Research interests
Timo is working as a principal research scientist at the Genetics, Genomics & Breeding department at East Malling and as an associate professor at the Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Helsinki. His research focuses on the molecular control of reproductive development and environmental adaptation in strawberries using woodland strawberry as a model. His group applies population, quantitative and functional genomic methods to identify key genes and generates transgenic lines to validate gene functions.
Research projects
Title: Temperature as a driver of climate adaptation
Duration: Sep 2018-August 2022
Partners: University of Helsinki
Funding: Academy of Finland
Title: Genetic mapping of key genes controlling reproductive development in strawberry
Duration: Jan 2019-Dec 2020;
Partners: University of Helsinki, NIAB EMR
Funding: Rikala Horticulture Foundation, Finland
Recent publications
Koskela E.A. and Hytönen T. Control of flowering in strawberries (2018) In: Hytönen T., Graham J. and Harrison R. (eds), The genomes of rosaceous berries and their wild relatives, p. 35-48. Springer, Cham.
Hytönen T., Pinho P., Rantanen M., Kariluoto S., Lampi A., Edelmann M., Joensuu K., Kauste K., Mouhu K., Piironen V., Halonen L. and Elomaa P. Effects of LED lighting spectra on lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. ‘Frillice’) growth and nutritional composition (2018) Lighting Research & Technology 50: 880-893.
Koskela E.A., Kurokura T., Toivainen T., Sønsteby A., Heide O.M., Sargent D.J., Isobe S., Jaakola L., Hilmarsson H., Elomaa P. and Hytönen T. Altered regulation of TERMINAL FLOWER 1 causes the unique vernalisation response in an arctic woodland strawberry accession (2017) New Phytologist 216: 841-853.
Kurokura T., Samad S., Mouhu K., Koskela E. and Hytönen T. Fragaria vesca CONSTANS controls photoperiodic flowering and vegetative development (2017) Journal of Experimental Botany 68: 4839-4850.
Samad S., Kurokura T., Toivainen T., Patel V., Sargent D.J. and Hytönen T. Additional QTLs on three chromosomes control flowering time in strawberry (2017) Horticulture Research 4: 17020.
Full publication list on Google Scholar, ORCiD and ResearchGate
Also available by email on timo.hytonen [at] helsinki.fi