Cathie Martin

Project Leader

Metabolic Biology

Contact details

cathie.martin@jic.ac.uk

Research interests

I have been a group leader at the John Innes Centre, Norwich UK since 1983 and I am Professor at the University of East Anglia. My research has focused on cellular specialisation in plants and I was the first to identify genes regulating cell shaping in plants. I have been a plenary speaker and session organiser at several international biotechnology meetings, and I have been asked to present the work I co-ordinate on the European Union - sponsored FLORA and ATHENA projects that investigate the role of dietary phytonutrients in promoting health at many international biotechnology meetings.

I am inventor on seven patents and I recently co-founded a spin-out company (Norfolk Plant Sciences) with Professor Jonathan Jones FRS, to bring the benefits of plant biotechnology to Europe and the US.

My interests span the entire spectrum of plant biology, and in biological questions from the fundamental right to the applied ends of plant science. I am Editor-in-Chief of Plant Cell, the highest ranking international journal for research on plants sponsored by the American Society of Plant Biologists. I am the first woman and the first non-American to hold this post.

Recent Publications

Ballester A. R., Molthoff J., de Vos R., Hekkert B. L., Orzaez D., Fernández-Moreno J. P., Tripodi P., Grandillo S., Martin C., Heldens J., Ykema M., Granell A., Bovy A. (2010)
Biochemical and molecular analysis of pink tomatoes: deregulated expression of the gene encoding transcription factor SlMYB12 leads to pink tomato fruit color.
Plant Physiology 152 (1) 71-84
DOI:10.1104/pp.109.147322

Clé C., Martin C., Field R. A., Kuzmic P., Bornemann S. (2010)
Detection of enzyme-catalyzed polysaccharide synthesis on surfaces
Biocatalysis and Biotransformation 28 (1) 64-71

Martin C., Luo J., Sonnante G., D'Amore R., Blanco E., Pierri C. L., De Palma M., Tucci M. (2010)
Novel hydroxycinnamoyl-coenzyme a quinate transferase genes from artichoke are involved in the synthesis of chlorogenic acid
Plant Physiology 153 (3) 1224-1238
DOI:10.1104/pp.109.150144

Shang Y., Venail J., Mackay S., Bailey P., Schwinn K., Jameson P., Martin C., Davies K. (2010)
The molecular basis for venation patterning of pigmentation and its effect on pollinator attraction in flowers of Antirrhinum.
New Phytologist 189 (2) 602-615
DOI:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03498.x

Takos A., Lai D., Mikkelsen L., Abou Hachem M., Shelton D., Motawia M. S., Olsen C. E., Wang T. L., Martin C., Rook F. (2010)
Genetic screening identifies cyanogenesis-deficient mutants of Lotus japonicus and reveals enzymatic specificity in hydroxynitrile glucoside metabolism.
Plant Cell 22 (5) 1605-19
DOI:10.1105/tpc.109.073502

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