Staff Profile

Brief CV

• 2017 – present: Senior Lecturer, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University.
• 2015 – 2017: Lecturer/Senior Lecturer, School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University.
• 2013 – 2015: Research Fellow, Research School of Biology, Australian National University.
• 2007 – 2013: Senior Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford.
• 2005 – 2007: Postdoctoral Research Associate, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham.
• 2004 – 2005: Visiting Researcher, School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman WA, USA.
• 2000 – 2004: DPhil, Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg.  

Journal Peer Review: American Journal of Botany, Annals of Botany, Biological Journal of Linnean Society, BMC Genomics, BMC Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Heredity, Journal of Experimental Botany, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Molecular Ecology, New Phytologist, Plant Ecology & Diversity, Plant Journal, Plant Science, PLoS ONE, PNAS.

Grant Review: BBSRC

I work on fundamental aspects of photosynthesis and its improvement.

Key indicative publications

1. One Thousand Plant Transcriptomes Initiative (2019) One thousand plant transcriptomes and the phylogenomics of green plants. Nature volume 574, pages679–685

2. Sharwood RE, Ghannoum O, Kapralov MV, Gunn LH, Whitney SM (2016) Temperature responses of Rubisco from Paniceae grasses provide opportunities for improving C₃ photosynthesis. Nature Plants. 2:16186. Featured in editorial by RF Sage ‘Photosynthesis: Mining grasses for a better Rubisco’.

3. Orr D, Alcântara A, Kapralov MV, Andralojc J, Carmo-Silva E, Parry MAJ (2016). Surveying Rubisco diversity and temperature response to improve crop photosynthetic efficiency. Plant Phys. 172:707-17. Included in the Top Topics from 2016 http://blog.aspb.org/2016/12/13/best-of-2016-top-topics-in-plant-physiology-jounal/

4. Hermida-Carrera C, Kapralov MV, Galmés J (2016). Rubisco catalytic properties and temperature response in crops. Plant Phys. 171:2549-61.

5. Whitney SM, Birch R, Kelso C, Beck JL, Kapralov MV (2015). Improving recombinant Rubisco biogenesis, plant photosynthesis and growth by coexpressing its ancillary RAF1 chaperone. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 112:3564-69.

6. Galmés J, Kapralov MV, Andralojc PJ, Conesa MÀ, Keys AJ, Parry MAJ, Flexas J (2014) Expanding knowledge of the Rubisco kinetics variability in plant species: environmental and evolutionary trends. Plant, Cell & Environment 37:1989-2001. Featured in editorial by RE Sharwood & SM Whitney ‘Correlating Rubisco catalytic and sequence diversity within C₃ plants with changes in atmospheric CO₂ concentrations’.

7. Galmés J, Andralojc PJ, Kapralov MV, Flexas J, Keys AJ, Molins A, Parry MAJ, Conesa MÀ (2014) Environmentally driven evolution of Rubisco and improved photosynthesis and growth within the C₃ genus Limonium (Plumbaginaceae). New Phytologist 203:989-99.

8. Kapralov MV, Votintseva AA, Filatov DA (2013) Molecular adaptation during a rapid adaptive radiation. Mol. Biol. Evol. 30(5):1051-59.

I currently contribute towards the following modules:

Stage 1:

MST1204 Academic and Professional Skills for the Biosciences

BIO1020 Genetics and Evolution

BIO1021 Diversity of Life: Function and Form

Stage 2:

BIO2030 Methods in Biotechnology: Principles, Theory and Practice

Stage 3:

BIO3041 Molecular Evolution and Systematics

BIO3042 Biotechnology: Applications 

Biological Literature Review (BIO3197), Biological Information Project (BIO3198), Biological Research Project (BIO3199).

MSc Industrial and Commercial Biotechnology:

BIO8044 Biotechnology: Advanced Topics

The lab is always happy to host stage 3 and Master biology and ICB students for laboratory based-projects.

Informal enquiries about PhD studentships for projects related to our research interests are welcome at any time.

