David Jones

Group membership

David Jones obtained his B.Sc. (Hons) and PhD at the Department of Genetics, University of Adelaide working on the genetics of the interaction between flax and the flax rust fungus Melampsora lini. He was then awarded a Charles John Everard Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Plant Pathology, Waite Agricultural Research Institute, University of Adelaide where he worked on the biological control of crown gall. His work led to the first commercial release of a genetically modified bacterium, subsequently marketed as NoGall. He was then offered a postdoctoral fellowship in The Sainsbury Laboratory, John Innes Centre, Norwich, where he worked on the genetic and molecular basis of the interaction between tomato and the leaf mould fungus Cladopsorium fulvum. His work led to the isolation of the tomato Cf-9 gene, one of the first plant disease resistance genes cloned. In 1996, he returned to Australia to set up his own lab in the Research School of Biological Sciences (now the Research School of Biology) at The Australian National University, where he continues work on the molecular basis of disease and disease resistance in tomato (leaf mould and Fusarium wilt) and flax (flax rust).

Research interests

  • Protein trafficking
  • Plant physiology
  • Signal transduction
  • Gene expression (incl. microarray and other genome-wide approaches)
  • Genome structure and regulation
  • Receptors and membrane biology
  • Plant cell and molecular biology
  • Plant pathology
  • Genetics

Recent grants

  • Dr David Jones and Dr Peter Dodds (CSIRO Plant Industry) ARC Discovery 2012-2014 Isolation and functional characterisation of a pathogen meta effector able to inhibit detection of multiple disease effectors by resistant plants, $340K 
  • Dr Ann-Maree Catanzariti and Dr Martijn Rep (University of Amsterdam) ARC Discovery - APD 2010-2012 Pathogen  recognition and plant defence activation by a novel Fusarium wilt resistance protein from tomato, $330K
  • Professor Adrienne Hardham, Dr David Jones, Dr Peter Dodds (CSIRO Plant Industry) and Dr Jeff Ellis (CSIRO Plant Industry) ARC Discovery 2010-2012 Role of fungal secreted proteins as plant disease effectors $330K
  • Dr David Jones and Mr Des McGrath (Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries) ARC Linkage - PhD Studentship 2010-2012 Protecting tomato crops from Fusarium wilt through the efficient application of new genetic resources. $80K.

Selected publications

All publications

Convenor and lecturer in BIOL3177 Advances in Molecular Plant Science and BIOL3106 Biosecurity