Written by Ivan Dulgerov

Dr. Emil Vatov

Position: Molecular Biologist

Department: Crop Quantitative Genetics, CPSBB

Professional experience

During his PhD Emil studied the interplay between nutrition senescence and DNA methylation in Arabidopsis thaliana. His work focused on physiological analyses including hormonal homeostasis, primary metabolites and reactive oxygen species. His experience in statistics and programming helped him produce and analyze whole genome bisulfate sequencing data linking flowering and senescence. Earlier during his master and bachelor studies he participated in controlled experiments with barley, wheat, maize, cauliflower and Miscanthus, together with professional experience in vegetable production, specializing on tomato cultivation.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Vatov E., Gechev T. (2025)
Delay in flowering time in Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 under water deficit and in the ddc triple methylation knockout mutant Is correlated with shared overexpression of BBX16 and BBX17. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 26(17): 8360. (IF 5.6)
Vatov E., Gechev T. (2025)
Recent evidence for transgenerational adaptation resulting from stress induced changes in the cytosine methylation landscape of plants. Plant Stress. DOI: 10.1016/j.stress.2025.100812. (IF 6.8)
Stavrakeva K., Metodieva K., Benina M., Bivolarska A., Dimov I., Choneva M., Kokova V., Alseekh S., Ivanova V., Vatov E., Gechev T., Mladenova T., Mladenov R., Todorov K., Stoyanov P., Gyuzeleva D., Popova M., Apostolova E. (2024) Metabolic composition of methanolic extract of the Balkan endemic species Micromeria frivaldszkyana (Degen) Velen and Its Anti-Inflammatory Effect on Male Wistar Rats. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 25(10): 5396. (IF 5.6)

Gyuzeleva D., Benina M., Ivanova V., Vatov E., Alseekh S., Mladenova T., Mladenov R., Todorov K., Bivolarska A., Stoyanov P. (2023) Metabolome profiling of Marrubium peregrinum L. and Marrubium friwaldskyanum boiss reveals their potential as sources of plant-based pharmaceuticals. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. (24)23: 17035. (IF 6.208)

Vatov, E., Zentgraf, U., & Ludewig, U. (2022). Moderate DNA methylation changes associated with nitrogen remobilization and leaf senescence in Arabidopsis. Journal of Experimental Botany, 73(14), 4733-4752.

Vatov, E., Ludewig, U., & Zentgraf, U. (2021). Disparate dynamics of gene body and cis-regulatory element evolution illustrated for the senescence-associated cysteine protease gene SAG12 of plants. Plants, 10(7), 1380.

Ludewig, U., Vatov, E., Hedderich, D., & Neuhäuser, B. (2021). Adjusting plant nutrient acquisition to fluctuating availability: transcriptional co-regulation of the nitrate and phosphate deprivation responses in roots. Journal of Experimental Botany, 72(10), 3500-3503.