• Articles

  • Iqbal WA, Lisitsa A, Kapralov MV. Predicting plant Rubisco kinetics from RbcL sequence data using machine learning. Journal of Experimental Botany 2023, 74(2), 638-650.
  • Buck S, Rhodes T, Gionfriddo M, Skinner T, Yuan D, Birch R, Kapralov MV, Whitney SM. Escherichia coli expressing chloroplast chaperones as a proxy to test heterologous Rubisco production in leaves. Journal of Experimental Botany 2023, 74(2), 664-676.
  • Hart R, In-na P, Kapralov MV, Lee JGM, Caldwell GS. Textile-based cyanobacteria biocomposites for potential environmental remediation applications. Journal of Applied Phycology 2021, 33, 1525-1540.
  • Iqbal WA, Miller IG, Moore RL, Hope IJ, Cowan-Turner D, Kapralov MV. Rubisco substitutions predicted to enhance crop performance through carbon uptake modelling. Journal of Experimental Botany 2021, 72(17), 6066-6075.
  • Martin-Avila E, Lim Y-L, Birch R, Dirk LMA, Buck S, Rhodes T, Sharwood RE, Kapralov MV, Whitney SM. Modifying plant photosynthesis and growth via simultaneous chloroplast transformation of rubisco large and small subunits. Plant Cell 2020, 32(9), 2898-2916.
  • Powell RF, Pulido Suarez L, Magee AR, Boatwright JS, Kapralov MV, Young AJ. Genome size variation and endopolyploidy in the diverse succulent plant family Aizoaceae. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 2020, 194(1), 47-68.
  • Leebens-Mack JH, Barker MS, Carpenter EJ, Deyholos MK, Gitzendanner MA, Graham SW, Grosse I, Li Z, Melkonian M, Mirarab S, Porsch M, Quint M, Rensing SA, Soltis DE, Soltis PS, Stevenson DW, Ullrich KK, Wickett NJ, DeGironimo L, Edger PP, Jordon-Thaden IE, Joya S, Liu T, Melkonian B, Miles NW, Pokorny L, Quigley C, Thomas P, Villarreal JC, Augustin MM, Barrett MD, Baucom RS, Beerling DJ, Benstein RM, Biffin E, Brockington SF, Burge DO, Burris JN, Burris KP, Burtet-Sarramegna V, Caicedo AL, Cannon SB, Cebi Z, Chang Y, Chater C, Cheeseman JM, Chen T, Clarke ND, Clayton H, Covshoff S, Crandall-Stotler BJ, Cross H, dePamphilis CW, Der JP, Determann R, Dickson RC, Di Stilio VS, Ellis S, Fast E, Feja N, Field KJ, Filatov DA, Finnegan PM, Floyd SK, Fogliani B, Garcia N, Gateble G, Godden GT, Goh FQY, Greiner S, Harkess A, Heaney JM, Helliwell KE, Heyduk K, Hibberd JM, Hodel RGJ, Hollingsworth PM, Johnson MTJ, Jost R, Joyce B, Kapralov MV, Kazamia E, Kellogg EA, Koch MA, Von Konrat M, Konyves K, Kutchan TM, Lam V, Larsson A, Leitch AR, Lentz R, Li F-W, Lowe AJ, Ludwig M, Manos PS, Mavrodiev E, McCormick MK, McKain M, McLellan T, McNeal JR, Miller RE, Nelson MN, Peng Y, Ralph P, Real D, Riggins CW, Ruhsam M, Sage RF, Sakai AK, Scascitella M, Schilling EE, Schlosser E-M, Sederoff H, Servick S, Sessa EB, Shaw AJ, Shaw SW, Sigel EM, Skema C, Smith AG, Smithson A, Stewart CN, Stinchcombe JR, Szovenyi P, Tate JA, Tiebel H, Trapnell D, Villegente M, Wang C-N, Weller SG, Wenzel M, Weststrand S, Westwood JH, Whigham DF, Wu S, Wulff AS, Yang Y, Zhu D, Zhuang C, Zuidof J, Chase MW, Pires JC, Rothfels CJ, Yu J, Chen C, Chen L, Cheng S, Li J, Li R, Li X, Lu H, Ou Y, Sun X, Tan X, Tang J, Tian Z, Wang F, Wang J, Wei X, Xu X, Yan Z, Yang F, Zhong X, Zhou F, Zhu Y, Zhang Y, Ayyampalayam S, Barkman TJ, Nguyen N-P, Matasci N, Nelson DR, Sayyari E, Wafula EK, Walls RL, Warnow T, An H, Arrigo N, Baniaga AE, Galuska S, Jorgensen SA, Kidder TI, Kong H, Lu-Irving P, Marx HE, Qi X, Reardon CR, Sutherland BL, Tiley GP, Welles SR, Yu R, Zhan S, Gramzow L, Theissen G, Wong GK-S. One thousand plant transcriptomes and the phylogenomics of green plants. Nature 2019, 574(7780), 679-685.
  • Hermida-Carrera C, Fares MA, Fernández A, Gil-Pelegrin E, Kapralov MV, Mir A, Molins A, Peguero-Pina JJ, Rocha J, Sancho-Knapik D, Galmes J. Positively selected amino acid replacements within the RuBisCO enzyme of oak trees are associated with ecological adaptations. PLoS ONE 2017, 12(8), e0183970.
  • Sharwood RE, Ghannoum O, Kapralov MV, Gunn LH, Whitney SM. Temperature responses of Rubisco from Paniceae grasses provide opportunities for improving C₃ photosynthesis. Nature Plants 2016, 2, 16186.
  • Orr D, Alcântara A, Kapralov MV, Andralojc J, Carmo-Silva E, Parry MAJ. Surveying Rubisco Diversity and Temperature Response to Improve Crop Photosynthetic Efficiency. Plant Physiology 2016, 172(2), 707-717.
  • Hermida-Carrera C, Kapralov MV, Galmés J. Rubisco Catalytic Properties and Temperature Response in Crops. Plant Physiology 2016, 171(4), 2549–2561.
  • Galmés J, Kapralov MV, Copolovici LO, Hermida C, Niinemets Ü. Temperature responses of the Rubisco maximum carboxylase activity across domains of life: phylogenetic signals, trade-offs, and importance for carbon gain. Photosynthesis research 2015, 123, 183-201.
  • Rosnow JJ, Evans MA, Kapralov MV, Cousins AB, Edwards GE, Roalson EH. Kranz and single-cell forms of C₄ plants in the subfamily Suaedoideae show kinetic C₄ convergence for PEPC and Rubisco with divergent amino acid substitutions. Journal of Experimental Botany 2015, 66(22), 7347–7358.
  • Whitney SM, Birch R, Kelso C, Beck JL, Kapralov MV. Improving recombinant Rubisco biogenesis, plant photosynthesis and growth by coexpressing its ancillary RAF1 chaperone. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2015, 112(11), 3564-3569.
  • Galmés J, Kapralov MV, Andralojc PJ, Conesa MA, Keys AJ, Parry MAJ, Flexas J. Expanding knowledge of the Rubisco kinetics variability in plant species: Environmental and evolutionary trends. Plant, Cell and Environment 2014, 37(9), 1989-2001.
  • Galmés J, Andralojc PJ, Kapralov MV, Flexas J, Keys AJ, Molins A, Parry MAJ, Conesa MA. Environmentally driven evolution of Rubisco and improved photosynthesis and growth within the C₃ genus Limonium (Plumbaginaceae). New Phytologist 2014, 203(3), 989-999.