John Innes Centre

Prof Alison Smith

Lab Pages

Lab MembersExpand lab members list

Related links

Curriculum Vitae

  • 1975 BA University of Cambridge.
  • 1978 PhD Cambridge
  • 1998 Honorary Professor, UEA

Alison Smith

Head of Department

Metabolic Biology

Contact details

alison.smith@jic.ac.uk

Research interests

My expertise is in primary metabolism in plants, particularly the interconversion of sucrose and starch.  The aim of my research is to discover what determines the amount and structure of starch in plant storage organs.  My group uses biochemical, genetic and molecular biological techniques to study starch synthesis and turnover in potatoes, peas, cereals and Arabidopsis.

Recent Publications

Barratt D. H., Kölling K., Graf A., Pike M., Calder G., Findlay K., Zeeman S. C., Smith A. M. (2011)
Callose synthase GSL7 is necessary for normal phloem transport and inflorescence growth in Arabidopsis
Plant Physiology 155 (1) 328-41
DOI:10.1104/pp.110.166330
Graf A., Smith A. M. (2011)
Starch and the clock: the dark side of plant productivity.
Trends in Plant Science 16 (3) 169-75
DOI:10.1016/j.tplants.2010.12.003
Rejzek M., Stevenson C. E., Southard A. M., Stanley D., Denyer K., Smith A. M., Naldrett M. J., Lawson D. M., Field R. A. (2011)
Chemical genetics and cereal starch metabolism: structural basis of the non-covalent and covalent inhibition of barley beta-amylase.
Molecular BioSystems 7 (3) 718-730
DOI:10.1039/C0MB00204F, Paper
Stanley D., Rejzek M., Naested H., Smedley M., Otero S., Fahy B., Thorpe F., Nash R. J., Harwood W., Svensson B., Denyer K., Field R. A., Smith A. M. (2011)
The role of {alpha}-glucosidase in germinating barley grains
Plant Physiology 155 (2) 932-943
DOI:10.1104/pp.110.168328
Yandeau-Nelson M. D., Laurens L., Shi Z., Xia H., Smith A. M., Guiltinan M. J. (2011)
Starch-branching enzyme IIa is required for proper diurnal cycling of starch in leaves of maize
Plant Physiology 156 (2) 479-90
DOI:10.1104/pp.111.174094
Andriotis V. M. E., Pike M., Kular B., Rawsthorne S., Smith A. M. (2010)
Starch turnover in developing oilseed embryos
New Phytologist 187 (3) 791-804
DOI:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03311.x
Andriotis V. M., Pike M. J., Bunnewell S., Hills M. J., Smith A. M. (2010)
The plastidial glucose-6-phosphate/phosphate antiporter GPT1 is essential for morphogenesis in Arabidopsis embryos
Plant Journal 64 (1) 128-39
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-313X.2010.04313.x
Comparot-Moss S., Kötting O., Stettler M., Edner C., Graf A., Weise S. E., Streb S., Lue W. L., MacLean D., Mahlow S., Ritte G., Steup M., Chen J., Zeeman S. C., Smith A. M. (2010)
A putative phosphatase, LSF1, is required for normal starch turnover in Arabidopsis leaves.
Plant Physiology 152 (2) 685-97
DOI:10.1104/pp.109.148981
Graf A., Schlereth A., Stitt M., Smith A. M. (2010)
Circadian control of carbohydrate availability for growth in Arabidopsis plants at night.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107 (20) 9458-63
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0914299107
Vriet C., Welham T., Brachmann A., Pike M., Pike J., Perry J., Parniske M., Sato S., Tabata S., Smith A. M., Wang T. L. (2010)
A suite of Lotus japonicus starch mutants reveals both conserved and novel features of starch metabolism
Plant Physiology 154 (2) 643-655
Zeeman S. C., Kossmann J., Smith A. M. (2010)
Starch: its metabolism, evolution, and biotechnological modification in plants.
Annual Review of Plant Biology 61 209-34
DOI:10.1146/annurev-arplant-042809-112301