Carolyn Napoli

{{Short description|Botanist and bioinformatician}} {{use mdy dates|date=August 2025}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name =  | honorific_suffix = | image =  | image_size = | image_upright = | landscape =  | alt = | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date =  | birth_place = | other_names = | fields = Plant biology | workplaces = University of Arizona | patrons = | education = | alma_mater = | thesis_title =  | thesis_url =  | thesis_year =  | doctoral_advisor =  | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = co-discovery of the mechanism of co-suppression | awards = | author_abbrev_bot = | website =  | footnotes = }} '''Carolyn Napoli''' was a plant biologist who co-discovered the mechanism of co-suppression,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Napoli |first1=C. |last2=Lemieux |first2=C. |last3=Jorgensen |first3=R. |date=1990-04-01 |title=Introduction of a Chimeric Chalcone Synthase Gene into Petunia Results in Reversible Co-Suppression of Homologous Genes in trans. |url=https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.2.4.279 |journal=The Plant Cell |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=279–289 |doi=10.1105/tpc.2.4.279 |pmid=12354959 |pmc=159885 |issn=1040-4651}}</ref> gene silencing which, like transposon silencing, was first discovered in plants. The significance of the discovery of co-suppression was described by NOVA scienceNOW in 2005.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 26, 2005 |title=RNAi: A wayward petunia leads to the discovery of modest little molecules with enormous medical promise |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/body/rnai-discovered.html |accessdate=November 12, 2024 |work=NOVA scienceNOW |publisher=PBS}}</ref>

==Research and career==

At the University of Florida, in the Soil Sciences Department laboratory of David H. Hubbell, Napoli demonstrated for the first time using electron microscopy, the development of infection by the soil bacterium, ''Rhizobium trifolii'', in ''Trifolium'' (clover) root hairs.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Napoli |first1=C A |last2=Hubbell |first2=D H |date=1975 |title=Ultrastructure of Rhizobium-induced infection threads in clover root hairs |journal=Applied Microbiology |language=en |volume=30 |issue=6 |pages=1003–1009 |doi=10.1128/am.30.6.1003-1009.1975 |issn=0003-6919 |pmc=376582 |pmid=1211931}}</ref>

Napoli continued her ''Rhizobium'' research in the laboratory of Peter Albersheim<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Carlson |first1=Russell W. |last2=Sanders |first2=Richard E. |last3=Napoli |first3=Carolyn |last4=Albersheim |first4=Peter |date=1978 |title=Host-Symbiont Interactions: III. Purification and Partial Characterization of Rhizobium Lipopolysaccharides |journal=Plant Physiology |volume=62 |issue=6 |pages=912–917 |doi=10.1104/pp.62.6.912 |jstor=4265561 |pmid=16660637 |issn=0032-0889|pmc=1092253 }}</ref> at the University of Colorado Boulder and later the lab of Larry Gold<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Napoli |first1=Carolyn |last2=Gold |first2=Larry |last3=Singer |first3=Britta Swebilius |date=5 July 1981 |title=Translational reinitiation in the rIIB cistron of bacteriophage T4 |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0022283681904800 |journal=Journal of Molecular Biology |language=en |volume=149 |issue=3 |pages=433–449 |doi=10.1016/0022-2836(81)90480-0|pmid=7310886 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. before leaving for the laboratory of Brian Staskawicz at University of California, Berkeley to work on plant avirulence genes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Napoli |first1=C |last2=Staskawicz |first2=B |date=1 February 1987 |title=Molecular characterization and nucleic acid sequence of an avirulence gene from race 6 of Pseudomonas syringae pv. glycinea |journal=Journal of Bacteriology |language=en |volume=169 |issue=2 |pages=572–578 |doi=10.1128/jb.169.2.572-578.1987 |issn=0021-9193 |pmc=211816 |pmid=3027035}}</ref>

