Professor Tony Miller
Senior Scientist Head of Department Harnessing Biosynthesis for Sustainable Food and Health (HBio), Advancing Plant Health (APH)
Tony’s research brings together an interest in membrane transporters with plant nutrition, with the aim of improving the efficiency of fertiliser use.
He investigates plant nitrogen content and how a balance between nitrate and ammonium is facilitated by nitrogen transporters to maintain pH within the cell.
As part of this research Tony has developed soil sensors for monitoring nitrogen content of soils (PlentySense).
His research also extends to other plant nutrients including;
- The biofortification and bioavailability of zinc
- Nitrogen use efficiency through nitrogen transporters
- Nutrient uptake
- Biofortification
- Bioavailability
Sensor development for measuring soil nutrients the Miller lab addresses fundamental questions in plant nutrition with a specialist interest in membrane transporters.
Nitrogen nutrition is a particular focus of the groups research and the structure and function of membrane transporters for nitrate, ammonium and amino acids is being studied. Some of these transporters play a key role in sensing nitrogen availability in the soil.
Nitrogen cycling at the root/soil interface is important for uptake by plants and typically around 60% of the N fertiliser applied to crops is not taken up and can be leached into the environment.
They work closely with soil scientists and microbiologists to identify ways to improve nitrogen use efficiency in crops. Close collaborations with Chinese scientists have led to the development of cereals with much improved yield and nitrogen use efficiency.
Current projects:
- WISH-ROOTS; Wheat roots in soil health | John Innes Centre (jic.ac.uk)
- CATCH-BNI Catch crops for biological nitrification inhibition CATCH-BNI (suscrop.eu)
Tony is Head of the Department of Biochemistry and Metabolism.
Selected Publications
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Gu B,Chen Y,Murray J,Miller A,Xie F (2022)Inorganic Nitrogen Transport and Assimilation in Pea (Pisum sativum)Genes (2002, 13(1))Publisher's version: 2073-4425
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Sinsirimongkol K, Buasong A, Teppabut Y, Pholmanee N, Chen Y, Miller AJ, Punyasuk (2022)EgNRT2.3 and EgNAR2 expression are controlled by nitrogen deprivation and encode proteins that function as a two-component nitrate uptake system in oil palmJournal of Plant Physiology (279)Publisher's version: 0176-1617
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Bellandi A, Papp D, Breakspear A, Joyce J, Johnston MG, de Keijzer J, Raven EC, Ohtsu M, Vincent TR, Miller AJ, Sanders D, Hogenhout SA, Morris RJ, Faulkner (2022)Diffusion and bulk flow of amino acids mediate calcium waves in plants.Science AdvancesPublisher's version: 2375-2548
Opportunities
The Miller lab are always looking to welcome new PhD students to the lab and PhD studentships may become available throughout the year and also welcomes applications from undergraduates wishing to undertake summer projects.