Dale Sanders

Not to be confused with Dale Sanders (railroad photographer).

Dale Sanders, FRS (born 13 May 1953) was Director of the John Innes Centre,^[1] an institute for research in plant sciences and microbiology in Norwich, England.

Dale Sanders
Born	(1953-05-13) 13 May 1953 (age 70)^[2]
Alma mater	University of York (BA) Darwin College, Cambridge (PhD) University of Cambridge (DSc)
Awards	FRS (2001)
Scientific career
Institutions	John Innes Centre University of York Yale University^[1]
Thesis	The regulation of ion transport in characean cells (1978)
Website	www.jic.ac.uk/people/dale-sanders

Education

Sanders was educated at The Hemel Hempstead School. He gained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of York reading Biology from 1971 to 1974, graduating with 1st Class Honours.^[2]

Sanders did his PhD alongside Professor Enid AC MacRobbie FRS at Darwin College, Cambridge in 1978 in Department of Plant Sciences. In 1993 Sanders earned his Sc.D. from the University of Cambridge.

Research

Sanders’ research explores the transport of ions across plant cell membranes^[3] and the roles of ions in signalling and nutrient status.

Sanders’ first significant finding during his PhD was to provide unequivocal evidence that inorganic anion uptake in plants is powered by a proton gradient^[4] and showed how transport is regulated through intracellular ion concentrations.^[5]

In subsequent research as a post-doc at Yale University School of Medicine he pioneered the first methods to measure and interpret the interplay between control of intracellular pH and activity of the plasma membrane proton pump. Showing how the regulation of the proton pump is controlled by – and in turn controls – intracellular pH.^[6] This work on a fungus served as a paradigm for understanding the interplay of membrane transport and cellular homeostasis in fungal and plant cells.

On taking an academic position at the University of York, Sanders developed novel electrophysiological approaches to plant cellular signalling and membrane transport.

The Sanders lab demonstrated a key link between changes in cytosolic free calcium and photosynthetic activity, and through many technical developments showed how membrane transport at the plant vacuole is energised and regulated in response to physiological demand.

Sanders also developed a unified mathematical theory that explained complex kinetics of solute uptake in plants,^[7][8] along with having created the first methodology to measure transient changes in intracellular calcium levels in higher plants, and discovered that light/dark changes in photosynthetic activity were highly dependent on cytosolic changes in calcium.^[9]

In the days before extensive molecular biology, Sanders discovered that the vacuolar proton pump of plants was essentially similar to mitochondrial ATPases.^[10] He also adapted electrophysiological techniques first developed for exploration of neuronal channel properties to determine that pumps at vacuolar membranes exhibit kinetic responses to ion gradients that would not be predicted through biochemical means.^[11][12][13] Parallel to this, he discovered that vacuolar membranes exhibit electrically-driven ion release.^[14]

Using both electrophysiological and biochemical approaches, Sanders was able to establish for the first time in plants that metabolites can act as triggers for release of calcium (a cellular signal) from vacuoles.^{[15][16][17][18][19][20]}

Sanders established principles for biofortification of cereal crops with essential human mineral nutrients,^[21] and molecularly characterised calcium permeable channels.^[22] Sanders also discovered and characterised the first (and only) yeast calcium channel^[23][24] and demonstrated how cell marking can be used to distinguish cell types for patch clamp studies.^[25]

Sanders also had influence in the investigation into the roles of plant cyclic nucleotide-gated channels that were explored at an early stage of discovery^[26] and resulted in a major collaborative publication with another lab demonstrating a key role in plant-bacterial symbiosis signalling.^[27]

On top of his extensive discoveries, he has also written influential reviews on calcium signalling in plants, which have 3,300 combined citations on Google Scholar.^[28][29][30]

To further his work on calcium channels, he then discovered that the TPC1 channel is the major pathway for ion exchange across plant vacuolar membranes.^[31] Their speculations that the TPC1 channel is involved in Calcium-induced calcium release were proven for the first time in plants in work from Sanders’ lab.^[32] He then established the principal molecular and cellular mechanisms for plant tolerance to manganese toxicity.^[33]

Sanders has discovered the major mechanism of zinc accumulation in plant vacuoles,^[34] and more recently characterised the molecular properties of the transporter^[35] and showed how the transporter could be used for nutritional benefit for human consumption of cereal grains.^[36] On top of further collaborating with a Chinese lab to establish more generally the important role of zinc nutrition in rice.^[37]

Sander’s current research focuses on how plant cells respond to changes in their environment^[38] and how they store the nutrients they acquire. In particular, his group work on how transport of chemical elements across cell membranes in plants is integrated with cellular signalling and nutritional status.^[21]

Career

Sanders' research career began at the Yale University School of Medicine, first as a postdoctoral research fellow (1978–79) and then as a postdoctoral research associate (1979–83).

