Job Title
Professor
Department
Life Sciences
Phone
024 7657 5094
Web Link
Research Interests
See our paper on tomographic docking of auxins, link from group webpage.
Molecular recognition is at the heart of the group's activities, in particular the binding and selectivity of hormones by their receptors and transport proteins. The principal projects at present are; the kinetic characterisation of the auxin receptor TIR1; the structure and function of auxin transport proteins; and the development of biosensors for quantitating hormone concentrations in vivo.
Many of the defining responses to auxin are mediated through the receptor protein known as TIR1. In collaboration with Dr Stefan Kepinski (University of Leeds) we are investigating the auxin-mediated kinetics of Aux/IAA transcription factor binding to the SCFTIR1 complex. Much of the work uses Biacore surface plasmon resonance (SPR) to record binding in real-time. Pharmacophoric mapping of receptors informs rational design and selection of novel auxins. This work is now extended to similar studies of auxin transport proteins.
Biosensors combine a biological recognition domain with a physicochemical output unit. Like receptor proteins, recognition domains need to recognise analytes with appropriate sensitivity and selectivity and we are collecting suitable hormone sensor elements. In order to sample from living plants in real-time we are harnessing microtechnologies by working with the experienced neurobiology electrophysiology group of Prof Nick Dale. We have developed microsensors for cytokinins with low nanomolar sensitivity
Tomographic docking. We have developed a new application of AutoDock Vina to examine the interactions ligands make on their way down into deep binding pockets. Our work suggests molecular filters contribute to selection long before docking occurs.
Biography
BSc (Hons) Plant Science, University of Reading, 1980
PhD, University of Leicester, 1984
Awards and External Appointments:
1995 President's Medal, Society for Experimental Biology
2003 - 2011, Visiting Professor, University of Nottingham.
Editorial Boards:
Journal of Experimental Botany
- Sikder, Amrita, Pearce, Amanda K., Parkinson, Sam J., Napier, Richard, O'Reilly, Rachel K., 2021. Recent trends in advanced polymer materials in agriculture related applications. ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 3 (3), pp. 1203-1217
- Parízková, Barbora, ?ukauskaite, Asta, Vain, Thomas, Grones, Peter, Raggi, Sara, Kube?, Martin F., Kieffer, Martin, Doyle, Siamsa M., Strnad, Miroslav, Kepinski, Stefan, Napier, Richard, Dole?al, Karel, Robert, Stéphanie, Novák, Ondrej, 2021. New fluorescent auxin probes visualize tissue-specific and subcellular distributions of auxin in Arabidopsis. New Phytologist, 230 (2), pp. 535-549
- el Houaria, I., van Beirsa, C., Artensa, H. E., Hanc, H., Chanoca, A., Opdenacker, D., Polliera, J., Sotrmea, V., Steenackers, W., Quareshy, M., Napier, R. (Richard), Beeckman, T., Frimic, J., de Rybela, B., Boerjan, W., Vanholme, B., 2021. Seedling developmental defects upon blocking CINNAMATE 4-HYDROXYLASE are caused by perturbations in auxin 3 transport. New Phytologist, 230 (60), pp. 2275-2291
- Quan, Wen-Dong, Baker, Lewis A., Napier, Richard, O'Reilly, Rachel K., Stavros, Vasilios G., Staniforth, Michael, Wilks, Thomas R., 2021. Ultrafast spectroscopic investigation of discrete co-assemblies of a Zn-porphyrin?polymer conjugate with a hexapyridyl template. Chemical Physics Letters, 777
