
Professor Hilary Rogers
Professor
- rogershj@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 6352
- Fax:
- +44 (0)29 2087 6352 / 5880
- Sir Martin Evans Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AX
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Overview
Research overview
My research focuses on gene expression changes elicited by stress in plants and fungi. In particular I am interested in interactions between stress and senescence/ cell death. This work has focussed on three areas:
- Plant organ senescence and responses to stress. This includes work on petal senescence in ornamental species, interactions between stress and senescence responses in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, and the effects of pre and post-harvest stress in models and crop species
- Changes in the physiology and biochemistry, and especially in volatile organic compound profiles, of fresh fruit and vegetables during post-harvest storage
- Stress induced during mycelial interactions between competing fungi. This has focussed on wood rotting fungi, following gene expression and enzyme production as competing mycelia interact
I also collaborate on other projects to understand microbial/plant interactions relating to fungal and bacterial endophytes, and in the use of molecular markers to assist in plant and fungal taxonomy/ ecology.
I am part of a number of collaborative groups and further information on our projects may be available on the web-sites of my collaborators.
Roles
- Vice-Chair, Cardiff University Genetically Modified Organisms and Biological Agents Committee /School Biological Safety Officer
- Chair, Safety, Health & Environmental Protection Committee
- Module Lead: BI2132 Genetics and its Applications
- Academic Team Leader
Interested in joining my lab as a self-funded post-graduate student or a postdoc/fellow? Please contact me by email.
Biography
I did my BSc in Biochemistry at University College London and then a PhD at Imperial College London and the Forestry Commission on bio-control of Dutch Elm disease (1987). My postdoctoral work at the Plant Breeding Institute in Cambridge and then at Royal Holloway, University of London focussed on understanding the genes controlling pollen development. I then spent two years as Higher Scientific Officer at the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (now LGC) working on the development of analytical methods for monitoring transgenic crops, foods and in support of food authenticity. In 1995 I joined Cardiff University and set up my own research group working primarily on plant stress and senescence.
Publications
2020
- Muto, A.et al. 2020. Fruit volatilome profiling through GC × GC-ToF-MS and gene expression analyses reveal differences amongst peach cultivars in their response to cold storage. Scientific Reports 10, article number: 18333. (10.1038/s41598-020-75322-z)
- Al-Harbi, B.et al. 2020. Mutation of Arabidopsis copper-containing amine oxidase gene AtCuAOδ alters polyamines, reduces gibberellin content and affects development. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 21(20), article number: 7789. (10.3390/ijms21207789)
- Basile, B.et al. 2020. Ushering horticulture into a new era of research-based novelty. Italus Hortus 27(1)
- Zhao, Q.et al. 2020. MSH2 and MSH6 in mismatch repair system account for soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) tolerance to cadmium Toxicity by determining DNA damage response. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 68(7), pp. 1974-1985. (10.1021/acs.jafc.9b06599)
- Aros, D.et al. 2020. Floral scent evaluation of three cut flowers through sensorial and gas chromatography analysis. Agronomy 10(1), article number: 131. (10.3390/agronomy10010131)
2019
- Spadafora, N. D.et al. 2019. Short-term post-harvest stress that affects profiles of volatile organic compounds and gene expression in rocket salad during early post-harvest senescence. Plants 9(1), article number: 4. (10.3390/plants9010004)
- Casey, M.et al. 2019. Flower senescence in composite flowers, can understanding how dahlia florets senesce help to increase dahlia vase life?. Acta Horticulturae 1263, pp. 383-390., article number: 50. (10.17660/ActaHortic.2019.1263.50)
- O'Leary, J.et al. 2019. The whiff of decay: Linking volatile production and extracellular enzymes to outcomes of fungal interactions at different temperatures. Fungal Ecology 39, pp. 336-348. (10.1016/j.funeco.2019.03.006)
- El-Mogy, M. M.et al. 2019. Impact of salicylic acid, abscisic acid, and methyl jamonate on postharvest quality and bioactive compounds of cultivated strawberry fruit. Journal of Berry Research 9(2), pp. 333-348. (10.3233/JBR-180349)
- Siciliano, I.et al. 2019. Expression of Arabidopsis WEE1 in tobacco induces unexpected morphological and developmental changes. Scientific Reports 9, article number: 8695. (10.1038/s41598-019-45015-3)
- Elmaghrabi, A. M.et al. 2019. Nuclear migration: an indicator of plant salinity tolerance in vitro. Frontiers in Plant Science 10, article number: 783. (10.3389/fpls.2019.00783)
- Spadafora, N. D.et al. 2019. A complex interaction between pre-harvest and post-harvest factors determines fresh-cut melon quality and aroma. Scientific Reports 9, article number: 2745. (10.1038/s41598-019-39196-0)
- El-Mogy, M. M.et al. 2019. Postharvest exogenous melatonin treatment of strawberry reduces postharvest spoilage but affects components of the aroma profile. Journal of Berry Research 9(2), pp. 297-307. (10.3233/JBR-180361)
- Lear, B.et al. 2019. De novo transcriptome analysis of peduncle necking in cut Rosa hybrida cultivar 'H30'. Acta Horticulturae 1263, pp. 351-358.
