Professor Alison Baker

Profile

1979-1982 BA Cambridge Natural Sciences (Part II Biochemistry)

1982-1985 PhD University of Edinburgh Department of Botany

Nuclear genes encoding the ATP/ADP translocator of maize mitochondria. Supervisor Prof CJ Leaver FRS

1985-1988 Postdoctoral work Biozentrum Univserity of Basel. Protein import into yeast mitochondria. Supervisor Prof G. Schatz. (EMBO Fellowship  1985-1987).

1989-1995 Assistant Lecturer then Lecturer at the Department oif Biochemistry, University of Cambridge

1995-present University of Leeds:

• 1995-1999 Lecturer
• 1999-2004 Senior Lecturer
• 2004-2008 Reader in Plant Cell and Molecular Biology
• 2008- present Professor of  Plant Cell and Molecular Biology

Research interests

I am currently involved with 4 project areas:  

1. Use of photosynthetic aquatic organisms for nutrient recovery from wastewaters 

2.Enhancing phosphate use efficiency in millets 

3. Regulation of Catalase targeting in plant cells 

4. Structure-function of the peroxisomal ABC transport COMATOSE 

The unifying theme which connects these diverse projects is transport of molecules across biological membranes. 

1. Use of photosynthetic aquatic organisms for nutrient recovery from wastewaters 

Nutrients such as Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P) are essential components of fertilisers for plant growth and food production. However, the production of fertilisers is highly energy intensive and in the case of P utilises resources (P-rich rocks) that are not renewable on a human timescale. At the same time, current wastewater treatment processes to remove excess nutrients as mandated by the water framework directive are expensive and do not recover these nutrients in a form that is easily reused. Aquatic photosynthetic organisms such as microalgae and duckweeds grow on nutrient rich wastewaters using energy from sunlight and fixing CO2 thereby contributing to the sustainable recycling of Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus. The resulting biomass can potentially be used in various applications such as the production of animal food, bioethanol or bio-oil or fertiliser. For these nature-based water treatment systems to be robust and effective it is important to understand more about the underlying biological processes and how these respond to changes in the environmental conditions. We collaborate with colleagues in Civil Engineering (Dr Miller Alonso Camargo Valero) to undertake interdisciplinary work in this space. Highlights include discovering growth and P uptake can be uncoupled in duckweed (Paterson et al 2020) and producing a meta-analysis of growth conditions (Pasos-Panqueva et al 2024) which inform strain selection and system design (Pasos-Panqueva PhD thesis UoL 2024).

Microalgae are an alternative means of recovering nutrients. We have demonstrated increased uptake rate of P from solution and storage in polyphosphate granules in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by manipulating growth conditions and strain selection (Zuniga-Burgos et al 2024) and by over expressing a transcription factorPSR1 (Slocombe et al 2023). RNA sequencing of these overexpression lines allowed interrogation of internal and external phosphate signalling responses (Slocombe et al 2023).  

Our expertise in this area has led to our participation in theH2Boost phase 2 project funded by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.  The project is about producing hydrogen from organic waste and our contribution is growing algae on the waste effluent and capturing the carbon dioxide produced in this process. More information and participating organisations can be found on the project website. 

https://www.biorenewables.org/case-studies/producing-biohydrogen-for-the-uk-transport-sector/ 

2.Enhancing phosphate use efficiency in millets 

Aswell as aiming to recover nutrients from waste sources in a carbon neutral way and recycling them, identifying and developing crop plants with improved Phosphorus use efficiency (PUE) greatly aids sustainability. Working with colleagues in India at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and at Rajagiri College in Kochi, Kerala we are working on foxtail millet. Millets are small seeded grain crops with excellent nutritional qualities and climate resilience. Contributing to development of improved varieties with good PUE is important for reducing energy intensive inputs of fertiliser. We have published a number of papers on Phosphate transporters (Ceasar et al 2014, Ceasar et al 2017), and screened a panel of genotypes performance on differing levels of P in the field (Ceasar et al 2020) 

I have recently been a guest editor for a topical collection on millets for the journal Planta to celebrate the United Nations designating 2023 as International Year of Millets 

https://link.springer.com/collections/fgbebbdbhf 

3. Regulation of catalase targeting in plant cells 

Catalase is an important anti-oxidant enzyme that exerts control over a wide range of development and defence responses (Baker et al 2023). Although classically considered a peroxisomal enzyme we recently demonstrated the presence of Catalase in the nucleus in Arabidopsis (Al-Hajaya et al 2022). Current research is exploring how catalase targeting and function responds to redox signalling. 

4. Structure-function of the peroxisomal ABC transport COMATOSE   

ABC transporters couple ATP hydrolysis to movement of a diverse range of substrates across membranes. Peroxisomes contain ABC transporters which import substrates for beta oxidation. Humans have four peroxisomal ABC transporters which form homodimers with overlapping substrate specificity for fatty acids with different degrees of chain length and unsaturation. S. cerevisae contains one heterodimeric protein whilst plants have just one fused heterodimer which has broad substrate specificity for fatty acids and a wide range of substrates that enter beta oxidation for biosynthesis. We previously showed this protein accepts acyl CoA substrates and cleaves them prior to re-esterification to CoA for metabolism in the peroxisome (deMarcos Lousa et al 2013 and that the S.cerevisiae Pxa1/2 also transports Coenzyme A (van Roermund et al). Current work is focussed on structure determination of this fascinating protein. 

• Do redox modulated PTMs lead to catalase moonlighting?

Qualifications

• BA, MA, Cambridge; PhD 1985, Edinburgh

Professional memberships

• Biochemical Society
• Society for Experimental Biology

Student education

I contribute to teaching at all levels of our programmes through lectures, tutorials, seminars and supervsion of  undergraduate and masters project students.

My project teaching is aligned to my research interests as stated above.

Research groups and institutes

• Plant Science
• Cancer