After a stint as a visiting research fellow in the University of Biological Sciences at the University of Sydney (1983), Sanders moved into the biology department at the University of York in 1983, first as a lecturer (1983–89), a reader (1989–1992), a professor (1992–2010), also acting as the head of department (2004–2010).^[39]

In 2010 Sanders moved to the John Innes Centre, Norwich, as director and group leader,^[40] establishing new collaborations with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.^[41]

Awards and honours

Sanders was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2001.^[42]

Throughout his career Sanders has received a number of additional awards and honours, including:

• Fellowships: Inaugural Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (2009)
• Elected to Royal Society Council 2004 – 2006)
• China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award (2021)^[43]
• Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) International Science and Technology Cooperation Award (2021)^[44]
• Royal Society/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship (1997–1998)
• Nuffield Foundation Science Research Fellowship (1989–1990)
• James Hudson Brown Fellowship, Yale University (1979–1980)
• Prizes: Koerber Foundation European Science Prize (2001)
• President's Medal, Society for Experimental Biology (1987)
• Honorary Chairs: University of York (2010–present)
• University of East Anglia (2010–present)
• Agricultural Genomics Institute Shenzhen (2018–present)

References

1. . Archived from the original on 31 December 2010.
2. "SANDERS, Prof. Dale". Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press.(subscription required)
3. Dodd, Antony N.; Kudla, Jörg; Sanders, Dale (2010). "The language of calcium signaling". Annual Review of Plant Biology. 61: 593–620. doi:10.1146/annurev-arplant-070109-104628. ISSN 1545-2123. PMID 20192754.
4. Sanders, Dale (1 June 1980). "The mechanism of Cl− transport at the plasma membrane ofChara corallina I. Cotransport with H+". The Journal of Membrane Biology. 53 (2): 129–141. doi:10.1007/BF01870581. ISSN 1432-1424. S2CID 20260325.
5. Sanders, D.; Hansen, U. P.; Slayman, C. L. (1 September 1981). "Role of the plasma membrane proton pump in pH regulation in non-animal cells". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 78 (9): 5903–5907. Bibcode:1981PNAS...78.5903S. doi:10.1073/pnas.78.9.5903. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 348903. PMID 6458045.
6. Sanders, D; Slayman, C L (1 September 1982). "Control of intracellular pH. Predominant role of oxidative metabolism, not proton transport, in the eukaryotic microorganism Neurospora". Journal of General Physiology. 80 (3): 377–402. doi:10.1085/jgp.80.3.377. ISSN 0022-1295. PMC 2228685. PMID 6292329.
7. Ballarin-Denti, A.; den Hollander, J. A.; Sanders, D.; Slayman, C. W.; Slayman, C. L. (21 November 1984). "Kinetics and pH-dependence of glycine-proton symport in Saccharomyces cerevisiae". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes. 778 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1016/0005-2736(84)90442-5. ISSN 0005-2736. PMID 6093875.
8. Sanders, Dale (1 February 1986). "Generalized kinetic analysis of ion-driven cotransport systems: II. Random ligand binding as a simple explanation for non-Michaelian kinetics". The Journal of Membrane Biology. 90 (1): 67–87. doi:10.1007/BF01869687. ISSN 1432-1424. PMID 2422385. S2CID 9688689.
9. Miller, Anthony J.; Sanders, Dale (March 1987). "Depletion of cytosolic free calcium induced by photosynthesis". Nature. 326 (6111): 397–400. Bibcode:1987Natur.326..397M. doi:10.1038/326397a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4366974.
10. Rea, Philip A.; Griffith, Christopher J.; Manolson, Morris F.; Sanders, Dale (2 November 1987). "Irreversible inhibition of H+-ATPase of higher plant tonoplast by chaotropic anions: evidence for peripheral location of nucleotide-binding subunits". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes. 904 (1): 1–12. doi:10.1016/0005-2736(87)90080-0. ISSN 0005-2736.
