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• W2912447249 abstract "Malcolm Bennett is Professor of Plant Science and Director of the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology (CPIB) at the University of Nottingham. After becoming enamored with DNA as a teenager, he studied molecular biology and biochemistry at UMIST (now part of the University of Manchester). During his postgraduate studies he developed a passion for the ‘hidden half’ of plant biology, root development. He later spent time as a NATO Fellow at the University of Arizona in the Feldmann lab, which pioneered gene tagging in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. His studies on the hormonal control of root growth and development led to the identification of the first auxin transport protein described in plants. Since 2005, he has embraced systems-based approaches to successfully address several of the oldest and most recalcitrant questions in plant biology. This multidisciplinary approach has recently helped overcome the single biggest impediment in root biology, the ability to non-invasively image roots growing and developing in soil. What turned you on to biology? I originally found the way biology was taught at UK Schools in the 1980s very dull and largely organism-focused. Then one day in my biology class, I found a pamphlet in a book cupboard about the E. coli lac operon. I was immediately struck by the elegance of the molecular circuitry that controlled the lac operon’s induction and repression. This was the kind of biology I could understand and appreciate! Later, with the help and encouragement of my university tutor Professor Paul Broda, I spent successive summer vacations working in research labs studying fungal, cancer and plant molecular biology. The latter experience convinced me that, whilst a much smaller field than human, animal or microbial sciences, plant research had the potential to have a larger global (and humanitarian) impact. Do you have a favorite paper? The Arabidopsis genome sequence (The Arabidopsis Genome Consortium, Nature, 2000), since it revealed the genetic make-up of plants and clearly demonstrated that they are not ‘green animals’. Instead, plants as multicellular organisms have evolved completely different signaling solutions. For example, plants do not contain large repertoires of G-protein coupled or tyrosine kinase receptors in their genomes. In contrast, they have evolved novel classes of receptors, some based on the ubiquitination machinery, where hormones bring together the receptor and a labile transcriptional repressor protein, to activate hormone-responsive gene expression. This difference is likely to reflect that, unlike animals, plants employ small signaling molecules due to size constraints imposed by their cell walls. What is the best advice you’ve been given? I’ve benefited from good advice throughout my career, but 4 statements stand out in my memory. First, as an undergraduate at Manchester, Professor Steve Oliver once told me that, as a geneticist, “It’s better to be smart and lazy, than dumb and hard-working”. He has been proven right again and again in my career. ‘High throughput’ reverse genetic studies (i.e. sequence-to-mutant) have often proved frustrating, whereas elegant forward genetic screens (i.e. mutant-to-sequence) have always reaped new biological insights. Second, as a postgraduate student at Warwick, Professor Mike Lord once complained about a high-profile speaker presenting “technology in search of biology”. The need to focus on the biological question in hand, and not become enamored with the technology employed, has remained with me to this day, since one is perennial, whilst the other is often quickly superseded. Third, about to return to the UK and set up a new lab, my US boss Ken Feldmann gave me three pieces of advice, “Focus, focus, focus”. If only I’d heeded that advice as a young PI it would have saved me so much trouble and wasted effort. Ironically, later in my career, openness to the possibilities through other disciplines has proven very helpful in addressing recalcitrant problems in my own research area. Finally, I am not by nature a finisher, but I have learned to be, after Professor Don Grierson at Nottingham wisely pointed out to me that, “If a piece of work hasn’t been published, it hasn’t been done.” What is your greatest ambition? Like almost every other scientist, I would like new insights generated from my research to have an impact for good. I have spent the last 20 years studying the hormonal regulation of root growth and development, identifying several of the key signals, genes and regulatory networks that control root length, angle and branching in the model plant Arabidopsis. I recently started BBSRC and ERC research fellowships to manipulate water and nutrient uptake efficiency in crops — important traits that are controlled in large part by their root systems’ architecture. My ambition is to exploit the knowledge I have accrued over the last two decades in Arabidopsis, to improve root development in crops. Do you have a scientific role model? Professor Jonathan Lynch (Penn State) has been an important role model. He has pioneered, both in concept and practice, the idea of ‘a second green revolution’. This concept focuses on improving root system architecture to optimize water and nutrient uptake in a sustainable manner; contrasting the original ‘green revolution’, which developed dwarf varieties responding to high fertilizer inputs. In practice, this involves screening bean or soybean seedlings for altered root phenotypes, such as root angle and root hair length. Field trial results on these new varieties grown in low-phosphate soils have been impressive, but the greatest improvements in phosphate uptake (<300%) have occurred by combining both root traits. These varieties have been integrated into bean and maize breeding programs at international centers such as CIAT and then released in South America, Africa and Asia where they are helping hundreds of thousands of farmers to significantly improve yields in low phosphate soils. Now that’s what I call scientific impact! What do you think are the big questions and challenges to be answered next in your field? Over recent decades, we have gained detailed knowledge of many processes involved in root growth and development. However, with this knowledge comes increased complexity and a pressing need for mechanistic modeling, to understand how these individual processes interact. One major challenge is in relating genotype to phenotype, requiring us to move beyond the gene and network scale to use multiscale modeling to predict emergent dynamics at the tissue and organ levels. This requires information about the key gene regulatory networks, cell and tissue geometries, mechanics and hydraulics. Whilst challenging, it is clear that multiscale models are set to become increasingly important to researchers if we are to bridge the ‘genotype to phenotype gap’. Developing a mechanistic model of a whole plant represents a logical next step. Indeed, given the exchange of water, nutrients and signals between root and shoot organs, developing a virtual root or shoot model in isolation could be considered naïve. Ultimately, plant performance is measured by breeders at the population scale, rather than individual. Hence, mechanistic multiscale models need to be developed that bridge the remaining physical scale between the plant and field to ensure that we are able to relate genotype to phenotype and aid attempts to reengineer key crop traits. Phenotype represents the output of the interaction between genotype and environment. A major future challenge will be to develop mixed genetic eco-physiological models that capture genetic and environmental regulation. Environmental factors include physical properties of the soil, microbes, water availability, nitrogen distribution, macro/micro elements and competition with other root systems. X-ray micro CT has the potential to provide rich image data sets, enabling measurements of many of these root and soil parameters. Nevertheless, new methodologies to assay other soil properties such as nutrient distribution are also required. Armed with such information, we will be well placed to bridge the genotype–phenotype gap and parameterize predictive models designed to optimize crop root architectures for soil types and nutrient regimes. To address these challenging goals, I am working as part of a multidisciplinary team of researchers at CPIB composed of computer, plant and soil scientists, biophysicists, crop physiologists, engineers, statisticians and mathematicians. Working with such a team often takes me out of my comfort zone, but I am happy to do so as I truly believe that the major breakthroughs in biology in the coming decades will arise from working at the interface between disciplines." @default.
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