Biography

Professor Philip J. White held an Open Exhibition in Natural Sciences at New College, Oxford University, and graduated with a BA in Biochemistry in 1983. He was awarded a PhD in Natural Sciences (Botany) from the University of Manchester in 1987. He has worked at the Universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge and, from 1992 to 2006, was employed by Horticulture Research International. He is a Special Professor in Plant Ion Transport at the University of Nottingham, and a Visiting Associate Professor at the Comenius University, Bratislava.

He is Convenor of the Plant Transport Group of the Society of Experimental Biology (UK), for whom he organises meetings on ion transport in plants and fungi. He has been a commissioned contributor to Trends in Plant Science and BioMedNet (2000-2004), served on the Editorial Advisory Boards of six periodicals, and edited Special Issues of Journal of Experimental Botany and books on Plant Nutritional Genomics and The Ecophysiology of Plant-Phosphorus Interactions. He is currently Programme Leader in Environment Plant Interactions at SCRI.

Current Research

He is engaged on projects addressing plant mineral nutrition, from the genes to the harvest, collaborating closely with Martin Broadley, John Hammond, Duncan Greenwood and Andrew Thompson. His research encompasses three broad aims.

The first aim is to optimise the use of mineral fertilisers in crop production and, thereby, reduce fertiliser inputs and pollution. In recent years, this work has focused on improving the phosphorus (P) nutrition of horticultural crops and has included the development of molecular diagnostics for P-starvation, the identification of P-efficient varieties, and the trialling of sustainable P-fertilisers.

The second aim is to reduce the entry of toxic elements into the food chain. This work has focused on identifying the molecular mechanisms by which radioisotopes and toxic elements are accumulated by plants, and developing strategies to reduce their concentrations in edible tissues.

The third aim is to improve the nutritional quality of crops through their biofortification with essential nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, selenium and zinc. These collaborative projects include the development of commercial products and intervention studies.

Current Projects

2009-2014: NUE-CROPS: Improving nutrient efficiency in European crops, EU
2009-2014: Improving nutritional quality in crops (CRP#1487), IAEA
2007-2009: Barley mutation grid (Project 13618/RO), IAEA
2006-2010: MYCOREMED: Effect of AM fungi on radiocaesium accumulation by plants
2006-2011: Reducing N requirements of new oilseed rape varieties (LK0979), Defra
2006-2009: BAGELS: Biofortification of wheat with selenium (LK0974), Defra
2006-2009: Development and evaluation of low-phytate wheat (LK0973), Defra

Consultant to Warwick University

2007-2011: Quantifying genetic diversity in PUE of Brassica napus (WQ0119), Defra
2005-2010: Targeting fertiliser applications to wide-row crops (HH3509SFV), Defra
2005-2010: Genetic analysis of root traits for water use (HH3651SPC), Defra
2004-2009: Optimising interactions between N, P and K supply (HH3507SFV), Defra
2004-2009: Genetic markers for water-use efficiency (HH3608TX), Defra

Consultant to The University of Nottingham

2009-2013: Biofortifying Brassica with calcium and magnesium, BBSRC

Research History

2007-2008: Neutral evolution of the Brassicaceae leaf transcriptome, SCRI Innovation Fund
2006-2008: EU-Sol: High quality Solanaceous crops, EU
2006-2007: Support for trials of composted products (ORG0056), WRAP
2006: Updating estimates of the source of P in UK waters (WT0701CSF), Defra
2005-2006: Assessing allelic diversity in a Brassica oleracea core collection, BBSRC
2005: Dissecting QTL for chilling tolerance in tomato, FONDECYT
2004-2005: Phytotoxicity studies of unconventional fertilizers (NT2605), Defra
2004: Reviewing the potential to reduce N and P inputs in farm systems (ES0201), Defra
2003-2008: Sustainable phosphorus fertilisation of potatoes (HH3504SPO), Defra
2003-2006: The mechanisms and manipulation of cation transport, BBSRC
2003-2005: Countermeasure crops: reducing 137Cs in the food chain, Royal Society
2003-2005: Is struvite a valuable phosphate source for agriculture? Cherub Trust
2003-2004: Mineral and nutritional content of produce (HH3720SX), Defra
2002-2007: The genetics of nutrient-use efficiency in Brassica (HH3501SFV), Defra
2001-2002: Gene expression profiles under nutrient deficiency (HH3502SFV), Defra
2001-2002: QTL affecting phosphate-use efficiency in Brassica (HH1408SFV+), Defra