Transitioning from academia to industry, Napoli joined collaborator Richard A. Jorgensen at the Oakland-based agricultural biotechnology company Advanced Genetic Sciences, Inc. (AGS) which was acquired later by DNA Plant Technology Corporation. At AGS, Napoli and Jorgensen sought to increase flower pigmentation by overexpressing the gene encoding the Chalcone Synthase (CHS) by using a vector for high-level translation designed by their AGS colleague Jonathan Jones. The antisense CHS construct they deployed in ''Petunia'' plants created novel flower color distribution. One of these patterns, dubbed "Cossack Dancer,"<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Scheid |first=Ortrun Mittelsten |date=12 June 2019 |title=Illuminating (White and) Purple Patches |journal=The Plant Cell |language=en |volume=31 |issue=6 |pages=1208–1209 |doi=10.1105/tpc.19.00308 |issn=1040-4651 |pmc=6588294 |pmid=31036597|bibcode=2019PlanC..31.1208S }}</ref> was featured in The Plant Cell 30-year retrospective, "Refections on Plant Cell Classics,".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://plantae.org/reflections-on-plant-cell-classics/ | title=Reflections on Plant Cell Classics | date=15 May 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Scheid |first=Ortrun Mittelsten |date=June 2019 |title=Illuminating (White and) Purple Patches |journal=The Plant Cell |language=en |volume=31 |issue=6 |pages=1208–1209 |doi=10.1105/tpc.19.00308 |issn=1040-4651 |pmc=6588294 |pmid=31036597|bibcode=2019PlanC..31.1208S }}</ref> These observations documented by Napoli and Jorgensen are examples of "co-suppression,"<ref name=":0" /> – a post transcriptional gene silencing mechanism predating the discovery of RNA interference (RNAi).

From DNAP, Napoli accepted a faculty position in the Department of Environmental Horticulture at the University of California, Davis (UCD) where she deployed a strategy of ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) to produce mutations in both ''Petunia'' and ''Arabidopsis'' seeds. By screening over 1,200 mutants she identified a bushy phenotype that she termed "decreased apical dominance" or "dad" mutants and subsequently published her analysis of the reversal of this phenomenon by grafting in the journal Plant Physiology.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Napoli |first=Carolyn |date=1996 |title=Highly Branched Phenotype of the Petunia dadl-7 Mutant 1s Reversed by Grafting |url=https://academic.oup.com/plphys/article/111/1/27/6070221 |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=academic.oup.com}}</ref> In collaboration with Loverine Taylor, Napoli identified a phenotype that was used as a selectable marker for plant breeding research.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Napoli |first1=Carolyn A. |last2=Fahy |first2=Deirdre |last3=Wang |first3=Huai-Yu |last4=Taylor |first4=Loverine P. |date=1999-06-01 |title=white anther : A Petunia Mutant That Abolishes Pollen Flavonol Accumulation, Induces Male Sterility, and Is Complemented by a Chalcone Synthase Transgene1 |journal=Plant Physiology |language=en |volume=120 |issue=2 |pages=615–622 |doi=10.1104/pp.120.2.615 |issn=1532-2548 |pmc=59301 |pmid=10364414}}</ref>

Following UCD, Napoli joined the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Arizona (UA) where she focused on designing and distributing resources to the ''Arabidopsis'' and maize research communities under the auspices of an National Science Foundation Plant Genome Research Program<ref>{{cite web | url=https://new.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/plant-genome-research-program-pgrp | title=Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP) | NSF - National Science Foundation | date=16 February 2024 }}</ref> grant led by Jorgensen and Vicki Chandler. At UA, Napoli launched the NSF-funded ChromDB (Chromatin Database),<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gendler |first1=Karla |last2=Paulsen |first2=Tara |last3=Napoli |first3=Carolyn |date=2008-01-01 |title=ChromDB: The Chromatin Database |journal=Nucleic Acids Research |language=en |volume=36 |issue=suppl_1 |pages=D298–D302 |doi=10.1093/nar/gkm768 |pmid=17942414 |pmc=2238968 |issn=0305-1048}}</ref> a platform for displaying chromatin-associated proteins, including RNAi-associated proteins, for a range of organisms.

==Awards and honors==

In 2023, Napoli was recognized as a Pioneer Member of the American Society of Plant Biologists.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pioneer Carolyn Napoli |url=https://aspb.org/membership/aspb-pioneer-members/pioneer-carolyn-napoli/ |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=American Society of Plant Biologists |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Carolyn Napoli Testimonials |url=https://aspb.org/membership/aspb-pioneer-members/pioneer-testimonials/carolyn-napoli-testimonials/ |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=American Society of Plant Biologists |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Death == [https://amigosanimalesgto.org/three-valuable-friends/ Napoli died] August 19, 2025, in Bonny Doon, California.

== References == {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Napoli, Carolyn}} Category:21st-century American botanists Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:University of Arizona faculty Category:University of California, Davis faculty Category:American women botanists