Plant Biology: Starch Biosynthesis @ UofG
Dr. Ian Tetlow, Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology
About the Principal Investigator
My early interest in biology grew during my time at high school in Manchester, England, and also made me realize the importance of applied aspects of the biological sciences. My undergraduate degree was in Plant Science in the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (England). During my third (final) year at Newcastle I became interested in carbon metabolism in plants (through a combination of undergraduate project work and interesting biochemistry lectures). I pursued my interest in plant carbon metabolism during my Ph.D. studies at University College of North Wales (Bangor), studying the physiological and biochemical aspects of plants infected by biotrophic fungal pathogens under the supervision of Dr. John F. Farrar.
I moved back to my native city of Manchester to do post-doctoral work with Dr. Michael Emes, studying starch synthesis in plants, an area of research that I have continued with to this day. At Manchester, I developed methods for isolating the fragile organelles (amyloplasts) responsible for starch synthesis in storage tissues such as cereal endosperms and tubers. I also worked on characterizing plastidial metabolite transporters using liposome-based systems with the help of Dr. Malcolm Jones (University of Manchester, retired). Following post-doctoral studies, I was awarded a Leverhulme Special Research Fellowship, and studied the role of protein phosphorylation in the regulation of starch biosynthesis. At this stage, no role for this mode of regulation had been demonstrated for this pathway, and I was the first to demonstrate the regulation of key enzymes in the starch biosynthetic pathway by protein phosphorylation.
In 2002 I moved to the University of Guelph (Department of Botany/ Molecular Biology and Genetics, now MCB). During the transition period from Manchester to Guelph my research work led to the important discovery that many of the enzymes of starch biosynthesis are also regulated by protein-protein interactions and much of my current research interest remains focused in this area.
More about our lab & research activities:
