Pamela Ronald

Pamela C. Ronald

Pamela Ronald and Raoul Adamchak
Born 1961
U.S.
Residence U.S.
Nationality United States
Fields Plant pathology, Genetics
Institutions Institute for Food and Agricultural Literacy, Joint BioEnergy Institute
Alma mater Reed College, UC Berkeley
Doctoral advisor Helen Stafford
Website
http://indica.ucdavis.edu/

Pamela C. Ronald (born 1961) is an American plant pathologist and geneticist.[1] She is a professor in the Genome Center and the Department of Plant Pathology,[2] and founding faculty director of the Institute for Food and Agricultural Literacy (IFAL), all at the University of California, Davis.[3] She also serves as Director of Grass Genetics at the Joint BioEnergy Institute in Emeryville, California.[2]

Her laboratory has genetically engineered rice for resistance to diseases and tolerance to flooding, which are serious problems of rice crops in Asia and Africa. Ronald's research has been published in Science, Nature and other leading peer-reviewed scientific journals, and has also been featured in The New York Times,[4] Organic Gardening Magazine,[5] Forbes Magazine,[6] The Wall Street Journal, The Progressive Farmer,[7] CNN,[8] Discover Magazine, The Scientist,[9] Popular Mechanics,[10] Bill Gates blog,[11] National Public Radio[12] and National Geographic.[1]

Early life and education

External media
Audio
“Episode 203: Genetic Engineering and Organic Farming: An Unexpected Marriage” (includes interview with Pamela C. Ronald and Raoul Adamchak), Chemical Heritage Foundation
Video
“Pamela Ronald: The Case for Engineering our Food“, TED Talks
“GMOrganic: A Botanical Love Story“

Pamela Ronald was born in 1961 to Patricia (né Rosenthal) and Robert Ronald of San Mateo, California. Her father Robert Ronald, a Jewish refugee, wrote a memoir entitled "Last Train to Freedom".[13][14] From an early age, Ronald spent time backpacking in the Sierra Nevada wilderness, sparking her love for plant biology.[2]

As a student at Reed College with Helen Stafford (1922–2011),[15] Ronald became intrigued by the interactions of plants with other organisms. For her senior thesis, she studied the recolonization of Mt. St Helens. Ronald received a B.A. in Biology from Reed College in 1982.[16][17]

She went on to earn an M.A. in Biology from Stanford University in 1984 and an M.S. from Uppsala University, Sweden in plant physiology in 1985.[18] As a Fulbright Scholar in Sweden she visited Nils Fries and studied how plants interact with mycorrhizal fungi.[14]

As a graduate student at UC Berkeley, she began to study plant-bacterial interactions in the laboratory of Brian Staskawicz, working with peppers and tomatoes.[1][19] Realizing that rice is the biggest food staple in the world, she decided to study rice, determining her future career.[1] She received her Ph.D. in molecular and physiological plant biology in 1990.[18] She was a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University from 1990–1992 in the laboratory of Steven Tanksley.[18][20]

In 1996 she married Raoul Adamchak, an organic farmer.[21] They have two children, Cliff and Audrey.[20]

Career and research

In 1992, Ronald joined UC Davis as a faculty member. From 2003–2007 Ronald chaired the UC Davis Distinguished Women in Science seminar series, an event designed to support women's professional advancement in the sciences. She served as Faculty Assistant to the Provost from 2004–2007.[22]

In addition to being a professor in the Genome Center and the Department of Plant Pathology at UC Davis,[2] Ronald is the founding faculty director of the Institute for Food and Agricultural Literacy (IFAL) at the University of California, Davis.[3] She also serves as Director of Grass Genetics at the Joint BioEnergy Institute in Emeryville, California.[2]

Ronald is a vocal advocate for the development of foods that will improve agricultural production while minimizing its negative impact. The Ronald laboratory focuses on the development of strains of rice that will be more robust and productive and offer health benefits. They have been instrumental in the development of rice that is disease-resistant and flood-tolerant.[23]

Xa21: Pattern recognition receptor-mediated immunity

The Ronald laboratory studies the innate immune response, using the host organism rice and the agriculturally important pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo). In the 1990s, through conversations with rice geneticist Gurdev Khush, Ronald became interested in the rice XA21 genetic locus, which conferred broad-spectrum resistance to Xoo.[24][25] She hypothesized that Xa21 encoded a single protein that recognized a conserved microbial determinant.[26]

