Noni Franklin-Tong

FRS
Born
Vernonica Elsa Tong

London
Alma materUniversity of Birmingham
Scientific career
FieldsSelf-incompatibility
Signalling
Cytoskeleton
Programmed cell death[1]
InstitutionsUmeå University
University of Edinburgh
ThesisThe genetics of self-incompatibility in Papaver rhoeas L. (1986)
Websitewww.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/biosciences/franklin-tong-noni.aspx

Vernonica "Noni" Elsa Franklin-Tong FRS is an English plant cell biologist who is Emeritus Professor at the University of Birmingham. She is known for her studies on self-incompatibility in Papaver rhoeas. In 2021 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.[2][3]

Early life and education

Franklin-Tong was born in London.[4] She was an undergraduate student at the University of Birmingham, where she majored in biological sciences. She remained at Birmingham for her graduate studies, where she completed a PhD on the genetics of self-incompatibility in Papaver rhoeas in 1986.[5]

Research and career

Franklin-Tong was awarded a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) advanced fellowship.[4] In 1997, she was appointed a lecturer at the University of Birmingham, and promoted to chair in 2004. Her research[1][6][7] investigates the cellular mechanisms involved in the regulation of the cell-cell recognition system of self-incompatibility in Papaver rhoeas.[8] Self-incompatibility prevents inbreeding through the recognition and inhibition of a flower's own pollen, ultimately determining the reproductive success of flowering plants.[4][3]

Franklin-Tong developed an in vitro bioassay that allowed for the first investigations into the cell biology of self-incompatibility, unravelling the mechanisms that underpin the rejection of pollen that is not compatible. She identified an intricate intracellular signalling network that regulates this self-incompatibility and culminates in cell death.[4]

She showed that the pollen S-determinant (PrpS) can be expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana, a model plant that is self-compatibile.[9] When transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana pollen is exposed to recombinant Papaver rhoeas a similar response occurs to those detected in incompatible Papaver rhoeas pollen. This indicates that PrpS is a species with no self-incompatibility that diverged over one hundred million years ago.[4]

Selected publications

  • W G van Doorn; E P Beers; J L Dangl; et al. (15 April 2011). "Morphological classification of plant cell deaths". Cell Death & Differentiation. 18 (8): 1241–1246. doi:10.1038/CDD.2011.36. ISSN 1350-9047. PMC 3172093. PMID 21494263. Wikidata Q37865383.
  • Noni Franklin-Tong (1 April 1999). "Signaling and the modulation of pollen tube growth". The Plant Cell. 11 (4): 727–738. doi:10.1105/TPC.11.4.727. ISSN 1040-4651. PMID 10213789. Wikidata Q95297242.
  • Jason J. Rudd; Vernonica E. Franklin-Tong (July 2001). "Unravelling response-specificity in Ca2+ signalling pathways in plant cells". New Phytologist. 151 (1): 7–33. doi:10.1046/J.1469-8137.2001.00173.X. ISSN 0028-646X. Wikidata Q104903614.
  • Thomas Dresselhaus; Noni Franklin-Tong (July 2013). "Male-female crosstalk during pollen germination, tube growth and guidance, and double fertilization". Plant Physiology Journal. 6 (4): 1018–36. doi:10.1093/MP/SST061. ISSN 0257-4829. PMID 23571489. Wikidata Q26829569.

Personal life

Franklin-Tong was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Vernonica Franklin-Tong publications indexed by Google Scholar
  2. ↑ "Vernonica Franklin-Tong | Royal Society". royalsociety.org.
  3. 1 2 "Royal Society recognizes the outstanding contribution of local woman to science research". tenby-today.co.uk. Tenby Observer. Retrieved 2021-05-16.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Professor Noni Franklin-Tong". birmingham.ac.uk. University of Birmingham. Retrieved 2021-05-16.
  5. ↑ Tong, Vernonica Elsa (1986). The genetics of self-incompatibility in Papaver rhoeas L. (PhD thesis). University of Birmingham. OCLC 911146126.
  6. ↑ Vernonica Franklin-Tong publications from Europe PubMed Central
  7. ↑ Vernonica Franklin-Tong publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  8. ↑ "Breakthrough in breeding technologies". birmingham.ac.uk. University of Birmingham. Retrieved 2021-05-16.
  9. ↑ Anon (2010). "Investigating the PrpS-PrsS (pollen & pistil SI determinant) interaction". ukri.org. UK Research and Innovation. Retrieved 2021-05-16.
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