2018
- González-Pérez, L.et al. 2018. Application of exogenous xyloglucan oligosaccharides affects molecular responses to salt stress in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings. Journal of soil science and plant nutrition 18(4), pp. 1187-1205. (10.4067/S0718-95162018005003301)
- Adeel, M.et al. 2018. Uptake and transformation of steroid estrogens as emerging contaminants influence plant development. Environmental Pollution 243(PartB), pp. 1487-1497. (10.1016/j.envpol.2018.09.016)
- Elmaghrabi, A. M.et al. 2018. Towards unravelling the genetic determination of the acquisition of salt and osmotic stress tolerance through in vitro selection in M. truncatula. In: Functional genomics in Medicago truncatula. New York, USA: Humana Press/Springer, pp. 291-314., (10.1007/978-1-4939-8633-0_19)
- Cao, X.et al. 2018. Roles of MSH2 and MSH6 in cadmium-induced G2/M checkpoint arrest in Arabidopsis roots. Chemosphere 201, pp. 586-594. (10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.03.017)
- Cocetta, G.et al. 2018. Effect of temperature and cut size on the volatile organic compound profile, and expression of Chorismate synthase in fresh-cut melon. Acta Horticulturae(1194), pp. 1175-1180. (10.17660/ActaHortic.2018.1194.167)
- Spadafora, N. D.et al. 2018. Using volatile organic compounds to monitor shelf-life in rocket salad. Acta Horticulturae(1194), pp. 1299-1305. (10.17660/ActaHortic.2018.1194.183)
- Amaro, A. L.et al. 2018. Multitrait analysis of fresh-cut cantaloupe melon enables discrimination between storage times and temperatures and identifies potential markers for quality assessments. Food Chemistry 241, pp. 222-231. (10.1016/j.foodchem.2017.08.050)
- Paramithiotis, S.et al. 2018. Sniffing out contaminants. Food Science and Technology
2017
- Cui, W.et al. 2017. Cell cycle arrest mediated by Cd-induced DNA damage in Arabidopsis root tips. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 145, pp. 569-574. (10.1016/j.ecoenv.2017.07.074)
- Elmaghrabi, A. M.et al. 2017. PEG induces high expression of the cell cycle checkpoint gene WEE1 in embryogenic callus of Medicago truncatula: potential link between cell cycle checkpoint regulation and osmotic stress. Frontiers in Plant Science 8, article number: 1479. (10.3389/fpls.2017.01479)
- Hamdani, F., Derridj, A. and Rogers, H. 2017. Diverse salinity responses in Crithmum maritimum tissues at different salinities over time. Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition 17(3), pp. 716-734.