In 1995, the Ronald laboratory isolated and characterized the rice XA21 pattern recognition receptor.[2][27][28] Subsequent discoveries in flies,[29] humans,[30] mice,[31] and Arabidopsis[32] revealed that animals and other plant species also carry membrane-anchored receptors with striking structural similarities to XA21 and that these receptors also play key roles in the immune response.[33] For their discoveries of the fly and mice receptors, Jules Hoffman and Bruce Beutler received the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (jointly with Ralph Steinman), indicating the importance of such research.[34]

Paper retraction

In 2009[35] and 2011,[36] Ronald's laboratory reported on the discovery of a bacterial protein that they believed was the activator of Xa21-mediated immunity. It was an exciting and important discovery.[37] In 2013, Ronald retracted both scientific papers, notifying the scientific community that two bacterial strains, Ax21 and RaxSt, had been confused.[38][39] The error was discovered when new laboratory members Rory Pruitt and Benjamin Schwessinger[40] were unable to replicate previous results. As a result, the laboratory carried out a lengthy and painstaking process, re-confirming the genotypes of all the laboratory strains in their collection. Examination of the bacterial strains and rice seed stocks indicated that one of the bacterial strains involved in key experiments had been mislabeled. Researchers also discovered that results of one of the tests that had been performed were highly variable. In a blog post at Scientific American, Ronald describes the 18-month process leading to the retraction.[41] The retractions were also reported on by The Scientist.[42] Retraction watch, a website that shines light on problems with papers and educates and celebrates research ethics and good practices stated, "that this was a case of scientists doing the right thing".[39] As part of a story about the importance of setting the record straight, in 2014, Nature magazine also covered the Ronald retraction.[43]

RaxX as a mediator of Xa21

For two more years Ronald's laboratory repeated critical experiments and carried out new ones. In redoing their work, they introduced new procedures and controls to ensure that they were getting it right. Ronald reports that she was amazed not only by the perseverance and loyalty of her team, but also by the community support that she received during this difficult time.[44] In 2015, Ronald published the discovery of the predicted ligand of XA21, a sulfated peptide called RaxX, correcting their mistake and bringing the research team full circle.[40][45]

Genetic Resources Recognition Fund

Ronald has sought ways to recognize source nations and institutions that have contributed to important scientific advances, such as the West African country of Mali, the source of the Xa21 rice gene. Working with law professor John Barton, Ronald tried to establish a benefit-sharing model for the source countries of genetically important plant varieties. In 1996, Ronald founded the Genetic Resources Recognition Fund (GRRF) at UC Davis. The intention of the fund was to collect payments from the licensing of academic discoveries that utilized plant materials from developing countries, and to redistribute those monies to source countries through fellowships, land conservation efforts, or other projects of benefit to nation partners.[20]:142–147[46][47][48][49]

Sub1: Tolerance to abiotic stress

In 1996, Ronald began a project with rice breeder David Mackill who had recently demonstrated that tolerance to complete submergence mapped to the Submergence tolerance 1 (Sub1) Quantitative trait locus (QTL). In 1997, the USDA awarded Ronald and Mackill a grant to isolate the Sub1 locus. Ronald’s laboratory led the positional cloning of the Sub1 QTL, revealed that it carried three ethylene response transcription factors (ERF) and demonstrated that one of the ERFs, which she designated Sub1A, was upregulated rapidly in response to submergence and conferred robust tolerance to submergence in transgenic plants .[50] This work revealed an important mechanism with which plants control tolerance to abiotic stress and set the stage for in-depth molecular-genetic analyses of Sub1A-mediated processes with her collaborator Julia Bailey-Serres, who joined the project in 2003.[51][52][53] Mackill’s team at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) generated and released several Sub1A varieties (developed through marker-assisted breeding) in seven countries including India, Indonesia and Bangladesh, where submergence destroys four million tons of rice each year, enough to feed 30 million people.[54] With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,[55] Sub1 rice has reached over four million farmers.[56]

Public engagement

Ronald co-authored the book Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food with her husband, Raoul Adamchak. Tomorrow's Table was selected as one of the best books of 2008 by Seed Magazine[57] and the Library Journal.[58]

In addition to her scholarly publications, Ronald has written for The New York Times,[59] The Boston Globe,[60] Forbes Magazine,[61] Scientific American,[62] The Harvard International Review,[63] The Economist, the Boston review[64] and the MIT Technology Review.[65]

The song "Sierra Bound", from Rita Hosking's 2013 CD Little Boat, is dedicated to Pamela Ronald.

