Alison Smith

Head of Department

Metabolic Biology

Contact details

alison.smith@bbsrc.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

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

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

Andriotis V. M., Kruger N. J., Pike M. J., Smith A. M. (2009)
Plastidial glycolysis in developing Arabidopsis embryos.
New Phytologist 185 (3) 649-662.

Barratt D. H., Derbyshire P., Findlay K., Pike M., Wellner N., Lunn J., Feil R., Simpson C., Maule A. J., Smith A. M. (2009)
Normal growth of Arabidopsis requires cytosolic invertase but not sucrose synthase.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 106 (31) 13124-13129
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0900689106

Kötting O., Santelia D., Edner C., Eicke S., Marthaler T., Gentry M. S., Comparot-Moss S., Chen J., Smith A. M., Steup M., Ritte G., Zeeman S. C. (2009)
STARCH-EXCESS4 is a laforin-like Phosphoglucan phosphatase required for starch degradation in Arabidopsis thaliana
Plant Cell 21 (1) 334-46
DOI:10.1105/tpc.108.064360

Smith A., Coupland G., Dolan L., Harberd N., Jones J., Martin C., Sablowski R., Amey A. (2009)
Plant Biology
Garland Science, Taylor & Francis Group
664p

Ceballos H., Sánchez T., Denyer K., Tofiño A. P., Rosero E. A., Dufour D., Smith A., Morante N., Pérez J. C., Fahy B. (2008)
Induction and identification of a small-granule, high-amylose mutant in cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz).
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 56 (16) 7215-22
DOI:10.1021/jf800603p

Fulton D. C., Stettler M., Mettler T., Vaughan C. K., Li J., Francisco P., Gil M., Reinhold H., Eicke S., Messerli G., Dorken G., Halliday K., Smith A. M., Smith S. M., Zeeman S. C. (2008)
Beta-AMYLASE4, a noncatalytic protein required for starch breakdown, acts upstream of three active beta-amylases in Arabidopsis chloroplasts.
Plant Cell 20 (4) 1040-58
DOI:10.1105/tpc.107.056507

Morley-Smith E. R., Pike M. J., Findlay K., Köckenberger W., Hill L. M., Smith A. M., Rawsthorne S. (2008)
The transport of sugars to developing embryos is not via the bulk endosperm in oilseed rape seeds.
Plant Physiology 147 (4) 2121-30
DOI:10.1104/pp.108.124644

Smith A. M. (2008)
Prospects for increasing starch and sucrose yields for bioethanol production.
Plant Journal 54 (4) 546-58
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-313X.2008.03468.x

Tsesmetzis N., Couchman M., Higgins J., Smith A., Doonan J. H., Seifert G. J., Schmidt E. E., Vastrik I., Birney E., Wu G., D'Eustachio P., Stein L. D., Morris R. J., Bevan M. W., Walsh S. V. (2008)
Arabidopsis reactome: a foundation knowledgebase for plant systems biology.
Plant Cell 20 (6) 1426-36
DOI:10.1105/tpc.108.057976

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