- Hamdani, F., Rogers, H. and Arezki, D. 2017. Multiple mechanisms mediate growth and survival in young seedlings of two populations of the halophyte Atriplex halimus (L) subjected to long single step salinity treatments. Functional Plant Biology 44(8), pp. 761-773. (10.1071/FP17026)
- Cavaiuolo, M.et al. 2017. Gene expression analysis of rocket salad under pre-harvest and postharvest stresses: a transcriptomic resource for Diplotaxis tenuifolia. PLoS ONE 12(5), article number: e0178119. (10.1371/journal.pone.0178119)
2016
- Rogers, H. J. and Munne-Bosch, S. 2016. Production and scavenging of reactive oxygen species and redox signaling during leaf and flower senescence: similar but different. Plant Physiology 171(3), pp. 1560-1568. (10.1104/pp.16.00163)
- Hiscox, J.et al. 2016. Location, location, location: priority effects in wood decay communities may vary between sites. Environmental Microbiology 18(6), pp. 1954-1969. (10.1111/1462-2920.13141)
- Spadafora, N. D.et al. 2016. Multi-trait analysis of post-harvest storage in rocket salad (Diplotaxis tenuifolia) links sensorial, volatile and nutritional data. Food Chemistry, pp. 114-123. (10.1016/j.foodchem.2016.04.107)
- Wang, H.et al. 2016. Cadmium-induced genomic instability in Arabidopsis: molecular toxicological biomarkers for early diagnosis of cadmium stress. Chemosphere 150, pp. 258-265. (10.1016/j.chemosphere.2016.02.042)
- Salleh, F. M.et al. 2016. Interaction of plant growth regulators and reactive oxygen species to regulate petal senescence in wallflowers (Erysimum linifolium). BMC Plant Biology 16, article number: 77. (10.1186/s12870-016-0766-8)
- Spadafora, N. D.et al. 2016. Detection of Listeria monocytogenes in cut melon fruit using analysis of volatile organic compounds. Food Microbiology 54, pp. 52-59. (10.1016/j.fm.2015.10.017)
- Bell, L.et al. 2016. Use of TD-GC–TOF-MS to assess volatile composition during post-harvest storage in seven accessions of rocket salad (Eruca sativa). Food Chemistry 194, pp. 626-636. (10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.08.043)
- Amodio, M.et al. 2016. A QUAFETY approach to quality monitoring and prediction for fresh-cut produce. Acta Horticulturae 2016(1141), article number: 1. (10.17660/ActaHortic.2016.1141.1)
2015
- Aros, D.et al. 2015. Floral scent evaluation of segregating lines of Alstroemeria caryophyllaea. Scientia Horticulturae 185, pp. 183-192. (10.1016/j.scienta.2015.01.014)
- Hiscox, J.et al. 2015. Priority effects during fungal community establishment in beech wood. ISME Journal 9, pp. 2246-2260. (10.1038/ismej.2015.38)
- Baldassarre, V.et al. 2015. Wounding tomato fruit elicits ripening-stage specific changes in gene expression and production of volatile compounds. Journal of Experimental Botany 66(5), pp. 1511-1526. (10.1093/jxb/eru516)
- Lombardi, L.et al. 2015. Auxin involvement in tepal senescence and abscission in Lilium: a tale of two lilies. Journal of Experimental Botany 66(3), pp. 945-956. (10.1093/jxb/eru451)
- Rogers, H. J. 2015. Senescence-associated programmed cell death. In: Gunawardena, A. N. and McCabe, P. F. eds. Plant Programmed Cell Death. Springer, pp. 203-233., (10.1007/978-3-319-21033-9_9)
- Spadafora, N. D.et al. 2015. Physiological, metabolite and volatile analysis of cut size in melon during postharvest storage. Acta Horticulturae 1071, pp. 787-793. (10.17660/ActaHortic.2015.1071.104)
2014
- Scariot, V.et al. 2014. Ethylene control in cut flowers: classical and innovative approaches. Postharvest Biology and Technology 97, pp. 83-92. (10.1016/j.postharvbio.2014.06.010)
