Plant Microbial Interaction Group

I graduated from the University of Reading with a 2:1 (Hons) in Microbiology. My final Year project under the supervision of Dr W. Barclay was "Cloning and Expression of viral Neuraminidase from H5N1 Hong Kong Flu." Following graduation, I spent an eight week industry sponsored Research Assistant post under the joint supervision of Dr J. Hiscox and Dr W. Barclay, funded by Jeyes.

I started my PhD in October 2002 and I'm currently working under Prof. P. Poole on "Amino Acid Shuttles in Rhizobium leguminosarum". Amino Acid transport in R. leguminosarum is dominated by two ABC transporters, this family of transporters is ubiquitous and includes the medically important p-glycoprotein (multidrug resistance) and CFTR (cystic fibrosis). Bacterial ABC transporters were the first of this family to be identified and remain excellent models to understand their structure and function. The characterisation of two general amino acid ABC transporters (Aap and Bra) of R. leguminosarum highlighted a major role of amino-acid cycling as a driving force behind symbiotic nitrogen fixation. This research also revealed that solute binding protein dependent ABC transporters are responsible for the efflux of solutes in addition to solute uptake. The focus of my work will be to further characterise the mode of action and regulation of these ABC transporters and determine the amino acids involved in host-legume exchange. Furthermore, I hope to identify any other principal amino acid uptake systems important in symbiosis.

Presentations

Amino acid transport by Rhizobium leguminosarum. 6th European Nitrogen Fixation Conference, Toulouse (2004). Prize Winning.

Amino acid transport by Rhizobium leguminosarum. 14th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation, Beijing (2004).