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School of Life Sciences

Professor Alex Jones

Professor

Email: Alex.Jones@warwick.ac.uk 

Phone: 024 765 28144

Office: B141

LinkedIn

ResearchGate

Research Clusters

Cell & Development

Plant & Agricultural Biosciences

Vacancies and Opportunities

For PhD students I usually have projects available through our Doctoral Training Programmes such as MIBTPLink opens in a new window. NERC CENTALink opens in a new window or MASLink opens in a new window

I am the Gatsby mentor in plant science and Warwick undergraduate students should contact me if they would like to apply for the Gatsby Plant Science Summer School or RootstockLink opens in a new window.

Research Interests

In my group we are interested in how plants perceive and respond to microbial pathogens or the nutritional status of the soil and modify their growth accordingly. Crop production is under immense pressure from a growing global population, climate change and the urgent need to preserve biodiversity. To make best use of our arable land we need to maximise yield and reduce losses from adverse environmental conditions. In response to stress factors such as drought, poor nutrition, pests and disease, plants often halt their growth and abort seed production and allocate their resources to strengthening cell walls and modifying leaf and root growth.

We specialise in the analysis of proteins involved with signal transduction from the plasma membrane into the cell to regulate the function of organelles and the transcription of genes. Many environmental stimuli are perceived through plasma membrane receptor like protein kinases (RLKs) that consist of an extracellular receptor, a single transmembrane region and cytoplasmic kinase domain. Plant cells have a vastly expanded repertoire of receptor kinases, probably because their immobile cells respond more autonomously to stimuli than do animal systems.

Research in my group, and in collaboration, has focused extensively on the plant innate immune system. We are also interested in plant development such the formation of root hairs, secretion of enzymes and metabolites into the soil and experimentally validating protein protein interactions. We use a combination of biochemical assays, proteomics, genetics and live cell imaging. You can watch my (unscripted) interview with the Gatsby Plant Science Education Programme on YouTubeLink opens in a new window.

Research: Technical Summary

The fundamental methods used in my group are affinity purification of proteins in order to identify their interacting partners and the enrichment of phosphopeptides from complex mixtures to identify proteins that are likely involved in response to a signal. These methods are very nicely summarised in this Jove video,Link opens in a new window made with Prof Vardis Ntoukakis and colleagues from The Sainsbury Laboratory.

We focus on these methods because many receptor-like kinases are typically held as inactive complexes, until activated by the binding of their cognate ligand. Activation results in auto and trans phosphorylation within the complex that results in the release of inhibitor proteins and the recruitment of cytoplasmic kinases and scaffold proteins to form an active signalling complex. Information is propagated into the cell through sequential phosphorylation of proteins by these kinases, resulting in calcium influx, changes to protein location and activity. After 30-40 minutes the active RLK complex is internalised to attenuate the signal and the RLK complexes are recycled or destroyed. A central paradigm of protein signalling pathways is that phosphorylation alters the electrostatic properties of proteins by introducing a localised negative charge, thereby modifying the 3D structure and creating or disrupting protein binding sites. These interactions are impossible to predict from genome or transcriptomic data and still best determined at the protein level. Of course, phosphorylation is not the only posttranslational modification of importance but it is extremely tractable.

My research strength is in the use of proteomics to identify and quantify proteins typically using tryptic digests before liquid chromatography (both online and off-line) and mass spectrometry. Thanks to the Proteomics Research Technology PlatformLink opens in a new window we have access to a Bruker tims TOF PRO (funded by BBSRC ALERT BB/T01783X/1 ) and an Orbitrap Fusion (ThermoScientific).

We have primarily used the model plants Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana benthamiana, but over the last few years have undertaken translational research using various plant species including Solanum lycopersicum, Zea mays and Brassica oleracea.

  • Professor, School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick 2022 - present
  • Director of Postgraduate Taught CoursesLink opens in a new window in School of Life Sciences 2020 - 2024
  • Reader, School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick. 2013 - 2022
  • Director of Proteomics Research Technology PlatformLink opens in a new window, Warwick 2013 - 2022
  • Head of Proteomics at The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, 2005 - 2013
  • Post-doctoral researcher Targeting of EDS1/PAD4 resistance signalling complexes by bacterial effector proteins Imperial College, London. 2004-2005
  • Post-doctoral researcher "Comparative analysis of the defence proteome of Arabidopsis thaliana" Imperial College Wye Campus 2001-2004
  • Post-doctoral researcher "The impact of transgenes for herbivore and virus resistance on the weediness of crop relatives" at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Dorset. 1999-2001
  • PhD "Purification and Sequencing of Myrosinase from the Cabbage Aphid". Imperial College Wye campus 1999
  • MSc Applied Plant Sciences. Imperial College Wye campus 1995
  • BSc (Hons) Chemistry & Biochemistry. Imperial College London 1990 - 1993