- González-Pérez, L.et al. 2014. In tobacco BY-2 cells xyloglucan oligosaccharides alter the expression of genes involved in cell wall metabolism, signalling, stress responses, cell division and transcriptional control. Molecular Biology Reports 41(10), pp. 6803-6816. (10.1007/s11033-014-3566-y)
- Muller, C. T.et al. 2014. Scents and scentsivity - what scents (may) spell out and ways to read it. Flavour 3(Supp 1), pp. 11-11. (10.1186/2044-7248-3-S1-P11)
- Vidal Quist, J.et al. 2014. Arabidopsis thaliana and Pisum sativum models demonstrate that root colonization is an intrinsic trait of Burkholderia cepacia complex bacteria. Microbiology 160(2), pp. 373-384. (10.1099/mic.0.074351-0)
- Battelli, R.et al. 2014. Expression and localisation of a senescence-associated KDEL-cysteine protease from Lilium longiflorum tepals. Plant Science 214, pp. 38-46. (10.1016/j.plantsci.2013.09.011)
2013
- Vidal Quist, J.et al. 2013. 'Bacillus thuringiensis' colonises plant roots in a phylogeny-dependent manner. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 86(3), pp. 474-489. (10.1111/1574-6941.12175)
- Elmaghrabi, A.et al. 2013. Enhanced tolerance to salinity following cellular acclimation to increasing NaCl levels in Medicago truncatula. Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC) 114(1), pp. 61-70. (10.1007/s11240-013-0306-2)
- Cook, G. S.et al. 2013. Plant WEE1 kinase is cell cycle regulated and removed at mitosis via the 26S proteasome machinery. Journal of Experimental Botany 64(7), pp. 2093-2106. (10.1093/jxb/ert066)
- Rogers, H. J. 2013. From models to ornamentals: how is flower senescence regulated?. Plant Molecular Biology 82(6), pp. 563-574. (10.1007/s11103-012-9968-0)
2012
- GonzálezPérez, L.et al. 2012. Oligosaccharins and Pectimorf® stimulate root elongation and shorten the cell cycle in higher plants. Plant Growth Regulation 68(2), pp. 211-221. (10.1007/s10725-012-9709-z)
- Spadafora, N. D.et al. 2012. Gene dosage effect of WEE1 on growth and morphogenesis from arabidopsis hypocotyl explants. Annals of Botany 110(8), pp. 1631-1639. (10.1093/aob/mcs223)
- Rogers, H. J. 2012. Is there an important role for reactive oxygen species and redox regulation during floral senescence?. Plant, Cell & Environment 35(2), pp. 217-233. (10.1111/j.1365-3040.2011.02373.x)
- Mohd Salleh, F.et al. 2012. A novel function for a redox-related LEA protein (SAG21/AtLEA5) in root development and biotic stress responses. Plant, Cell & Environment 35(2), pp. 418-429. (10.1111/j.1365-3040.2011.02394.x)
- Spadafora, N. D.et al. 2012. Perturbation of cytokinin and ethylene-signalling pathways explain the strong rooting phenotype exhibited by Arabidopsis expressing the Schizosaccharomyces pombe mitotic inducer, cdc25. BMC Plant Biology 12(1), article number: 45. (10.1186/1471-2229-12-45)
- Aros Orellana, D. F.et al. 2012. Volatile emissions of scented Alstroemeria genotypes are dominated by terpenes, and a myrcene synthase gene is highly expressed in scented Alstroemeria flowers. Journal of Experimental Botany 63(7), pp. 2739-2752. (10.1093/jxb/err456)
2011
- Battelli, R.et al. 2011. Changes in ultrastructure, protease and caspase-like activities during flower senescence in Lilium longiflorum. Plant Science 180(5), pp. 716-752. (10.1016/j.plantsci.2011.01.024)
- Aros, D. F., Rogers, H. J. and Rosati, C. 2011. Floral scent evaluation in alstroemeria through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and semiquantitative RT-PCR. Acta Horticulturae 886, pp. 19-26.