Recent Publications

• Dupuy, L., Vignes, M., McKenzie, B., White, P.J. 2009. The dynamics of root meristem distribution in the soil. Plant, Cell and Environment (in press).
• George, T.S., Brown, L.K., Newton, A.C., Hallett, P.D., Sun, B.H., Thomas, W.T.B., White, P.J. 2009. Impact of soil tillage on the robustness of the genetic component of variation in phosphorus (P) use efficiency in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Plant and Soil (in press).
• Hammond, J.P., Broadley, M.R., White, P.J., King, G.J., Bowen, H.C., Hayden, R., Meacham, M.C., Mead, A., Overs, T., Spracklen, W.P., Greenwood, D.J. 2009. Shoot yield drives phosphorus use efficiency in Brassica oleracea and correlates with root architecture traits. Journal of Experimental Botany 60, 1953-1968.
• Karley, A.J., White, P.J. 2009. Moving cationic minerals to edible tissues: Potassium, magnesium, calcium. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 12, 291-298.
• White, P.J. 2009. Depolarisation-activated calcium channels shape the calcium signatures induced by low-temperature stress. New Phytologist 183, 6-8.
• White, P.J., Broadley, M.R. 2009. Biofortification of crops with seven mineral elements often lacking in human diets – iron, zinc, copper, calcium, magnesium, selenium and iodine. New Phytologist 182, 49-84.
• White, P.J., Hammond, J.P. 2009. The sources of phosphorus in the waters of Great Britain. Journal of Environmental Quality 38, 13-26.
• White, P.J., Bradshaw, J.E., Dale, M.F.B., Ramsay, G., Hammond, J.P., Broadley, M.R. 2009. Relationships between yield and mineral concentrations in potato tubers. HortScience 44, 6-11.
• White, P.J., Hammond, J.P., King, G.J., Bowen, H.C., Hayden, R.M., Meacham, M.C., Spracklen, W.P., Broadley, M.R., Genetic analysis of potassium use efficiency in Brassica oleracea. Annals of Botany (in press).
• Yang, D., Zhang, T., Zhang, K., Greenwood, D.J., Hammond, J.P., White, P.J. 2009. An easily implemented agro-hydrological procedure with dynamic root simulation for water transfer in the crop-soil system: validation and application. Journal of Hydrology 370, 177-190.
• Zhang, K., Burns, I.G., Greenwood, D.J., Hammond, J.P., White, P.J. 2009. Developing a reliable strategy to infer the effective soil hydraulic properties from field evaporation experiments for agro-hydrological models. Agricultural Water Management (in press).

Refereed publications 2004-2008 as a pdf file(32 KB)

Posters

(View all posters)

Attachment	Size
Variation in rooting habit of potatoes: potential for improving resource capture	461.1 KB
MYCOREMED Arbuscular mycorrhizae and radiocaesium uptake by plants	259.39 KB
Pilot study to investigate the variation in rooting habit of potatoes: initial screen and field trial	311.98 KB
Potassium deficiency and defence signalling	1.72 MB
Studies on the distribution of minerals in potato tubers	1.4 MB
Root architecture in potato: potential for improving resource capture and QTL mapping	876.75 KB
Root models to improve crop performance From cell to field	323.16 KB
Potassium Deficiency and JA-dependent Responses to Biotic Stress in Barley	1.33 MB
Glomus does not influence caesium uptake by Medicago truncatula at high external caesium supply	345.98 KB
Potassium Deficiency and JA-dependent Responses to Biotic Stress in Barley	216.78 KB
Genetic variation in zinc (Zn) accumulation by Brassicaceae	478.88 KB