Awards and honors

Ronald was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2006.[66] In addition to being a Fulbright Fellow in 1984-1985,[67] she was named the Fulbright-Tocqueville Distinguished Chair in 2012.[18][68] She has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship (1999-2000),[69] and was a Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) in 2008.[70]

She and her colleagues have received a number of awards for their work on submergence tolerant rice. They were recipients of the USDA National Research Initiative Discovery Award in 2008,[70] and finalists for the World Technology Award for Environment in 2009.[71] In 2009, Ronald was nominated for the Biotech Humanitarian Award.[72] In 2012, Ronald, Mackill and postdoctoral fellow Xu received the Tech Award 2012 for innovative use of technology to benefit humanity.[73]

In 2011, Ronald was considered one of the 100 most creative people in business, according to Fast Company Magazine.[74] In 2015 Ronald was selected by Scientific American as one of the Worldview 100 — a list of the world’s 100 most influential people in biotechnology.[75]

Chronological list of honors

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Berlin, Jeremy (May 4, 2015). "Can This Scientist Unite Genetic Engineers and Organic Farmers?". National Geographic. an American woman ... at 54 ... Pamela Ronald
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Summers, Holly (April 22, 2012). "Bacteria Talk, Plants Listen: The Discovery of Plant Immune Receptors, an Interview with Pamela Ronald". Scientific American. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Institute for Food and Agricultural Literacy". CropGeneticsInnovation.org.
  4. Blakeslee, Sandra (1995-12-15). "Genetic Engineering Creates Rice Resistant to Destructive Blight". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  5. Ronald, Pamela C.; Adamchak, R. W. (2008). "Organic+GMO?". Organic Gardening (Fall 2008): 70–71. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  6. Herper, Matthew (2010-03-01). "Green Genes". Forbes.com. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  7. Lehner, Urban C. (April 10, 2009). "Reconciling GMOs and Organics". DTN/The Progressive Farmer. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  8. Ornstein, Peter (February 5, 2009). "Fighting hunger with flood-tolerant rice". CNN. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  9. Scudellari, Megan (April 1, 2011). "Family Affair". The Scientist. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  10. Sofge, Eric (September 30, 2009). "6 Future Mods for Our Minds and Bodies". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  11. "Pamela Ronald and Raoul Adamchak's Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food". Thegatesnotes.com. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  12. Hamilton, Jon (October 8, 2007). "Thai Scientists Look for a Greener Rice Crop". NPR. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  13. Horowitz, Sarah (October 16, 1998). "Survivor recalls escape on the `last train to freedom’". JWeekly.
  14. 1 2 Ronald, Robert (1997). Last train to freedom : a story of a Holocaust survivor's travels to America (1st ed.). California: R. Ronald. ISBN 9780966067705.
  15. Barton, Randall S. (June 2, 2012). "Bio Prof Bequeaths Fortune to Reed". Reed Magazine. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  16. "Mount St. Helens Research Bibliography Spring 2005" (PDF). Retrieved 2005.
  17. Ronald, Pamela (1982). The mycorrhizae of Mount Saint Helens: a study of fungal recolonization (B.A. thesis). Portland, Oregon: Reed College.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 "American Fulbright Grantees to France, Academic Year 2012-2013" (PDF). Fulbright.
  19. Lemaux, Peggy; Suslow, Trevor (1998). "UC contributes biotech breakthroughs". California Agriculture 52 (6): 6–7. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  20. 1 2 3 Ronald, Pamela C.; Adamchak, R. W. (2010). Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food (PDF). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195393570. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  21. "Pam Ronald & Raoul Adamchak". TEDMED. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
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  23. Ronald, Pamela; Adamchak, Raoul (March 2010). "The future of sustainable food production" (PDF). Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1190 (1): 184–185. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05261.x. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  24. Ikeda R et al. 1990. A new resistance gene to bacterial blight derived from O. longistaminata. Jap. J. Breed, 280-281
  25. Khush G.S. et al. 1990. A new gene for resistance to bacterial blight from O. longistaminata. Rice Genetics Newsletter, 121-122