2010
- Parfitt, D.et al. 2010. Do all trees carry the seeds of their own destruction? PCR reveals numerous wood decay fungi latently present in sapwood of a wide range of angiosperm trees. Fungal Ecology 3(4), pp. 338-346. (10.1016/j.funeco.2010.02.001)
- Hiscox, J.et al. 2010. Monokaryons and dikaryons of Trametes versicolor have similar combative, enzyme and decay ability. Fungal Ecology 3(4), pp. 347-356. (10.1016/j.funeco.2010.02.003)
- Rogers, H. J. 2010. New light shed on life and death: the role of staygreen in the hypersensitive response. New Phytologist 188(1), pp. 4-6. (10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03434.x)
- Eyre, C. A.et al. 2010. Microarray analysis of differential gene expression elicited in Trametes versicolor during interspecific mycelial interactions. Fungal Biology 114(8), pp. 646-660. (10.1016/j.funbio.2010.05.006)
- Hiscox, J.et al. 2010. Changes in oxidative enzyme activity during interspecific mycelial interactions involving the white-rot fungus Trametes versicolor. Fungal Genetics and Biology 47(6), pp. 562-571. (10.1016/j.fgb.2010.03.007)
- Ainsworth, A. M.et al. 2010. Cryptic taxa within European species of Hydnellum and Phellodon revealed by combined molecular and morphological analysis. Fungal Ecology 3(2), pp. 65-80. (10.1016/j.funeco.2009.07.001)
- Wagstaff, C.et al. 2010. A specific group of genes respond to cold dehydration stress in cut Alstroemeria flowers whereas ambient dehydration stress accelerates developmental senescence expression patterns. Journal of Experimental Botany 61(11), pp. 2905-2921. (10.1093/jxb/erq113)
- Chiappetta, A.et al. 2010. Differential spatial expression of A- and B-type CDKs, and distribution of auxins and cytokinins in the open transverse root apical meristem of Cucurbita maxima. Annals of Botany 107(7), pp. 1223-1234. (10.1093/aob/mcq127)
- Spadafora, N. D.et al. 2010. Arabidopsis T-DNA insertional lines for CDC25 are hypersensitive to hydroxyurea but not to zeocin or salt stress. Annals of Botany 107(7), pp. 1183-1192. (10.1093/aob/mcq142)
2009
- Grønlund, A. L.et al. 2009. Plant WEE1 Kinase Interacts with a 14-3-3 Protein, GF14ω but a Mutation of WEE1 at S485 Alters Their Spatial Interaction. The Open Plant Science Journal 3, pp. 40-48. (10.2174/1874294700903010040)
2008
- Price, A. M.et al. 2008. A comparison of leaf and petal senescence in wallflower reveals common and distinct patterns of gene expression and physiology. Plant Physiology 147(4), pp. 1898-1912. (10.1104/pp.108.120402)
- Liu, W.et al. 2008. Cadmium stress alters gene expression of DNA mismatch repair related genes in Arabidopsis seedlings. Chemosphere 73(7), pp. 1138-1144. (10.1016/j.chemosphere.2008.07.020)
- Rogers, H. J. 2008. Life and death decisions of plant cells!. Journal of Experimental Botany 59(3), pp. iv. (10.1093/jxb/ern011)
- Rogers, H. J. 2008. Meccanismi e segnali della morte cellulare programmata nelle piante (Mechanisms and signals of programmed cell death in plants). Italus Hortus (Journal of the Societa di Ortoflorofrutticoltura Italiana) 15, pp. 1-9.
- Evans, J. A.et al. 2008. Changes in volatile production during interspecific interactions between four wood rotting fungi growing in artificial media. Fungal Ecology 1(2-3), pp. 57-68. (10.1016/j.funeco.2008.06.001)
2005
- Parfitt, D.et al. 2005. New PCR assay detects rare tooth fungi in wood where traditional approaches fail. Mycological Research 109(11), pp. 1187-1194. (10.1017/S095375620500359X)
2001
- Pryor, K. V.et al. 2001. Diversity, genetic structure and evidence of outcrossing in British populations of the rock fern Adiantum capillus-venerisusing microsatellites. Molecular Ecology 10(8), pp. 1881-1894. (10.1046/j.1365-294X.2001.01343.x)
Plant Organ senescence
A) SAG21/AtLEA5 a gene at the interface between stress responses and senescence
SAG21 belongs to the late embryogenesis-associated (LEA) protein family. Although it has been implicated in growth and redox responses, its precise roles remain obscure. To address this problem, in collaboration with Prof Christine Foyer (Leeds) and Dr Frederica Theodoulou (Rothamsted) we characterised root and shoot development and response to biotic stress in SAG21 over-expressor (OEX) and antisense (AS) lines. AS lines exhibited earlier flowering and senescence and reduced shoot biomass (Fig 1) (Mohd Salleh et al, 2012)
Expression of SAG21 is induced by numerous abiotic stresses (Fig 2) and in collaboration with Dr Luis Mur (Aberystwyth) we also investigated whether perturbation of SAG21 affected growth of pathogens. We found that growth of the fungal nectroph, Botrytis cinerea and of a virulent bacterial pathogen (Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato) was affected by SAG21 expression, however growth of an avirulent P.syringae strain was unaffected (Fig 3). In collaboration with Dr John Runions (Oxford Brookes) we showed that a SAG21 -YFP fusion was localised to mitochondria, raising the intriguing possibility that SAG21 interacts with proteins involved in mitochondrial ROS signalling which in turn, impacts on root development and pathogen responses.
