Mike Ambrose M. Phil.

Department of Crop Genetics
John Innes Centre
Norwich Research Park
Colney
Norwich, NR4 7UH

Tel: 44 (0) 1603 450630
Fax: 44 (0) 1603 450045
Email:  mike.ambrose@bbsrc.ac.uk

 

Curriculum vitae
 
 

1975 - present

John Innes Centre

1980

SO  Dept. Applied Genetics

1985

HSO Dept. Applied Genetics

1989

MPhil. University of East Anglia

1991

Manager Germplasm Resources Unit, JIC

1996

Band 5 scientist


External Positions

UK Plant Genetic Resources Group Chairman, (1994-present)

Pisum Genetics Association Gene Symbols Committee coordinator (1994 - present)

Pisum Genetics Association Coordinating Committee member (1998-present)

ECP/GR Grain Legume Working Group, Chairman, (1995-present)


Editorial Positions

Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution Editorial Board (1991-present)

Seed Science and Technology. Associate Editor (2000-2004)

Referee for: Annals of Botany, Annals of Applied Biology, Euphytica, Plant Genetic Resources Newsletter, Plant Genetic Resources Characterisation and Utilization

Research Interests

Genetic Resources
I am responsible for the management of a number of public Germplasm Resources maintained at the JIC. These are active collections and provide numerous opportunities for involvement in research projects across the site.

Diversity assessment and structure of genetic diversity
I am interested in improving the level of genetic characterisation of germplasm in the collections as a way of adding value to the material and in helping with the management and handling of the collections. There is ongoing involvement in programmes on site dealing with the application of various classes of molecular marker to germplasm aimed at improving the understanding of the diversity within the collections and to further the rational exploitation of these resources.

Characterisation of mutants and development of precise genetic stocks
The importance of mutations to the understanding of plant developmental systems is a key area of genetic resources. I am involved in the morphological description of the significant holdings of mutations stocks within the collections and in securing further insights and data as to their behaviour in crosses.PGene: Pisum Genetics Association Gene List

Strategic sampling of collection
When screening is being undertaken, different approaches need to be considered based on the target traits and the structure of the collection. A long term interest is to work to harness the available data associated with the collection in developing sampling procedures that aim to maximise the chances of success within the constraints of the particular operation.
 
 

General Interests

The collections are involved with a number of plant genetic resources networks both in Europe and world-wide, and form a significant part of the UK's effort in the area of ex-situ germplasm conservation. Collaborations are maintained relating to characterisation of material and the involvement in a number of initiatives associated with the public understanding of science.

Germplasm Resources
Pisum Genetics Association Gene List
UK Plant Genetic Resources Group
 
 

Selected Publications

Ambrose, M. and Maxted, N. (2000). Peas (Pisum L.). In: Plant genetic resources of legumes in the Mediterranean. Eds. Maxted N. and S.J. Bennett. Kluwer Academic Publishers. The Netherlands. Chpt. 10.

Busso, C.C, Devos, K.M., Ross, G., Mortimore, M., Adams, W.M. Ambrose, M.J., Alldrick, S., Gale, M.D. (2000). Genetic diversity within and among landraces of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) under farmer management in West Africa. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, 47: 561-568.

Miller, T.E., Lamont, E.J., Pena-Chocarro, L., Reader, S.M. and Ambrose, M.J. (1999). Present-day hulled wheats from Spain. Cereals Research Communications 27: 273-279.

Ellis, T.H.N., Poyser, S.J., Knox, M.R., Vershinin, A.V. and Ambrose, M.J., (1998). Polymorphism of insertion sites of Ty1-copia class retrotransposons and its use for linkage and diversity analysis in pea. Mol. Gen. Genet., 260: 9-19.

Ambrose M. J. (2003). Further observations on the expression of lobed standard (lst) and keeled wings (k) and their involvement in petal identity. Pisum Genetics 35:1-2.

Vershinin A. V. Allnutt T. R. Knox M. R. Ambrose M. J. Ellis T. H. N. (2003). Transposable elements reveal the impact of introgression, rather than transposition, in Pisum diversity, evolution, and domestication. Molecular Biology and Evolution 20: 2067-2075.

Ambrose, M.J., Knox, M., Vershinin, A., Flavell, A.J., Moulton, V. and Ellis, T.H.N. (2004). Exploration of germplasm resources: Progress and results from the application of molecular markers to the whole JIC Pisum collection. In: 5th European Conference on Grain Legumes and 2nd International Conference on Legume Genomics and Genetics. Legumes and the benefit of agriculture, nutrition and the environment: their genomic, their products, and their improvement. 7-11 June Dijon- France. Published by AEP, pp 157-160.