  26. Ronald, P.C.; et al. (1992). "Genetic and physical analysis of the rice bacterial blight disease resistance locus, Xa21". Mol Gen Genet 236: 113–120.
  27. Song, W.-Y.; Wang, G.-L.; Chen, L.-L.; Kim, H.-S.; Pi, L.-Y.; Holsten, T.; Gardner, J.; Wang, B.; Zhai, W.-X.; Zhu, L.-H.; Fauquet, C.; Ronald, P. (15 December 1995). "A Receptor Kinase-Like Protein Encoded by the Rice Disease Resistance Gene, Xa21". Science 270 (5243): 1804–1806. doi:10.1126/science.270.5243.1804. PMID 8525370.
  28. Lee, S.-W.; Han, S.-W.; Sririyanum, M.; Park, C.-J.; Seo, Y.-S.; Ronald, P. C. (5 November 2009). "A Type I-Secreted, Sulfated Peptide Triggers XA21-Mediated Innate Immunity". Science 326 (5954): 850–853. doi:10.1126/science.1173438. PMID 19892983.
  29. Lemaitre, Bruno; Nicolas, Emmanuelle; Michaut, Lydia; Reichhart, Jean-Marc; Hoffmann, Jules A (September 1996). "The Dorsoventral Regulatory Gene Cassette spätzle/Toll/cactus Controls the Potent Antifungal Response in Drosophila Adults". Cell 86 (6): 973–983. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(00)80172-5. PMID 8808632.
  30. Janeway, Charles A.; Medzhitov, Ruslan; Preston-Hurlburt, Paula (24 July 1997). "A human homologue of the Drosophila Toll protein signals activation of adaptive immunity". Nature 388 (6640): 394–397. doi:10.1038/41131. PMID 9237759.
  31. Poltorak, A.; et al. (11 December 1998). "Defective LPS Signaling in C3H/HeJ and C57BL/10ScCr Mice: Mutations in Tlr4 Gene". Science 282 (5396): 2085–2088. doi:10.1126/science.282.5396.2085. PMID 9851930.
  32. Gómez-Gómez, Lourdes; Boller, Thomas (June 2000). "FLS2: an LRR receptor-like kinase involved in the perception of the bacterial elicitor flagellin in Arabidopsis". Molecular Cell 5 (6): 1003–1011. doi:10.1016/S1097-2765(00)80265-8. PMID 10911994.
  33. Ronald, P. C.; Beutler, B. (18 November 2010). "Plant and Animal Sensors of Conserved Microbial Signatures". Science 330 (6007): 1061–1064. doi:10.1126/science.1189468. PMID 21097929.
  34. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2011 Bruce A. Beutler, Jules A. Hoffmann, Ralph M. Steinman". Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  35. Lee, S.-W.; Han, S.-W.; Sririyanum, M.; Park, C.-J.; Seo, Y.-S.; Ronald, P. C. (5 November 2009). "A Type I-Secreted, Sulfated Peptide Triggers XA21-Mediated Innate Immunity". Science 326 (5954): 850–853. doi:10.1126/science.1173438.
  36. Han, Sang-Wook; Sriariyanun, Malinee; Lee, Sang-Won; Sharma, Manoj; Bahar, Ofir; Bower, Zachary; Ronald, Pamela C.; Chakravortty, Dipshikha (12 December 2011). "Small Protein-Mediated Quorum Sensing in a Gram-Negative Bacterium". PLoS ONE 6 (12): e29192. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0029192.
  37. "Pamela Ronald on New Discoveries in Rice Research". Science Watch. March 2011. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  38. "Doing the right thing: Researchers retract quorum sensing paper after public process". Retraction Watch. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  39. 1 2 "Pamela Ronald does the right thing again, retracting a Science paper". Retraction Watch. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
  40. 1 2 Gewin, Virginia (24 July 2015). "Rice researchers redress retraction". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2015.18055. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  41. Ronald, Pamela (October 10, 2013). "Lab Life: The Anatomy of a Retraction". Scientific American. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
  42. Yong, Ed (October 10, 2013). "Mislabeled Microbes Cause Two Retractions". The Scientist.
  43. Gewin, Virginia (19 March 2014). "Retractions: A clean slate". Nature 507 (7492): 389–391. doi:10.1038/nj7492-389a. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  44. "What do you do after painful retractions? Q&A with Pamela Ronald and Benjamin Schwessinger". Retractionwatch.com. 2015-07-24. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
  45. Pruitt, R. N.; Schwessinger, B.; Joe, A.; Thomas, N.; Liu, F.; Albert, M.; Robinson, M. R.; Chan, L. J. G.; Luu, D. D.; Chen, H.; Bahar, O.; Daudi, A.; De Vleesschauwer, D.; Caddell, D.; Zhang, W.; Zhao, X.; Li, X.; Heazlewood, J. L.; Ruan, D.; Majumder, D.; Chern, M.; Kalbacher, H.; Midha, S.; Patil, P. B.; Sonti, R. V.; Petzold, C. J.; Liu, C. C.; Brodbelt, J. S.; Felix, G.; Ronald, P. C. (24 July 2015). "The rice immune receptor XA21 recognizes a tyrosine-sulfated protein from a Gram-negative bacterium" (PDF). Science Advances 1 (6): e1500245–e1500245. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1500245. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  46. Ronald, P. C. (1998). "Genetic Resource Recognition Fund". AgBiotech News and Information (CAB International) 10 (1): 19N–21N. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  47. Perlman, David (May 26, 1997). "Rice-Gene Scientist Sharing Success With Poor Nations". