Jonathan D. G. Jones

Professor Jonathan Dallas George Jones FRS is a senior scientist at the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich using molecular and genetic approaches to study disease resistance in plants. He, along with collaborator Jeffery Dangl, proposed the “zig-zag model” for the co-evolution of plant resistance genes and pathogen effectors. He also proposed the “Guard Hypothesis”, which provides a testable explanation for how plants overcome the large number of arms used by pathogens to evoke disease while having only a limited set of plant proteins to defend itself.

He received his Ph.D from Cambridge University in 1980, under the direction of G Dover and R B Flavell, and conducted postdoctoral work at Harvard. Head of Sainsbury Laboratory 1994-7, 2003 – present, and Professor at University of East Anglia 1997- . He has been editor of The Plant Cell and Genome Biology.

Positions

• International Society of Plant Molecular Biology Board Member 1995-8
• Plant Journal Advisory Board 1995-8
• Editor of Plant Cell July 1998 -2004
• Current Opinion in Plant Biology (COPB) Editorial Board 1997–present
• Invited Editor for COPB Plant/microbe interaction issue 1998
• Editor of Genome Biology 2001-2004
• Reviewing manuscripts and grant proposals
• Member of scientific advisory board of Mendel Biotechnology, Inc., a company that is collaborating with Monsanto

Media

In July 2010, Professor Jones contributed an opinion piece to BBC News Online, outlining his stance on genetically modified (GM) food crops. In the piece, Jones argued that if we are to 'feed the planet without destroying it... we need to use every tool in our toolbox, including GM'.

External links

• home page