John Innes Centre
About
The John Innes Centre is an independent, international centre of excellence in plant science, genetics and microbiology.
Plant research
The research we do makes use of a wide range of disciplines in biological and chemical sciences, including microbiology, cell biology, biochemistry, chemistry, genetics, molecular biology, computational and mathematical biology.
We receive funding from the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) for four Institute Strategic Programs (ISPs) that directly address BBSRC strategic objectives in food security, human health and industrial biotechnology:
- Genes in the Environment
- Plant Health (in partnership with The Sainsbury Laboratory)
- Molecules from Nature
- Designing Future Wheat (a cross-institute strategic programme)
The John Innes Horticultural Institution was founded in 1910 at Merton in South London under the directorship of William Bateson. Bateson was a hugely influential figure in the field which is now known as genetics, even coining the term in a letter to Adam Sedgwick in 1905. The Institution was originally a training school in advanced horticulture for gardeners; a fruit-breeding research station for the Board of Agriculture; and a national centre for horticultural ‘experiment and research’.Following Bateson’s death in 1926, A. Daniel Hall was appointed director, and it was under his directorship that the formulae for ‘John Innes Composts’ were developed. The John Innes Horticultural Institution made the formulae generally available, but never manufactured composts for sale or benefited financially from their production.After the Second World War, under the directorship of C. D. Darlington, the Institution was moved to a large estate at Bayfordbury in Hertfordshire. In the 1950s, as cell biology and biochemical and microbiological approaches to genetics developed, fruit breeding research diminished, and the large grounds became less important. The Institution was renamed the John Innes Institute in 1960 to better reflect the fundamental research being done there.In 1967, the John Innes Institute moved to its present site on the outskirts of Norwich to form an association with the University of East Anglia. The first director at the new site was Roy Markham, who brought with him his Virus Research Unit team from Cambridge. In 1994 the Institute was renamed the John Innes Centre, after the John Innes Institute integrated with part of the former Plant Breeding Institute, relocated from Cambridge, and the AFRC Nitrogen Fixation Unit which moved from the University of Sussex.
Wheat research discovery yields genetic secrets that could shape future crops
A new study has isolated a gene controlling shape and size of spikelets in wheat in a breakthrough which could help breeders deliver yield increases in one of the world’s most important crops.
The team from the John Innes Centre say the underlying genetic mechanism they have found is also relevant to inflorescence (floral) architecture in a number of other major cereals including corn, barley and rice.
The genetic identification of an agronomically-relevant trait represents a significant milestone in research on wheat; a crop with a notoriously complex genome.
The findings, published today in the journal The Plant Cell, give breeders a new tool to accelerate the global quest to improve wheat. The study also highlights a range of next generation techniques available for fundamental research into wheat, the world’s most abundantly produced crop.
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