Staff Profile

Dr Roger Hellens
Science Group Leader, Kiwifruit Crops
Breeding & Genomics

More information about our Breeding & Genomics research

Dr Roger Hellens

Qualifications

BSc (Hons), Molecular Biology, University of Liverpool, UK
PhD, Genetics, University of East Anglia, UK

Research Interests & Activities

Transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene regulation.  Biosynthesis and regulation of phenylpropanoids. 

International Collaboration

Plant Research International (PRI), The Netherlands
Istituto Agrarie San Michele all’ Adige (FEM-IASMA), Italy
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, USA
Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, USA
John Innes Institute, UK

Professional Memberships

Member, American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB)
Member, International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS)

Key Publications

Ellis THN, Hofer JMI, Timmerman-Vaughan GM, Coyne CJ, and Hellens RP. Mendel, 150 years on. Trends in Plant Science 2011 16:590-596
Telias A, Lin-Wang K, Stevenson DE, Cooney JM, Hellens RP, Allan AC, Emily E Hoover and James M Bradeen.  Apple skin patterning is associated with differential expression of MYB10. BMC Plant Biology 2011 11:93
Varkonyi-Gasic E, Moss SM, Voogd C, Wu R, Lough RH, Wang Y-Y and Hellens RP.  Identification and characterization of flowering genes in kiwifruit: sequence conservation and role in kiwifruit flower development. BMC Plant Biology 2011 11:72
Johnson RA, Hellens RP, Love DR. A transient assay for recombination finds that Arabidopsis SNM1 and XRCC3 enhance non-homologous recombination. Genetics and Molecular Research 2011 10:2104-32.
Lin-Wang K, Micheletti D, Palmer J, Volz R, Lozano L, Espley RV, Hellens RP, Chagne D, Rowan D, Troggio M, Ignasi I, Allan AC. Hight temperature reduces apple fruit colour via modulation of the anthocyanin regulatory complex. Plant Cell and Enivironment  2011 34:1176-1190
Montefiori M, Espley RV, Stevenson D, Cooney J, Datson PM, Saiz A, Atkinson RG, Hellens RP, Allan AC. Identification and characterisation of F3GT1 and F3GGT1, two glycosyltransferases responsible for anthocyanin biosynthesis in red-fleshed kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis).  Plant J. 2011 65:106-18.
Shulaev V, et al (76 authors) The genome of woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca). Nat Genet. 2011 43, 109-116
Hellens PR, Moreau C, Lin-Wang K, Schwinn KE, Thomson S, Fiers M, Frew TJ, Murray SR, Hofer JMI, Jacobs J, Davies KM, Allan AC, Bendahmane A, Coyne CJ, Timmerman-Vaughan GM and Ellis THN. 2010. Identification of Mendel’s white flower character. PLoS One 11;5(10):e13230.
Velasco R. et al. (86 authors) The genome of the domesticated apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.) 2010 Nature Genetics 34:284
Emma Tacken, Hilary Ireland, Kularajathevan Gunaseelan, Sakuntala Karunairetnam, Daisy Wang, Keith Schultz, Judith Bowen, Ross Atkinson,  Jason Johnston,  Jo Putterill, Roger P. Hellens and Robert J. Schaffer. The role of ethylene and cold temperature in the regulation of the apple POLYGALACTURONASE 1 gene and fruit softening. Plant Physiology 2010 153:294-305
Kui Lin-Wang, Karen Bolitho, Karryn Grafton, Ann Kortstee, Sakuntala Karunairetnam, Tony McGhie, Richard V. Espley, Roger P. Hellens, Andrew C. Allan. A R2R3 MYB transcription factor associated with regulation of the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway in Rosaceae. BMC Plant Biology 2010 10:50
Ampomah-Dwamena C, McGhie T, Wibisono R, Montefiori M, Hellens RP, Allan AC. The kiwifruit lycopene beta-cyclase plays a significant role in carotenoid accumulation in fruit. Journal of Experimental Botany. 2009 60:3765-79
Walton EF, Wu R-M, Richardson AC, Davy M, Hellens RP, Thodey K, Janssen BJ, Gleave AP, Rae GM, Wood M, and Schaffer RJ.  A rapid transcriptional activation is induced by the dormancy- breaking chemical hydrogen cyanamide in kiwifruit Actinidia deliciosa buds. Journal of Experimental Botany. 2009 60:3835-48
Espley RV, Brendolise C, Chagné D, Kutty-Amma S, Green S, Volz R, Putterill J, Schouten HJ, Gardiner SE, Hellens RP, Allan AC (2009) Multiple Repeats of a Promoter Segment Causes Transcription Factor Autoregulation in Red Apples. The Plant Cell 21:168-83
Chung BYW, Simon C, Firth AE, Brown CM, Hellens RP. (2006) Effect of 5'UTR introns on gene expression in Arabidopsis thaliana. BMC Genomics 7: 120.