Davenport G., Ellis N., Ambrose M., Dicks J (2004). Using bioinformatics to analyse germplasm collections. Euphytica 137: 39-57.

Ambrose M.J. (2004). A novel allele at the Afila (Af) locus and new alleles at the Tendril-less (Tl) locus. Pisum Genetics 36: 1-2.

Sainsbury F., Tattersall A. D., Ambrose M. J., Turner L., Ellis T. H. N., Hofer J. M. I. 2006. A crispa null mutant facilitates identification of a crispa-like pseudogene in pea. Functional Plant Biology, 33:757-763.

 

Jing, R., Johnson, R., Seres, A., Kiss, G., Ambrose, M.J., Knox, M.R., Ellis, T.H.N. & Flavell, A., (2007). Gene-based sequence diversity analysis of field pea (Pisum). Genetics 177: 2263-2275.

 

Shtark, O.Y., Ovchinnikova, E.S., Zhukov, V.A., Nemankin, T.A., Titov, V.S., Borisov, A.Y., Gianinazzi-Pearson, V., Seddas, P., Ambrose, M., Ellis, N. and Tikhonovich, I.A. (2007). Isolation of pea (Pisum sativum) mutants impared in arbuscular mycorrhiza development, using a direct screening. Pisum Genetics 39: 19-25.

 

Ambrose, M. (2008). Garden Pea, p. 3-26. In: J. Prohens, and F. Nuez (eds.). Vegetables II: Fabaceae, Liliaceae, Umbelliferae, and Solanaceae. Springer, New York.

 

Wang Z., Luo Y., Li X., Wang L., Xu S., Yang J., Weng L., Sato S., Tabata S., Ambrose M., Rameau C., Feng X., Hu X., Luo D. (2008). Genetic control of floral zygomorphy in pea (Pisum sativum L.). PNAS 105: 10414-9.

 

Charlton A. J., Donarski J. A., Harrison M., Jones S. A., Godward J., Oehlschlager S., Arques J. L., Ambrose M., Chinoy C., Mullineaux P. M., Domoney C. (2008). Responses of the pea (Pisum Sativum L.) leaf metabolome to drought stress assessed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Metabolomics 4:312-327.

 

Xin, L., Rameau, C., Luo, D. Ambrose, M. (2008) Floral mutants: Allele designation at the Lst and K loci and the mapping of syp1. Pisum Genetics 40: 19-20.

 

Ambrose, M.J. (2008) European Pisum central crop database (EPDB). Pisum Genetics 40: 21-26.

 

Ambrose, M.J. and Coyne, C.J. (2008). Formal collaboration between John Innes Pisum Collection and USDA-ARS Collection over Pisum genetic stocks. Pisum Genetics 40: 27.

 

Hofer J., Turner L., Moreau C., Ambrose M., Isaac P., Butcher S., Weller J., Dupin A., Dalmais M., Le Signor C., Bendahmane A., Ellis N. (2009). Tendril-less regulates tendril formation in pea leaves The Plant Cell 21: 420-428.

 

YeonKyeong Lee, Kwadwo Owusu Ayeh, Mike Ambrose and Anne Kathrine Hvoslef-Eide (2009). Characterization and structural analysis of wild type and a non-abscission mutant at the DEVELOPMENT FUNICULUS (Def) locus in Pisum sativum L. BMC Plant Biology,9:76 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2229/9/76.

 

Ambrose, M. and Letch, S. (2009) Thatching with long-straw wheat in relation to on-farm conservation in England. In: European Landraces: On-farm conservation, management and use. Eds: Vetelainen M, Negri V and Maxted N. Publ. Bioveristy Techn. Bull. No.15. pp 197-202.

 

Ambrose MJ (2009) Screening for field resistance to Powdery Mildew (Erysiphe polygoni D.C.) in the JI Pisum Collection. Pisum Genetics 41: 40-43.

 

Kosterin, OE, Zaytseva, OO., Vera S. Bogdanova, VS. and Ambrose, MJ (2010) New data on three molecular markers from different cellular genomes in Mediterranean accessions reveal new insights into phylogeography of Pisum sativum L. subsp. elatius (Bieb.) Schmalh. GRACE, DOI 10.1007/s10722-009-9511-6.

 

Jing, R., Alex Vershinin, A., Grzebyta, J., Paul Shaw, P., Smękal, P., Marshall, D., Ambrose, MJ. , Ellis, THN. and Flavell AJ. (2010) The genetic diversity and evolution of field pea (Pisum) studied by high throughput retrotransposon based insertion polymorphism (RBIP) marker analysis. BMC Evolutionary Biology 10:44doi:10.1186/1471-2148-10-44.