DOE Plant Research Laboratory
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
(517) 353-4885; FAX (517) 353-9168; walton@msu.edu
 

Education

Ph.D., Biological Sciences, 1982, Stanford Univ. Advisor: Peter M. Ray.
M.S., Plant Pathology, 1978, Cornell Univ. Advisor: Prof. Olen C. Yoder.
A.B., Biology, 1975, University of California, Santa Cruz.

Professional Appointments

Professor, Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State
University. 1997-present.  Joint appointment in Department of Plant Biology, adjunct appoint in Department of Plant Pathology.
Associate Professor, Michigan State University, 1992-1997.
Assistant Professor, Michigan State University, 1987-1992.
Postdoctoral Associate, ARCO Plant Cell Research Institute, Dublin, CA, 1984-1987.
NATO Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Rome, Italy, 1983-1984.
Postdoctoral Associate, Dept. Plant Breeding, Cornell University, 1981-1983.

Honors and Professional Achievements:

Biology Teaching Fellowship, Stanford, 1979-1981.
National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, 1976-1979.
Honors in the Major, UC Santa Cruz, 1975.
Thomas J. Watson Memorial National Merit Scholarship, 1971-1975.
Sabbatical leave, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of
 California, Berkeley.  Laboratory of John Casida. 1993-1994.
Board of Directors, IS-MPMI, 2001-2003
President, IS-MPMI, 2003-2005  (link to IS-MPMI.)
MSU Distinguished Faculty Award, 2002
MSU College of Natural Sciences Distinguished Faculty Award, MSU, 2002.

Languages: fluent in Italian
 

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS (please see publications.html)
 

Patents

U. S. 5,973,229 “Gene encoding herbicide safener binding protein”. Inventors: J.D. Walton and J.S. Scott-Craig. Issued October 26, 1999
 

Grant support (since 1987)

Department of Energy. $85,000 (direct costs per year). Molecular Bases of Plant Pathogenesis. 1997-1999.
AURIG, MSU. $5150. Production of Radiolabelled HC-toxin for Studies on its Metabolism and Site of Action in Plants. 1988.
National Science Foundation. $180,000. (total costs) Molecular Biology of Host-SpecificToxin Biosynthesis. 1988-1991.Renewed 1991-1994, $210,000. (total costs).
MSU-Research Excellence Fund. $27,290. Mode of Action of a Host-Specific Peptide Phytotoxin: Towards Identification of a Plant Disease Resistance Gene. 1989.
NATO Collaborative Research Grant. $8109. Genetic and Biochemical Analysis of Endo-polygalacturonase in the Plant Pathogen Cochliobolus. 1990-1991 (renewal). (With F. Cervone, University of Rome, Italy).
National Science Foundation, Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement Program.Equipment for Undergraduate Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology Laboratory Course. (John Ohlrogge, MSU, co-P.I.). $24,777.50 plus matching funds from MSU. 1988-1989.
Biomedical Research Support Grant, MSU. $4200. Sequencing xylanase and lichenase enzymes. 1990.
MSU Biotechnology Research Center. $23,000. Comparative biochemical genetics of cyclic peptide biosynthesis. 1990.
MSU-REF Center for New Plant Products. $32,000. Molecular genetics of enzymes that degrade plant cell walls. 1992.
US Department of Agriculture CRGO.  Role of cell wall degrading enzymes in fungal plant pathogenesis. $80,000. (total costs). 1991-1993. Renewed 1993-1995, $120,000. Renewed 1996-1998, $120,000.
Herman Frasch Foundation, American Chemical Society. Evolution of a cyclic peptide gene cluster from a fungal maize pathogen. $85,000. (total). 1992-1997.
National Institutes of Health. Biochemical genetics of cyclic peptide biosynthesis. $433,143. total costs. 1993-1997.  Additional funding, 1997-1998, $31,250.
MSU Research Excellence Fund - Protein Structure and Activity. $9000. (1993/4)
MSU Research Excellence Fund - New Plant Products. $17,000. (1993/4).  Renewed 1994/5, $10,000. Renewed 1996/97, $9000.  Renewed 1997/8, $20,000. (with Karl Bishop, MSU Dept. of Chemistry). Renewed 1998/99 ($28,000).
Ciba-Geigy Corporation. $127,500, total costs, 1994/1995.
USDA CRGP. Co-evolution of Phytotoxin Production and Auto-Immunity in a Pathogenic Fungus. 1999-2002. $218,000. total costs.
NSF Plant Genome Initiative. Functional Genomics of Hemicellulose Biosynthesis. 1999-2002. $2,200,000. total costs. With Natasha Raikhel (PI) and Kenneth Keegstra (co-PI). Renewed 2002-2007, $5,100,000. total costs.

Society Memberships and Professional Activities

American Society of Plant Physiologists
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Phytopathological Society
International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions

Ad hoc grant reviewer for: USDA, DOE, NSF, NSERC, Australian Research Council, Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF), Israel Science Foundation, Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research-Life Sciences Foundation, BARD, Ohio State Hayes Development Fund, Oklahoma State University, International Foundation for Science (Stockholm)

Manuscript reviewer for: Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Archives of Microbiology, BioControl, Biochimie, Canadian Journal of Botany, Current Genetics, Current Microbiology, Environmental Microbiology, Eukaryotic Cell, European Journal of Plant Pathology, FEMS Microbiology Letters, Fungal Genetics and Biology, Gene, Journal of Bacteriology, Journal of Phytopathology, Molecular and General Genetics, Molecular Microbiology, Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, Maydica, Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology, Phytopathologia Mediterranea, Phytopathology, Plant Cell, Plant Journal, Plant Physiology, Plant Science, Planta, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Science, Tree Physiology, Trends in Microbiology

Grant panel member, NSF Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement Program (1989).
Grant panel member, DOE Division of Energy Biosciences (1989 and 1991).

Associate editor, Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, 1991-1994.
Senior editor (Plant/Fungus Interactions) Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, 1995-1997.
Editor-in-Chief, IS-MPMI Reporter (Newsletter of the International Society for Plant Microbe Interactions, 2000-2003.
Member, Board of Directors, IS-MPMI, 2001-2003.
President-Elect, IS-MPMI, 2001-2003.
Board of Editors, Eukaryotic Cell (American Society of Microbiology), 2001-2006.
Editorial Committee, Annual Review of Phytopathology, 2003-2006.

Outside thesis reviewer:
Paola Sposato, University of Naples (Portici), 1995.
Eva Maria Brandtner, University of Innsbruck, Austria, 2001.
Patrick Trojer, University of Innsbruck, Austria, 2002
 

Teaching:

Botany 415, Spring, 1988. Responsible for laboratory portion of plant physiology course.
Genetics 800,  Fall, 1987.  "Genetics of Higher Fungi and Plant/Fungi Interactions".
Botany 416: 1989-1992. "Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology Laboratory".  Co-taught
with John Ohlrogge. Four credits.
Botany 881:  Advanced Plant Pathology.  Winter, 1990 (with Hammerschmidt and Somerville). Spring, 1995, 1997, 1999; with R. Hammerschmidt. Four credits.  Enrollment 1999: 16
Biological Sciences 111 (Introductury Cell and Molecular Biology): Spring, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 200, 2003. Four credits. Enrollment 1999: 435; 2001: 350; 2003, 420.
Botany 856: Plant Molecular Biology. Four lectures, Spring, 2001. Enrollment ~40
Genetics 800, Fall, 2001.  “Chromatin and Gene Regulation”, with S. Triezenberg, M.H. Kuo, and M. Fluck 

Last Updated:  February 6, 2004