Alan B. Bennett

About

Alan B. Bennett is a Distinguished Professor and Director of PIPRA at the Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis. He holds a Ph.D. in Plant Biology from Cornell University, obtained in 1982, and a B.S. in Plant Physiology from the University of California, Davis, earned in 1977. His research interests and expertise include the molecular biology of tomato fruit development and ripening, cell wall disassembly, and the intersection of plant biology with intellectual property rights in agriculture. He is also engaged in university-based innovation and studies plant associations with diazotrophic microbiomes. Professor Bennett teaches courses such as Ethics in Genomics and Biotechnology, Plant Genetics and Biotechnology Laboratory, and others. His contributions to science have been recognized through awards including the Chancellor's International Engagement Achievement Award in 2017 and being named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2005. He is involved in international programs and research initiatives, contributing to advancements in postharvest biology, food safety, and sustainable agricultural practices.

Research topics

• Biology
• Agronomy
• Chemistry
• Ecology
• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Dentistry
• Agroforestry
• Food science
• Environmental science

Selected publications

• Nitrogen fixation in a landrace of maize is supported by a mucilage-associated diazotrophic microbiota

  PLoS Biology · 2018-08-07 · 386 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Plants are associated with a complex microbiota that contributes to nutrient acquisition, plant growth, and plant defense. Nitrogen-fixing microbial associations are efficient and well characterized in legumes but are limited in cereals, including maize. We studied an indigenous landrace of maize grown in nitrogen-depleted soils in the Sierra Mixe region of Oaxaca, Mexico. This landrace is characterized by the extensive development of aerial roots that secrete a carbohydrate-rich mucilage. Analy…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Biological nitrogen fixation and prospects for ecological intensification in cereal-based cropping systems

  Field Crops Research · 2022 · 273 citations

  BNF into cereals and reflect on the potential for BNF in both conventional and alternative crop management systems to encourage the ecological intensification of cereal and legume production.

  PublisherDOI

• Strategy for Structural Elucidation of Polysaccharides: Elucidation of a Maize Mucilage that Harbors Diazotrophic Bacteria

  Analytical Chemistry · 2019-04-15 · 100 citations

  articleOpen access

  The recruitment of a bacterial consortium by the host is a strategy not limited to animals but is also used in plants. A maize aerial root mucilage has been found that harbors nitrogen fixing bacteria that are attracted to the carbohydrate rich environment. This synbiotic relationship is facilitated by a polysaccharide, whose complicated structure has been previously unknown. In this report, we present the characterization of the maize polysaccharide by employing new analytical strategies combin…

  PublisherDOI

• A Model for Nitrogen Fixation in Cereal Crops

  Trends in Plant Science · 2020 · 89 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Characterization of novel glycosyl hydrolases discovered by cell wall glycan directed monoclonal antibody screening and metagenome analysis of maize aerial root mucilage

  PLoS ONE · 2018-09-26 · 50 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  An indigenous maize landrace from the Sierra Mixe region of Oaxaca, Mexico exhibits extensive formation of aerial roots which exude large volumes of a polysaccharide-rich gel matrix or "mucilage" that harbors diazotrophic microbiota. We hypothesize that the mucilage associated microbial community carries out multiple functions, including disassembly of the mucilage polysaccharide. In situ, hydrolytic assay of the mucilage revealed endogenous arabinofuranosidase, galactosidase, fucosidase, mannos…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• G. D. Graff

  University of California, Berkeley

  151 shared

• S. P. Kowalski

  144 shared

• R. T. Mahoney

  Texas Children's Hospital

  141 shared

• A. Krattiger

  Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education

  140 shared

• L. Nelsen

  139 shared

• K. Satyanarayana

  139 shared

• J. A. Thomson

  East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community

  136 shared

• C. Fernández

  De La Salle University

  132 shared

Education

• B.S., Plant Physiology

  University of California Davis

• Ph.D., Plant Biology

  Cornell University

Awards & honors

• Chancellor's International Engagement Achievement Award (201…
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science…
• Senior Fellow, California Council for Science and Technology

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