11. Davies, Julia M.; Rea, Philip A.; Sanders, Dale (14 January 1991). "Vacuolar proton-pumping pyrophosphatase inBeta vulgaris shows vectorial activation by potassium". FEBS Letters. 278 (1): 66–68. doi:10.1016/0014-5793(91)80085-H. ISSN 0014-5793. PMID 1847114. S2CID 30539428.
12. Davies, J M; Poole, R J; Rea, P A; Sanders, D (15 December 1992). "Potassium transport into plant vacuoles energized directly by a proton-pumping inorganic pyrophosphatase". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 89 (24): 11701–11705. Bibcode:1992PNAS...8911701D. doi:10.1073/pnas.89.24.11701. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 50624. PMID 1334545.
13. Davies, J. M.; Hunt, I.; Sanders, D. (30 August 1994). "Vacuolar H(+)-pumping ATPase variable transport coupling ratio controlled by pH". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 91 (18): 8547–8551. Bibcode:1994PNAS...91.8547D. doi:10.1073/pnas.91.18.8547. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 44643. PMID 8078920.
14. Marshall, Jacqueline; Corzo, Alfonso; Leigh, Roger A.; Sanders, Dale (1994). "Membrane potential-dependent calcium transport in right-side-out plasma membrane vesicles from Zea mays L. roots". The Plant Journal. 5 (5): 683–694. doi:10.1111/j.1365-313X.1994.00683.x. ISSN 1365-313X.
15. "Validate User".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
16. Allen, G. J.; Sanders, D. (September 1995). "Calcineurin, a Type 2B Protein Phosphatase, Modulates the Ca2+-Permeable Slow Vacuolar Ion Channel of Stomatal Guard Cells". The Plant Cell. 7 (9): 1473–1483. doi:10.1105/tpc.7.9.1473. ISSN 1532-298X. PMC 160973. PMID 12242407.
17. Muir, Shelagh R.; Sanders, Dale (1996). "Pharmacology of Ca2+ release from red beet microsomes suggests the presence of ryanodine receptor homologs in higher plants". FEBS Letters. 395 (1): 39–42. doi:10.1016/0014-5793(96)01000-9. ISSN 1873-3468. PMID 8849685. S2CID 28729727.
18. "Validate User".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
19. Navazio, Lorella; Bewell, Michael A.; Siddiqua, Ashia; Dickinson, George D.; Galione, Antony; Sanders, Dale (18 July 2000). "Calcium release from the endoplasmic reticulum of higher plants elicited by the NADP metabolite nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 97 (15): 8693–8698. Bibcode:2000PNAS...97.8693N. doi:10.1073/pnas.140217897. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 27010. PMID 10890899.
20. Dodd, Antony N.; Gardner, Michael J.; Hotta, Carlos T.; Hubbard, Katharine E.; Dalchau, Neil; Love, John; Assie, Jean-Maurice; Robertson, Fiona C.; Jakobsen, Mia Kyed; Gonçalves, Jorge; Sanders, Dale (14 December 2007). "The Arabidopsis Circadian Clock Incorporates a cADPR-Based Feedback Loop". Science. 318 (5857): 1789–1792. Bibcode:2007Sci...318.1789D. doi:10.1126/science.1146757. PMID 18084825. S2CID 41796911.
21. Palmgren, Michael G.; Clemens, Stephan; Williams, Lorraine E.; Krämer, Ute; Borg, Søren; Schjørring, Jan K.; Sanders, Dale (1 September 2008). "Zinc biofortification of cereals: problems and solutions". Trends in Plant Science. 13 (9): 464–473. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2008.06.005. ISSN 1360-1385. PMID 18701340.
22. "Validate User".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
23. Fischer, Marc; Schnell, Norbert; Chattaway, Jayne; Davies, Paul; Dixon, Graham; Sanders, Dale (15 December 1997). "The Saccharomyces cerevisiae CCH1 gene is involved in calcium influx and mating". FEBS Letters. 419 (2): 259–262. doi:10.1016/S0014-5793(97)01466-X. ISSN 0014-5793. PMID 9428646. S2CID 12716755.
24. Peiter, Edgar; Fischer, Marc; Sidaway, Kate; Roberts, Stephen K.; Sanders, Dale (24 October 2005). "The Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ca2+ channel Cch1pMid1p is essential for tolerance to cold stress and iron toxicity". FEBS Letters. 579 (25): 5697–5703. doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2005.09.058. ISSN 0014-5793. PMID 16223494. S2CID 36582092.
25. Maathuis, Frans J. M.; May, Sean T.; Graham, Neil S.; Bowen, Helen C.; Jelitto, Till C.; Trimmer, Paul; Bennett, Malcolm J.; Sanders, Dale; White, Philip J. (1998). "Cell marking in Arabidopsis thaliana and its application to patch–clamp studies". The Plant Journal. 15 (6): 843–851. doi:10.1046/j.1365-313X.1998.00256.x. ISSN 1365-313X. PMID 9807822.