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  48. Kate, Kerry ten; Laird, Sarah A. (2000). The commercial use of biodiversity : access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing. London: Earthscan Publ. p. 148. ISBN 978-1853833342. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  49. Brush, Stephen B. (March 2002). "The Lighthouse and the Potato: Internalizing the Value of Crop Genetic Diversity, Working Paper No. 37". University of Massachusetts Amherst. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  50. "Sub1A is an ethylene-response-factor-like gene that confers submergence tolerance to rice". Nature 442 (7103): 705–8. August 2006. doi:10.1038/nature04920. PMID 16900200.
  51. Jung; et al. (2010). "The submergence tolerance regulator Sub1A mediates stress-responsive expression of AP2/ERF transcription factors". Plant Physiology 152 (3): 1674–1692. doi:10.1104/pp.109.152157. PMC 2832257. PMID 20107022.
  52. Fukao, T.; et al. (2006). "A variable cluster of ethylene response factor-like genes regulates metabolic and developmental acclimation responses to submergence in rice". Plant Cell 18 (8): 2021–2034. doi:10.1105/tpc.106.043000. PMC 1533987. PMID 16816135.
  53. Seo, Y.S. (2011). "Towards establishment of a rice stress response interactome". PLoS Genetics 7 (4): 1–12. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1002020.
  54. Voosen, Paul (December 21, 2009). "Quiet Biotech Revolution Transforming Crops". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  55. "Pamela Ronald Professor of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis". The Breakthrough Institute. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  56. Folger, Tim (2014). "The Next Green Revolution". National Geographic (October 2014).
  57. "Seed Picks 2008: Seed Picks 2008 Seed Picks Seed selects the year's outstanding book releases, from Mary Roach's sex book, Bonk, to E.O. Wilson's ant colony opus, The Superorganism". Seed Magazine. December 23, 2008.
  58. "Tomorrow's table (Review)". Library Journal. Retrieved April 15, 2008.
  59. Ronald, Pamela; McWilliams, James E. (May 14, 2010). "Genetically Engineered Distortions". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  60. Ronald, Pamela (March 16, 2008). "The new organic: The future of food may depend on an unlikely marriage: organic farmers and genetic engineering". Indica.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
  61. Ronald, Pamela (August 12, 2012). "Would Rachel Carson Embrace 'Frankenfoods'? - This Scientist Believes 'Yes'". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
  62. Ronald, Pamela (1997). "Making Rice Disease-Resistant" (PDF). Scientific American (November): 100–105. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  63. Ronald, Pamela (October 26, 2009). "Foreign "Invaders"". Harvard International Review. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  64. Ronald, Pamela (September 6, 2013). "The Truth About GMOs". The Boston Review.
  65. Ronald, Pamela (June 12, 2014). "How Scare Tactics on GMO Foods Hurt Everybody". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
  66. 1 2 "AAAS Fellows, 2006" (PDF). Annual Report, AAAS. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  67. 1 2 "Pam Ronald Interview". Silent Killer: The Unfinished Campaign Against Hunger. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  68. "Pamela Ronald". Fulbright Scholar Program. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  69. 1 2 "John Simon Guggenheim Fellowships". Reed College. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  70. 1 2 3 4 5 "USDA's Discovery Award honors rice research". SeedQuest. December 2, 2008. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  71. "The World Technology Summit & Awards 2009". Wtn.net. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
  72. "Genetically Modified Conservation". Conservation (University of Washington). March 2, 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  73. 1 2 "California Scientists Honored Humanitarian rice research is making a difference". Rice Farming. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  74. 1 2 "75. Pamela Ronald". Fast Company. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  75. 1 2 "The Worldview 100". Scientific American. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
  76. "2009 Science in Society Awards | ScienceWriters". NASW.org. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
  77. Leary, Warren (12 July 2011). "Pamela C. Ronald: Global Food Crisis Requires New Technologies, Cooperation". Aaas.org. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
  78. "2012 Louis Malassis International Scientific Prize winners announced". Agropolis-fondation.fr. Retrieved 2016-01-05.

External links

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