B) Floral Senescence
Floral senescence in many species is largely controlled by the plant growth regulator ethylene. However, the senescence of many economically important species is not ethylene sensitive and therefore the techniques presently available are ineffectual at prolonging their storage or vase life. How floral senescence in these species is regulated remains an interesting biological question. In collaboration with Dr A Stead (Royal Holloway), Dr B Thomas, and Dr V Buchanan-Wollaston (University of Warwick HRI), we investigated the biochemical and molecular events occurring during floral senescence in an important UK cut flower crop Alstroemeria (Wagstaff et al. 2002a,b; 2003; Leverentz et al., 2003). This species shows ethylene independent floral senescence (Wagstaff et al, 2005) with flowers lasting up to 15 days under optimal conditions. Using microarrays we have shown that large numbers of transcripts are up-and down-regulated during senescence (Breeze et al. 2004).
We were also interested in discovering what the overlap in gene expression is between developmental senescence, and premature senescence induced by environmental stress such as ambient dehydration and cold storage. This has implications both for understanding the regulation of senescence regulatory networks and has practical implications in the cut flower industry where flowers are often stored in suboptimal conditions during the transport chain. Microarray analysis revealed that there was significant sharing of gene expression between developmental senescence and an ambient dry stress treatment, whereas cold induced a distinct profile of transcripts (Wagstaff et al., 2010) (Figs 4 & 5).
One of the transcripts whose expression changed during cold treatments is a terpene synthase-like gene and in collaboration with Dr Carsten Muller (BIOSI) and the group of Prof Ruedi Allemann (CHEMY) we have recently shown that it is a myrcene synthase linked to scent production in scented lines of Alstroemeria (Aros et al. 2012) (Fig 6)
Petals and leaves are considered to be of common evolutionary origins, and both senesce as their final stage in development. We therefore asked to what extent gene expression changes during senescence were shared between these two organs. We chose to use wallflowers (Erysimum linifolium) as our model, a member of the Brassicaceae in which flowers follow a clear developmental pattern lasting 8 days from bud to petal abscission (Fig. 7). Using microarrays we have shown that over half of the transcripts in an EST collection changed in expression in the same way in the two organs whereas expression of a class of chitinase related genes and GSTs was specific to petal senescence (Price et al., 2008) (Fig. 7). The role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in petal senescence is far from clear (Rogers, 2012) and we are currently studying genes related to ROS and stress during petal senescence in both wallflowers ethylene-insensitive species.
C) Post-harvest senescence
As part of an FP7-EU project including 14 partners from 7 member countries we are investigating new tools to improve safety and quality in ready to eat (RTE) salads and fruit salads (http://www.quafety.eu/). RTE salads are taking an increasing market share of fresh fruit and vegetable sales especially in Northern Europe. However they have a very short shelf life and, if handled inappropriately, can become contaminated with pathogenic organisms posing a serious health risk to consumers. Our project aims to improve quality and safety by providing new tools to evaluate quality and improve safety. In Cardiff I collaborate with Dr Carsten Muller on this project and we are using state of the art thermal desorption gas chromatography mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS ToF) to detect volatile organic compounds that can be applied as markers for quality and safety of fresh cut produce. We are focusing on a leaf model: rocket salad (Diplotaxis tenuifolia and Eruca sativa) and a fruit model: cantaloupe melons. Our TD-GC-MS ToF work is in collaboration with Markes International. We have shown that VOC profiles of melon pieces are affected by the degree of processing (Fig 8)
Effects of stress on cell division
Plants are subject to numerous stresses including DNA damaging agents such as uv, soil pollutants and saline environments. Many of these agents cause an arrest in cell division until favourable conditions allow growth to resume. In collaboration with Dr Dennis Francis, Prof M Beatrice Bitonti and Dr RJ Herbert (University of Worcester) we have been studying genes that regulate these responses. DNA damage induces a cell cycle checkpoint arresting cells at G2/M One of the key regulators of this process in plants is WEE1 kinase which inactivates the the cyclin dependent kinase (CDK) by phosphorylation (Sorrell et al., 2002). We have recently shown using a yeast-two hybrid screen that Arabidopsis WEE1 interacts with proteins involved with proteasome-mediated degradation. Furthermore, the Arabidopsis WEE1–green fluorescent protein (GFP) signal in Arabidopsis primary roots treated with the proteasome inhibitor MG132 was significantly increased compared with mock-treated controls (Cook et al., 2013) (Fig 9).