- Collis, Dominic W. P., Yilmaz, Gokhan, Yuan, Yichen, Monaco, Alessandra, Ohbaum, Guy, Shi, Yejiao, O'Malley, Clare, Uzunova, Veselina, Napier, Richard, Bitton, Ronit, Becer, Remzi, Azevedo, Helena S., 2021. Hyaluronan (HA)-inspired glycopolymers as molecular tools for studying HA functions. RSC Chemical Biology, 2 (2), pp. 568-576
- Gooch, James, Tungsirisurp, Sireethorn, Costanzo, Hayley, Napier, Richard, Frascione, Nunzianda, 2021. Generating aptamers towards human sperm cells using massively parallel sequencing. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 413, pp. 5821-5834
- Beyer, Valentin, Monaco, Alessandra, Napier, Richard, Yilmaz, Gokhan, Becer, C. Remzi, 2020. Bottlebrush glycopolymers from 2-oxazolines and acrylamides for targeting DC-SIGN and MBL. Biomacromolecules, 21 (6), pp. 2298-2308
- Monaco, Alessandra, Beyer, Valentin P., Napier, Richard, Becer, C. Remzi, 2020. Multi-arm star shaped glycopolymers with precisely controlled core size and arm length. Biomacromolecules, 21 (9), pp. 3736-3744
- Todd, Olivia E., Figueiredo, Marcelo R. A., Morran, Sarah, Soni, Neeta, Preston, Christopher, Kube?, Martin F., Napier, Richard, Gaines, Todd A., 2020. Synthetic auxin herbicides : finding the lock and key to weed resistance. Plant Science, 300
- Kubes, Martin, Napier, Richard, 2019. Non-canonical auxin signalling : fast and curious. Journal of Experimental Botany, 70 (10), pp. 2609-2614
- Oochi, Akihiro, Hajny, Jakub, Fukui, Kosuke, Nakao, Yukio, Gallei, Michelle, Quareshy, Mussa, Takahashi, Koji, Kinoshita, Toshinori, Ramans Harborough, Sigurd, Kepinski, Stefan, Kasahara, Hiroyuki, Napier, R. (Richard), Friml, Jiri, Hayashi, Ken-ichiro, 2019. Pinstatic acid promotes auxin efflux transport by inhibiting PIN internalization. Plant Physiology, 180 (2), pp. 1152-1165
- Gao, Yuan, Liu, Jun, Pan, Xukun, Liu, Dingrong, Napier, R. (Richard), Dong, Liyao, 2018. Quinclorac resistance induced by the suppression of the expression of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) synthase and ACC oxidase genes in Echinochloa crus-galli var. zelayensis. Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology, 146, pp. 25-32
- Yilmaz, Gokhan, Uzunova, Veselina, Napier, R. (Richard), Becer, C. Remzi, 2018. Single-chain glycopolymer folding via host-guest interactions and its unprecedented effect on DC-SIGN binding. Biomacromolecules, 19 (7), pp. 3040-3047
- Busi, Roberto, Goggin, Danica E., Heap, Ian, Horak, Michael J., Jugulam, Mithila, Masters, Robert A., Napier, R., Riar, Dilpreet S., Satchivi, Norbert M., Torra, Joel, Westra, Phillip, Wright, Terry R., 2018. Weed resistance to synthetic auxin herbicides. Pest Management Science, 74 (10), pp. 2265-2276
- Singh, Gaurav, Retzer, Katarzyna, Vosolsobe, Stanislav, Napier, R. (Richard), 2018. Advances in understanding the mechanism of action of the auxin permease AUX1. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 19 (11)
- Yilmaz, Gokhan, Uzunova, Veselina, Hartweg, Manuel, Beyer, Valentin, Napier, R. (Richard), Becer, C. Remzi, 2018. The effect of linker length on ConA and DC-SIGN binding of S-glucosyl functionalized poly(2-oxazoline)s. Polymer Chemistry, 9 (5), pp. 611-618
