International Conference on Polyploidy, Hybridisation, and Biodiversity, Prague , 07-MAY-12 - 10-MAY-12. [Details]
	(2012)	AgroBioversity Ireland Annual Conference 2012, Peter C. McKeown (2012) The AgBioDiv2012 Conference aims to network and showcase research projects and initiatives in Ireland for the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources for food and agriculture. [Conference Organising Committee Member], AgroBioversity Ireland Annual Conference 2012, NUI Galway , 09-FEB-12 - 09-FEB-12. [Details]
	(2011)	International Workshop on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Crop Wild Relatives, Peter C. McKeown (2011) An International Workshop on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Crop Wild Relatives. [Conference Organising Committee Member], International Workshop on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Crop Wild Relatives, NUI Galway , 11-OCT-11 - 11-OCT-11. [Details]
	(2011)	Irish Plant Scientists Annual Meeting, Peter C. McKeown, Sylvia Laouille-Duprat, Antoine Fort, Mark T.A. Donoghue, Pjotr Prins and Charles Spillane (2011) Identification of novel imprinted genes in Arabidopsis thaliana. [Oral Presentation], Irish Plant Scientists Annual Meeting, Queen's University Belfast , 02-MAY-11 - 03-MAY-11. [Details]
	(2009)	Irish National Development Biology meeting, Peter McKeown, Sylvia Laouille-Duprat, Pjotr Prins and Charles Spillane (2009) Imprinting in Arabidopsis. [Oral Presentation], Irish National Development Biology meeting, NUI Galway , 04-DEC-09 - 04-DEC-09. [Details]
	(2009)	Irish Plant Scientists Annual Meeting, Peter C. McKeown, Rachel Clifton, Dorota Duszynska and Charles Spillane (2009) Plant polyploid reproduction and phenotypes. [Chaired Session], Irish Plant Scientists Annual Meeting, Trinity College Dublin , 04-MAY-09 - 06-MAY-09. [Details]
	(2009)	International Conference on Polyploidy, Hybridisation, and Biodiversity, Peter C. McKeown, Rachel Clifton and Charles Spillane (2009) Presentation of work relating to polyploid phenotypes and gene expression in Arabidopsis. [Oral Presentation], International Conference on Polyploidy, Hybridisation, and Biodiversity, St. Malo , 04-MAY-09 - 06-MAY-10. [Details]
	(2008)	Agriculture and Biotechnology International Conference, Peter C. McKeown, Dorota Duszynska and Charles Spillane (2008) Apomixis and seed development for agriculture. [Poster Presentation], Agriculture and Biotechnology International Conference, University College Cork , 08-SEP-08 - 10-SEP-08. [Details]
	(2006)	International Chromatin Conference, Peter C. McKeown, Alison F. Pendle and Peter Shaw (2006) Chromatin components of the Arabidopsis nucleolus. [Poster Presentation], International Chromatin Conference, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic , 06-DEC-06 - 09-DEC-06. [Details]
	(2004)	DAGOLIGN Plant developmental project meeting, Peter C. McKeown & Jon Clarke (2004) Chromatin remodelling and plant phenotype in DRL1 over-expressor lines of Arabidopsis. [Oral Presentation], DAGOLIGN Plant developmental project meeting, Montpellier, France , 01-OCT-04 - 04-OCT-04. [Details]

Editorial

	Year	Publication
	(2014)	Plant Epigenetics and Epigenomics Methods and Protocols Preface. McKeown, PC,Spillane, C,McKeown, PC (2014) Plant Epigenetics and Epigenomics Methods and Protocols Preface. Editorial [Details]

Letter

	Year	Publication
	(2013)	Emerging molecular mechanisms for biotechnological harnessing of heterosis in crops. McKeown, PC,Fort, A,Duszynska, D,Sulpice, R,Spillane, C (2013) Emerging molecular mechanisms for biotechnological harnessing of heterosis in crops. Letter [DOI] [Details]

Reviews

	Year	Publication
	(2017)	TILLING by Sequencing (TbyS) for targeted genome mutagenesis in crops. Kumar, APK;McKeown, PC;Boualem, A;Ryder, P;Brychkova, G;Bendahmane, A;Sarkar, A;Chatterjee, M;Spillane, C (2017) TILLING by Sequencing (TbyS) for targeted genome mutagenesis in crops. DORDRECHT: SPRINGER Reviews [DOI] [Details]
	(2015)	Moving Toward a Comprehensive Map of Central Plant Metabolism. Sulpice, R,McKeown, PC,Merchant, SS (2015) Moving Toward a Comprehensive Map of Central Plant Metabolism. Reviews [DOI] [Details]