In other eukaryotes CDC25 is a phosphatase that releases the block on cell division imposed by WEE1. A full length CDC25 is not present in higher plant genomes. However when the fission yeast gene Spcdc25 is expressed in plant cells it affects cell division, root development. These effects may be mediated by an increase in ethylene levels and changes in the cytokinin/auxin ratio (Spadafora et al., 2012)
We are also interested in how abiotic stresses such as salinity affect cell division and callus growth. Salinity is a major abiotic stress that limits plant productivity. Plants respond to salinity by switching on a coordinated set of physiological and molecular responses that can result in acclimation. We focussed on Medicago truncatula an important model legume species to test whether acclimation could enhance NaCl tolerance in calli. By the end of the 23 month experiment, calli were tolerant to 150 mM NaCl and showed enhanced expression of genes linked to cell division (such as WEE1)and salt stress Fig 10 (El Maghrabi et al., 2013).
Mycelial interactions between competing fungi and fungal ecology
In collaboration with Prof Lynne Boddy, we have been using molecular approaches including microarrays to study gene expression during inter-species fungal interactions. Fungal interactions can result in deadlock or overgrowth by one of the competitors. Our microarray analysis indicates that changes in gene expression are related to the outcome (Eyre et al 2010; Fig. 11).
We have also focussed on ROS –related enzymes and shown that the activity of these enzymes is up-regulated close to the interaction zone between competing fungi in all interactions irrespective of outcome (Hiscox et al. 2010) (Fig. 12).
We are currently using high throughput sequencing approaches to understand the succession of fungal colonisation of fallen wood, and have recently been awarded a NERC grant ( in collaboration with Dr Dan Eastwood, Swansea) to further assess intermycelial interactions using RNAseq.
Other collaborative projects
A) Fungal taxonomy
In collaboration with Prof Lynne Boddy and Dr Martyn Ainsworth (Kew Gardens) we have been using targeted PCR primers in support of conservation efforts of rare UK fungi. We were able to show that Hericium species that fruit rarely are present as endophytes in the sapwood of many tree species (Parfitt et al, 2007). We have also used ITS sequencing to help to clarify taxonomic relationships within Hydnellum and Phellodon, which are often difficult to distinguish based on morphology(Ainsworth et al., 2009)(Fig 13), revealing the presence of cryptic species. Current work is aimed at extending our taxonomic understanding of these species.
B) Bacterial endophytes
In collaboration with Dr Esh Mahenthiralingam and Dr Colin Berry we are exploring further the movement of bacterial endophytes within plants and its biotechnological applications (Vidal et al., 2013 in press).
Staff currently associated with research:
- Julie Hunt, Jennifer Hiscox, Wafa Muftah (post-doctoral researchers on fungal populations and ecology)
- Basma Al Harbi (postgraduate on post-harvest stress biology)
- Safaa AlFarsi (external postgraduate student on alfalfa landraces)
- Faiza Hamdani (visiting postgraduate student on salt tolerant species)
- Swapna Nayakoti (postgraduate on stress biology)
- Richard Ludlow (postgraduate on post-harvest biology)
Other international collaborations
- Prof Piero Picciarelli (University of Pisa, Italy) on floral senescence
- Dr Lien Gonzalez (University of Havan Cuba) on the cell cycle
- Prof Diego Albani (University of Sassari, Sardinia, Italy) on the cell cycle
- Prof M. Beatrice Bitonti (University of Calabria, Italy) on the cell cycle
- Prof Antonio Ferrante (University of Milano, Italy) on stress responses
- Dr Wan Liu (China) on stress responses