- Hoyerova, Klara, Hosek, Petr, Quareshy, Mussa, Li, Jun, Klima, Petr, Kubes, Martin, Yemm, Antony A., Neve, Paul, Tripathi, Ashutosh, Bennett , Malcolm J., Napier, R. (Richard), 2018. Auxin molecular field maps define AUX1 selectivity : many auxin herbicides are not substrates. New Phytologist, 217 (4), pp. 1625-1639
- Riemer, Martin, Uzunova, Veselina, Riemer, Nastja, Clarkson, Guy J., Pereira, Nicole, Napier, R. (Richard), Shipman, Michael, 2018. Phyllostictine A : total synthesis, structural verification and determination of substructure responsible for plant growth inhibition. Chemical Communications, 54 (52), pp. 7211-7214
- Ishimaru, Yasuhiro, Hayashi, Ken-ichiro, Suzuki, Takeshi, Fukaki, Hidehiro, Prusinska, Justyna, Meesters, Christian, Quareshy, Mussa, Egoshi, Yuusuke, Matsuura, Hideyuki, Takahashi, Kosaku, Kato, Nobuki, Kombrink, Erich, Napier, R. (Richard), Hayashi, Kengo, Ueda, Minoru, 2018. Jasmonic acid inhibits auxin-induced lateral rooting independently of the CORONATINE INSENSITIVE 1 receptor. Plant Physiology, 177 (4), pp. 1704-1716
- Quareshy, Mussa, Prusinska, Justyna, Kieffer, Martin, Fukui, Kosuke, Pardal, Alonso J., Lehmann, Silke, Schäfer, Patrick, Del Genio, Charo I., Kepinski, Stefan, Hayashi, Kenichiro, Marsh, Andrew, Napier, Richard M., 2018. The Tetrazole Analogue of the Auxin Indole-3-acetic Acid Binds Preferentially to TIR1 and Not AFB5. ACS Chemical Biology, 13 (9), pp. 2585-2594
- Skalicky, V., Kubes, M., Napier, R., Novak, O., 2018. Auxins and cytokinins : the role of subcellular organization on homeostasis. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 19 (10)
- Quareshy, Mussa, Prusinska, Justyna, Kieffer, Martin, Fukui, Kosuke, Pardal , Alonso Javier, Lehmann, Silke, Schäfer, Patrick, Del Genio, Charo I., Kepinski, Stefan, Hayashi, Kenichiro, Marsh, Andrew, Napier, R. (Richard), 2018. The tetrazole analogue of the auxin indole-3-acetic acid binds preferentially to TIR1 and not AFB5. ACS Chemical Biology, 13 (9), pp. 2585-2594
- Quareshy, Mussa, Prusinska, Justyna, Li, Jun, Napier, R. (Richard), 2017. A cheminformatics review of auxins as herbicides. Journal of Experimental Botany
- Novák, Ondrej, Napier, R. (Richard), Ljung, Karin, 2017. Zooming in on plant hormone analysis : tissue- and cell-specific approaches. Annual Review of Plant Biology, 68 (1)
- Zhu, Ziqiang, Napier, R. (Richard), 2017. Jasmonate ? a blooming decade. Journal of Experimental Botany, 68 (6), pp. 1299-1302
- Lavilla, Cristina, Yilmaz, Gokhan, Uzunova, Veselina, Napier, R. (Richard), Becer, C. Remzi, Heise, Andreas, 2017. Block sequence-specific glycopolypeptides with selective lectin binding properties. Biomacromolecules
- Retzer, Katarzyna, Lacek, Jozef, Skokan, Roman, Del Genio, Charo I., Vosolsobe, Stanislav, Lanková, Martina, Malínská, Katerina, Konstantinova, Nataliia, Za?ímalová, Eva, Napier, R. (Richard), Petrá?ek, Jan, Luschnig, Christian, 2017. Evolutionary conserved cysteines function as cis-acting regulators of Arabidopsis PIN-FORMED 2 distribution. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 18 (11)
- Steenackers, Ward Jan, Klíma, Petr, Quareshy, Mussa, Cesarino, Igor, Kumpf, Robert P., Corneillie, Sander, Araújo, Pedro, Viaene, Tom, Goeminne, Geert, Nowack, Moritz K, Ljung, Karin, Friml, Jirí, Blakeslee, Joshua J, Novák, Ondrej, Za?ímalová, Eva, Napier, R. (Richard), Boerjan, Wout A, Vanholme, Bartel, 2016. cis-cinnamic acid is a novel, natural auxin efflux inhibitor that promotes lateral root formation. Plant Physiology, 173 (1), pp. 552-565