26. Sunkar, Ramanjulu; Kaplan, Boaz; Bouché, Nicolas; Arazi, Tzahi; Dolev, Dvora; Talke, Ina N.; Maathuis, Frans J. M.; Sanders, Dale; Bouchez, David; Fromm, Hillel (2000). "Expression of a truncated tobacco NtCBP4 channel in transgenic plants and disruption of the homologous Arabidopsis CNGC1 gene confer Pb2+ tolerance". The Plant Journal. 24 (4): 533–542. doi:10.1111/j.1365-313X.2000.00901.x. ISSN 1365-313X. PMID 11115134.
27. Charpentier, Myriam; Sun, Jongho; Martins, Teresa Vaz; Radhakrishnan, Guru V.; Findlay, Kim; Soumpourou, Eleni; Thouin, Julien; Véry, Anne-Aliénor; Sanders, Dale; Morris, Richard J.; Oldroyd, Giles E. D. (27 May 2016). "Nuclear-localized cyclic nucleotide–gated channels mediate symbiotic calcium oscillations". Science. 352 (6289): 1102–1105. Bibcode:2016Sci...352.1102C. doi:10.1126/science.aae0109. PMID 27230377. S2CID 206646218.
28. "Validate User".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
29. "Validate User".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
30. Dodd, Antony N.; Kudla, Jörg; Sanders, Dale (2 June 2010). "The Language of Calcium Signaling". Annual Review of Plant Biology. 61 (1): 593–620. doi:10.1146/annurev-arplant-070109-104628. ISSN 1543-5008. PMID 20192754.
31. Peiter, Edgar; Maathuis, Frans J. M.; Mills, Lewis N.; Knight, Heather; Pelloux, Jérôme; Hetherington, Alistair M.; Sanders, Dale (March 2005). "The vacuolar Ca2+-activated channel TPC1 regulates germination and stomatal movement". Nature. 434 (7031): 404–408. Bibcode:2005Natur.434..404P. doi:10.1038/nature03381. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 15772667. S2CID 4418276.
32. "Validate User". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
33. Peiter, Edgar; Montanini, Barbara; Gobert, Anthony; Pedas, Pai; Husted, Søren; Maathuis, Frans J. M.; Blaudez, Damien; Chalot, Michel; Sanders, Dale (15 May 2007). "A secretory pathway-localized cation diffusion facilitator confers plant manganese tolerance". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 104 (20): 8532–8537. Bibcode:2007PNAS..104.8532P. doi:10.1073/pnas.0609507104. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 1895984. PMID 17494768.
34. "Validate User". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
35. Podar, Dorina; Scherer, Judith; Noordally, Zeenat; Herzyk, Pawel; Nies, Dietrich; Sanders, Dale (1 January 2012). "Metal Selectivity Determinants in a Family of Transition Metal Transporters *". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 287 (5): 3185–3196. doi:10.1074/jbc.M111.305649. ISSN 0021-9258. PMC 3270973. PMID 22139846.
36. Menguer, Paloma K.; Vincent, Thomas; Miller, Anthony J.; Brown, James K. M.; Vincze, Eva; Borg, Søren; Holm, Preben Bach; Sanders, Dale; Podar, Dorina (2018). "Improving zinc accumulation in cereal endosperm using HvMTP1, a transition metal transporter". Plant Biotechnology Journal. 16 (1): 63–71. doi:10.1111/pbi.12749. ISSN 1467-7652. PMC 5785336. PMID 28436146.
37. Gao, Shaopei; Xiao, Yunhua; Xu, Fan; Gao, Xiaokai; Cao, Shouyun; Zhang, Fengxia; Wang, Guodong; Sanders, Dale; Chu, Chengcai (2019). "Cytokinin-dependent regulatory module underlies the maintenance of zinc nutrition in rice". New Phytologist. 224 (1): 202–215. doi:10.1111/nph.15962. ISSN 1469-8137. PMID 31131881. S2CID 167211152.
38. Sanders, Dale (2020). "The salinity challenge". New Phytologist. 225 (3): 1047–1048. doi:10.1111/nph.16357. ISSN 1469-8137. PMC 6973154. PMID 31894589.
39. "Dale Sanders Laboratory". www.york.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
40. "Professor Dale Sanders". John Innes Centre. 30 November 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
41. JIC and Chinese Academy of Sciences collaborate on new Centre of Excellence 19 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine
42. "Dale Sanders | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
43. "Dale Sanders receives China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award". John Innes Centre. 11 November 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
44. "Prestigious Chinese award for Professor Dale Sanders". John Innes Centre. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.