Staff Profile

Robert Edwards qualified with a BSc in Biochemistry  (Bath University) and a PhD in Environmental Toxicology (St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School, University of London).  His interests are focussed on the biotransformation of synthetic compounds and natural products in plants and the manipulation of these pathways for applications in crop protection and biorefining using technologies including synthetic biology.  These interests have been developed through working in both the private and public sector in the UK (Schering Agrochemicals ) and USA (Noble Foundation), with an independent research group established in 1990 in the Biology Department at the University of Durham.  In 2008 he became the Head of Biological Sciences at Durham and in 2010 took up a joint position as Chief Scientist at the UK’s Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera; www.defra.gov.uk/fera) and a chair in Crop Protection in CNAP, University of York.   To further consolidate his interests in basic and applied agrifood research, in March 2014 he took up post as the Head of the School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development where he continues to direct personal research programmes in crop protection. 

 

Overview

The major themes of our research programme are based around the enzymes responsible for the biotransformation of xenobiotics and secondary metabolites in plants to yield products with modified biological activities.  Through the identification and functional characterization of these proteins, our research goals are to understand the integrated biosystem involved in xenobiotic detoxification in plants (the xenome) and establish its associated functions in endogenous metabolism and physiology.  Areas of specialization include determining the role of the xenome in herbicide metabolism and selectivity in crops and weeds and using these enzyme systems for the metabolic engineering of plant and microbial secondary metabolism.

Discoveries

Our group is best known for our classification and functional genomic work with the plant glutathione transferases, which included the discovery of two new classes and the identification of their roles in the metabolism of herbicides in soybean, wheat, maize and of natural products in Arabidopsis.  Most recently we have defined a new role for GSTs in mediating herbicide resistance in black-grass, a major weed of wheat.  Other firsts for our group include the identification and structural elucidation of an N-glucosyltransferase which conjugates aniline pollutants and the isolation of herbicide bioactivating esterase’s in grass weeds and Arabidopsis.  Collectively, these studies have advanced our understanding of the plant xenome and its role in controlling the biological activity of crop protection agents and natural products in both crops and weeds.

Current projects

• Herbicide selectivity in cereals and competing weeds (Funding body: Syngenta)
• The Black-GRass Herbicide Resistance Initiative  (BGRI) (Funding body: BBSRC and HGCA)

 

Current PhD BBSRC CASE studentships in Agricultural Biochemistry:

Growth Promoting Effects of Next-Generation Agrochemicals in Cereals

Effect of Herbicide Safeners on Pesticide Metabolism in Crops

Teaching is delivered to students studying agriculture, plant sciences and food and health.  Topics include herbicide metabolism, selectivity and resistance, plant secondary metabolism and pesticide residues in the food chain. 

• Gressel J, Edwards R. In Focus: Innovative crop protection for 21st century food security. Pest Management Science 2018, 74(4), 779-780.
• Tétard-Jones C, Sabbadin F, Moss S, Hull R, Neve P, Edwards R. Changes in the proteome of the problem weed blackgrass correlating with multiple herbicide resistance. The Plant Journal 2018, 94(4), 709-720.
• Bjarnholt N, Neilson EH, Crocoll C, Jørgensen K, Motawie MS, Olsen CE, Dixon DP, Edwards R, Møller BL. Glutathione transferases catalyze recycling of auto-toxic cyanogenic glucosides in sorghum. Plant Journal 2018, 94(6), 1109-1125.
• Brazier-Hicks M, Gershater M, Dixon D, Edwards R. Substrate specificity and safener-inducibility of the plant UDP-glucose dependent family 1 glycosyltransferases super-family. Plant Biotechnology Journal 2018, 16(1), 337-348.
• Brazier-Hicks M, Knight KM, Sellars JD, Steel PG, Edwards R. Testing a chemical series inspired by plant stress oxylipin signalling agents for herbicide safening activity. Pest Management Science 2018, 74(4), 828-836.
• Ahmad L, Rylott EL, Bruce NC, Edwards R, Grogan G. Structural evidence for Arabidopsis glutathione transferase AtGSTF2 functioning as a transporter of small organic ligands. FEBS Open Bio 2017, 7(2), 122-132.
• Sabbadin F, Glover R, Stafford R, Rozado-Aguirre Z, Boonham N, Adams I, Mumford R, Edwards R. Transcriptome sequencing identifies novel persistent viruses inherbicide resistant wild-grasses. Scientific Reports 2017, 7, 41987.
• Tétard-Jones C, Edwards R. Potential roles for microbial endophytes in herbicide tolerance in plants. Pest Management Science 2016, 72(2), 203-209.
• Edwards R, Hannah M. Focus on weed control. Plant Physiology 2014, 166(3), 1087-1089.
• Edwards R. New insights into the molecular basis of metabolism-based herbicide resistance in weeds. In: 248th ACS National Meeting & Exposition. 2014, San Francisco: American Chemical Society.
• Brazier-Hicks Melissa, Edwards Robert. Metabolic engineering of the flavone-C-glycoside pathway using polyprotein technology. Metabolic Engineering 2013, 16, 11-20.
• Ingram JSI, Wright HL, Foster L, Aldred T, Barling D, Benton TG, Berryman PM, Bestwick CS, Bows-Larkin A, Brocklehurst TF, Buttriss J, Casey J, Collins H, Crossley DS, Dolan CS, Dowler E, Edwards R, Finney KJ, Fitzpatrick JL, Fowler M, Garrett DA, Godfrey JE, Godley A, Griffiths W, Houlston EJ, Kaiser MJ, Kennard R, Knox JW, Kuyk A, Linter BR, Macdiarmid JI, Martindale W, Mathers JC, McGonigle DF, Mead A, Millar SJ, Miller A, Murray C, Norton IT, Parry S, Pollicino M, Quested TE, Tassou S, Terry LA, Tiffin R, van de Graaf P, Vorley W, Westby A, Sutherland WJ. Priority research questions for the UK food system. Food Security 2013, 5(5), 617-636.
• Taylor VL, Cummins I, Brazier-Hicks M, Edwards R. Protective responses induced by herbicide safeners in wheat. Environmental and Experimental Botany 2013, 88, 93-99.