- Badescu, George O., Marsh, Andrew, Smith, Timothy R., Thompson, Andrew J., Napier, R. (Richard), 2016. Kinetic characterisation of a single chain antibody against the Hormone Abscisic Acid : comparison with its parental monoclonal. PLoS One, 11 (3), pp. 1-14
- Bailey, Mark, Srivastava, Anjil, Conti, Lucio, Nelis, Stuart, Zhang, Cunjin, Florance, Hannah, Love, Andrew, Milner, Joel, Napier, R. (Richard), Grant, Murray R., Sadanandom, Ari, 2016. Stability of small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) proteases OVERLY TOLERANT TO SALT1 and -2 modulates salicylic acid signalling and SUMO1/2 conjugation in Arabidopsis thaliana. Journal of Experimental Botany, 67 (1), pp. 353-363
- Steenackers, Ward Jan, Cesarino, Igor, Klíma, Petr, Quareshy, Mussa, Vanholme, Ruben, Corneillie, Sander, Kumpf, Robert P., Van de Wouwer, Dorien, Ljung, Karin, Goeminne, Geert, Novak, Ondrej, Za?ímalová, Eva, Napier, R. (Richard), Boerjan, Wout A., Vanholme, Bartel, 2016. The allelochemical MDCA inhibits lignification and affects auxin homeostasis. Plant Physiology, 172 (2), pp. 874-888
- Uzunova, Veselina V., Quareshy, Mussa, Del Genio, Charo I., Napier, R. (Richard), 2016. Tomographic docking suggests the mechanism of auxin receptor TIR1 selectivity. Open Biology, 6 (10)
- Quan, Wen-Dong, Pitto-Barry, Anaïs, Baker, Lewis A., Stulz, Eugen, Napier, R. (Richard), O'Reilly, Rachel K., Stavros, Vasilios G., 2015. Retaining individualities : the photodynamics of self-ordering porphyrin assemblies. Chemical Communications, 52 (9), pp. 1938-1941
- Coe, Samuel, Pereira, Nicole, Geden, Joanna V., Clarkson, Guy J., Fox, David J., Napier, R. (Richard), Neve, Paul, Shipman, Michael, 2015. Ring closing metathesis reactions of a-methylene-ß-lactams : application to the synthesis of a simplified phyllostictine analogue with herbicidal activity. Organic & biomolecular chemistry, 13 (28), pp. 7655-7663
- Tian, Faming, Greplová, Marta, Frébort, Ivo, Dale, Nicholas, Napier, R. (Richard), 2014. A highly selective biosensor with nanomolar sensitivity based on cytokinin dehydrogenase. PLoS One, 9 (3)
- Lee, Sarah C., Sundaram, Shanthy, Armitage, Lynne, Evans, John P., Hawkes, Tim, Kepinski, Stefan, Ferro, Noel, Napier, R. (Richard), 2014. Defining binding efficiency and specificity of auxins for SCFTIR1/AFB-Aux/IAA co-receptor complex formation. ACS Chemical Biology, 9 (3), pp. 673-682
- Conti, Lucio, Nelis, Stuart, Zhang, Cunjin, Woodcock, Ailidh, Swarup, Ranjan, Galbiati, Massimo, Tonelli, Chiara, Napier, R., Hedden, Peter, Bennett, Malcolm J., Sadanandom, Ari, 2014. Small ubiquitin-like modifier protein SUMO enables plants to control growth independently of the phytohormone gibberellin. Developmental Cell, 28 (1), pp. 102-110
- Abdul Kadir, Muhd K., Hines, Evor, Qaddoum, Kefaya, Collier, Rosemary, Dowler, Elizabeth, Grant, Wyn, Leeson, Mark S., Iliescu, Daciana, Subramanian, Arjunan, Richards, Keith, Merali, Yasmin, Napier, R., 2013. Food security risk level assessment : a fuzzy logic-based approach. Applied Artificial Intelligence, 27 (1), pp. 50-61
- Calderón Villalobos, Luz Irina A, Lee, Sarah C., Oliveira, Cesar de, Ivetac, Anthony, Brandt, Wolfgang, Armitage, Lynne, Sheard, Laura B., Tan, Xu, Parry, Geraint, Mao, Haibin, Zheng, Ning, Napier, R. (Richard), Kepinski, Stefan, Estelle, Mark, 2012. A combinatorial TIR1/AFB?Aux/IAA co-receptor system for differential sensing of auxin. Nature Chemical Biology, 8 (5), pp. 477-485
- Kowalska, Marta, Tian, Faming, ?mehilová, Mária, Galuszka, Petr, Frébort, Ivo, Napier, R. (Richard), Dale, Nicholas, 2011. Prussian Blue acts as a mediator in a reagentless cytokinin biosensor. Analytica Chimica Acta, Vol.701 (No.2), pp. 218-223
- Sadanandom, Ari, Napier, R. (Richard), 2010. Biosensors in plants. Current Opinion in Plant Biology, Vol.13 (No.6), pp. 736-743
- Hoyerova, Klara, Perry, Lucie, Hand, Paul, Lankova, Martina, Kocabek, Tomas, May, Sean T., Kottova, Jana, Paces, Jan, Napier, R. (Richard), Zazimalova, Eva, 2008. Functional characterization of PaLAX1, a putative auxin permease, in heterologous plant systems. Plant Physiology, 146 (3), pp. 1128-1141
- Carrier, David J., Bakar, Norliza Tendot Abu, Swarup, Ranjan, Callaghan, Richard, Napier, R. (Richard), Bennett, Malcolm J., Kerr, Ian D., 2008. The binding of auxin to the Arabidopsis auxin influxtransporter, AUX1. Plant Physiology, Vol.147
- Carrier, David J., Abu Bakar, Norliza Tendot, Swarup, Ranjan, Callaghan, Richard, Napier, R. (Richard), Bennett, Malcolm J., Kerr, Ian D., 2008. The binding of auxin to the Arabidopsis auxin influx transporter AUX1. Plant Physiology, 148 (1), pp. 529-535
- Dilly, Suzanne J., Bell, Matthew J., Clark, Andrew J., Marsh, Andrew, Napier, R. (Richard), Sergeant, Martin J., Thompson, Andrew J., Taylor, Paul C., 2007. A photoimmobilisation strategy that maximises exploration of chemical space in small molecule affinity selection and target discovery. Chemical Communications, pp. 2808-2810
- Smith, Timothy R., Clark, Andrew J., Napier, R. (Richard), Taylor, Paul C., Thompson, Andrew J., Marsh, Andrew, 2007. Function and stability of abscisic acid acyl hydrazone conjugates by LC-MS2 of ex vivo samples. Bioconjugate Chemistry, Vol.18 (No.4), pp. 1355-1359
- Dilly, Suzanne J., Beecham, Matthew P., Brown, Steven P., Griffin, John M., Clark, Andrew J., Griffin, Craig D., Marshall, Jacqueline, Napier, R. (Richard), Taylor, Paul C., Marsh, Andrew, 2006. Novel tertiary amine oxide surfaces that resist nonspecific protein adsorption. Langmuir, Vol.22 (No.19), pp. 8144-8150
- Dilly, Suzanne J., Beecham, Matthew P., Brown, Steven P., Griffin, John M., Clark, Andrew J., Griffin, Craig D., Marshall, Jacqueline, Napier, R. (Richard), Taylor, Paul C., Marsh, Andrew, 2006. Novel tertiary amine oxide surfaces that resist non-specific protein adsorption. Langmuir, Vol.22 (No.19), pp. 8144-8150
- Badescu, George O., Napier, R. (Richard), 2006. Receptors for auxin : will it all end in TIRs?. Trends in Plant Science, 11 (5), pp. 217-223
- Perrot-Rechenmann, Catherine, Napier, R. (Richard), 2005. Auxins. Plant Hormones, 72, pp. 203-233
- Napier, R. (Richard), 2004. Plant hormone binding sites. Annals of Botany, 93 (3), pp. 227-233
- Ghaffari, Reza, Zhang, Fu, Iliescu, Daciana, Hines, Evor, Leeson, Mark S., Napier, R., 2011. Field asymmetric ion mobility spectrometry based plant disease detection : intelligent systems approach. In Qahwaji, Rami, 1972-; Green, Roger, 1951-; Hines, Evor, 1957- (eds.), Applied signal and image processing : multidisciplinary advancements, Hershey, PA, IGI Global, pp. 102-114
- Ghaffari, Reza, Zhang, Fu, Iliescu, Daciana, Hines, Evor, Leeson, Mark S., Napier, R., 2011. The analysis of plant's organic volatiles compounds with electronic nose and pattern recognition techniques. In Qahwaji, Rami, 1972-; Green, Roger, 1951-; Hines, Evor, 1957- (eds.), Applied signal and image processing : multidisciplinary advancements, Hershey, PA, IGI Global, pp. 115-126
- Ghaffari, Reza, Zhang, Fu, Iliescu, Daciana, Hines, Evor, Leeson, Mark S., Napier, R., Clarkson, John P., 2010. Early detection of diseases in tomato crops : an electronic nose and intelligent systems approach. 2010 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks IJCNN 2010, Barcelona, 18-23 July 2010, Published in IEEE International Conference on Neural Networks. Proceedings, pp. 1-6
- Napier, R. (Richard), Badescu, George O., 2009. A real-time biosensor for plant hormones. Annual Meeting of the Society-for-Experimental-Biology, Glasgow, Scotland, June 28-JUL 01, 2009, Published in Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology. Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, pp. S212-S212
- Retzer, Katarzyna, Singh, Gaurav, Napier, R. (Richard), 2018. It starts with TIRs. Nature Plants, Nature Publishing Group, pp. 410-411
| Title | Funder | Award start | Award end |
|---|---|---|---|
| CENTA Doctoral Training Partnership (led by Birmingham) | NERC | 01 Oct 2014 | 30 Sep 2023 |
| Structural and functional characterization of the major auxin uptake carrier AUX1 protein (Chitra Joshi) | Medical and Life Sciences Research Fund | 01 Aug 2021 | 31 Mar 2022 |
| Self-organising carbon nanosensors for imaging morphogenic gradients in plants | Leverhulme Trust | 01 Aug 2017 | 31 Aug 2021 |
| H20 MC: Crystal structures of PIN proteins - CrysPINs. MSCA IF EF ST for Fellow Martin Kubes | European Commission | 01 Aug 2018 | 31 Jul 2020 |
| Characterisation of aptamer sequences for the forensic detection of human sperm cells (James Gooch) | Royal Society of Chemistry | 26 Sep 2019 | 25 Feb 2020 |
| Masters student placement agreement for Jill Stewart | SGS United Kingdom Limited | 03 Apr 2018 | 31 Jul 2018 |
| Next generation auxins and anti-auxins : principles for binding and design | BBSRC | 03 Mar 2014 | 02 Mar 2017 |
| GCRF-IAA Resistance to quinolates ? a computational biophysics approach | BBSRC | 01 Oct 2016 | 31 Dec 2016 |
| BBSRC Industrial CASE Studentship (Craig Knight) Novel informed modelling approaches to invetigate the evolution and management of herbicide resistance in Alopecurus myosuroides | Bayer Crop Science | 03 Oct 2011 | 02 Oct 2015 |
| CASE (DTG) Development of the Plant Ubiquitome as a Novel Crop Protection Strategy - Mark Bailey studentship (Ari Sadanandom now Durham) | Syngenta Seeds B.V | 01 Oct 2011 | 30 Sep 2014 |
| Summer Vacation Grant - Biochemical Society | Biochemical Society | 16 Apr 2014 | 12 Sep 2014 |
| Association of Commonwealth Universities Professional Fellowship - Dr Tripathi | Commonwealth Scholarship Commision in the UK | 10 Sep 2013 | 28 Feb 2014 |
| Quantitative sensors for phytohormone signalling systems | BBSRC | 01 Aug 2011 | 31 Jul 2012 |
| Efficient use of inputs in protected horticulture EUPHOROS | European Commission | 01 Mar 2008 | 29 Feb 2012 |
| Research Support Grant for Dr Shanthy Sundaram | Commonwealth Scholarship Commision in the UK | 04 Feb 2011 | 31 Mar 2011 |
| Understanding specificity in auxin perception | BBSRC | 01 Mar 2008 | 28 Feb 2011 |
| National Science Week Awards: Hands-on Plants | RCUK | 09 Mar 2007 | 10 Mar 2007 |
