Research
Marta is currently working to address some of the most pressing challenges in alternative proteins. Her research focuses on projects such as:
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Establishing a species germplasm collection and screening programme for protein crops
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Characterising crop-derived protein diversity and productivity
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Identifying antinutritional factors in target crops that impact protein utility
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Determining the key environmental factors driving protein optimisation in target crops
Past research
PUBLICATIONS
Rouws, L., Barauna, A., Beukes, C., Rouws, J. R. C., de Faria, s. M., Gross, E., Bueno dos Reis Junior, F., Simon, M. F., Maluk, M., Odee, D. W., Fordeyn, S., Kenicer, G., Young, J. P. W., Reis, V. M., Zilli, J., James, E. J. 2024. Soil characteristics drive contrasting patterns of association between symbiotic rhizobia of endemic and widespread Mimosa species in Brazil. Applied Soil Ecology 2024, 204: 105741. doi: 10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105741
Stephens, J., Remenyi, J., Barakate, A., Maluk, M. Patent WO2023214041 (A1) – PROCESSES, SYSTEMS AND MEDIA FOR DELIVERING A SUBSTANCE TO A PLANT. 2023-11-09.
Maluk, M., Giles, M., Wardell, G. E., Akramin, A. T., Ferrando-Molina, F., Murdoch, A., Barros, M., Beukes, C., Vasconçelos, M., Harrison, E., Daniell, T. J., Quilliam, R. S., Iannetta, P. P. M., James, E. K. 2023. Biological nitrogen fixation by soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.), a novel, high protein crop in Scotland, requires inoculation with non-native bradyrhizobia. Frontiers in Agronomy 2023, 5. doi: 10.3389/fagro.2023.1196873
de Faria, S. M., Ringelberg, J. J., Gross, E., Koenen, E. J. M., Cardoso, D., Ametsitsi, G. K. D., Akomatey, J., Maluk, M., Tak, N., Gehlot, H. S., Wright, K. M., Teaumroong, M., Songwattana, P., de Lima, H. C., Prin, Y., Zartman, C. E., Sprent, J. I., Ardley, J., Hughes, C. E., James, E. K. 2022. The innovation of the symbiosome has enhanced the evolutionary stability of nitrogen fixation in legumes. New Phytologist 2022, 235: 2365–2377. doi: 10.1111/nph.18321
Mavima, L., Beukes, C.W., Palmer, M., De Meyer, S.E., James, E.K., Maluk, M., Muasya, M.A., Avontuur, J.R., Chan, W.Y., Venter, S.N., Steenkamp, E.T. 2022. Delineation of Paraburkholderia tuberum sensu stricto and description of Paraburkholderia podalyriae sp. nov. nodulating the South African legume Podalyria calyptrata. Systematic and Applied Microbiology 2022, 45(3): 126316. doi: 10.1016/j.syapm.2022.126316.
Maluk, M., Ferrando-Molina, F., Lopez del Egido, L., Langarica-Fuentes, A., Gebre Yohannes, G., Young, M. W., Martin, P., Gantlett, R., Kenicer, G., Hawes, C., Begg, G. S., Quilliam, R. S., Squire, G. R., Young, J. P. W., Iannetta, P. P. M., James, E. K. 2022. Fields with no recent legume cultivation have sufficient nitrogen-fixing rhizobia for crops of faba bean (Vicia faba L.). Plant Soil 2022, 472, 345–368, Vol.: (0123456789). doi: 10.1007/s11104-021-05246-8.
Jorrin, B., Maluk M., Atoliya N., Kumar S.C., Chalasani D., Tkacz A., Singh P., Basu A., Pullabhotla S.VSRN, Kumar M., Mohanty S.R., East A.K., Ramachandran V.K., James E.K., Podile A.R., Saxena A.K., Rao D., Poole P.S. 2021. Genomic diversity of pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.) endosymbionts in India and selection of potential strains for use as agricultural inoculants. Frontiers in Plant Science 2021, 12, 1848. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2021.680981
James E.K., Maluk, M., Sprent, J. I. 2020. From amazon tree legumes to nitrogen fixing maize: what’s the connection? Technical report. Bean Bag 2020, 24-27.
Young, J.P.W., Moeskjær, S., Afonin, A., Rahi, P.; Maluk, M., James, E.K., Cavassim, M.I.A., Rashid, M.-O., Aserse, A.A., Perry, B.J., Wang, E.T., Velázquez, E., Andronov, E.E., Tampakaki, A., Flores Félix, J.D., Rivas González, R., Youseif, S.H., Lepetit, M., Boivin, S., Jorrin, B., Kenicer, G.J., Peix, Á., Hynes, M.F., Ramírez-Bahena, M.H., Gulati, A., Tian, C.-F. Defining the Rhizobium leguminosarum Species Complex. Genes 2021, 12, 111. doi: 10.20944/preprints202012.0297.v1
Raittz, R. T, Reginatto de Pierri, C., Maluk, M., Bueno Batista, M., Junghare, M., Carmona, M., Faoro, H., Cruz, L. M., Battistoni, F., de Souza, E., Pedrosa, F., Chen, W.-C., Poole, P. S., Dixon, R. A., James, E. K. 2020. Comparative genomics gives insights into the taxonomy of the Azoarcus-Aromatoleum group and reveals separate origins of nif in the “plant-associated” Azoarcus and non-plant-associated Aromatoleum genera. In preparation for Genes.
Mavima, L., Beukes, C. W., Palmer, M., De Meyer, S. E., James, E. K., Maluk, M., Gross. E., Bueno dos Reis Junior, F., Avontuur, J. R., Chan, W. Y., Venter, S. N., Steenkamp, E. T. 2020. Paraburkholderia youngii sp. nov. and ‘Paraburkholderia atlantica’ – Brazilian and Mexican Mimosa-associated rhizobia that were previously known as Paraburkholderia tuberum sv. mimosae. Systematic and Applied Microbiology. DOI: 10.1016/j.syapm.2020.126152
Vasconcelos, M. W., Grusak, M. A., Pinto, E., Gomes, A., Ferreira, H., Balázs, B., Centofanti, T., Ntatsi, G., Savvas, D., Karkanis, A., Williams, M., Vandenberg, A., Toma, L., Shrestha, S., Akaichi, F., Oré Barrios, C., Gruber, S., James, E. K., Maluk, M., Karley, A. J., Iannetta P. P. M. 2020. The Biology of legumes and their agronomic, economic, and social impact. In: Hasanuzzaman, M., Araújo, S., Gill, S. S., ed. The plant family Fabaceae: biology and physiological responses to environmental stresses. Springer, 3–26. DOI: 10.1007/978-981-15-4752-2_1
Looseley, M. E., Griffe, L. L., Büttner, B., Wright, K. M., Bayer, M., Coulter, M., Thauvin, J-N., Middlefell-Williams, J., Maluk, M., Okpo, A., Kettles, N., Werner, P., Byrne, E., Avrova, A. 2020. Characterisation of barley landraces from Syria and Jordan for resistance to rhynchosporium and identification of diagnostic markers for Rrs1Rh4. Theoretical and Applied Genetics. DOI:10.1007/s00122-020-03545-9.
Temesgen, D., Maluk, M., James, E. K., Iannetta P.P.M, Assefa, F. 2019. The functional characterisation of soybean (Glycine max L.) rhizospheric bacteria indigenous to Ethiopian soils. AJAR. DOI:10.5897/AJAR2019.14315
de los Santos, P. E., Palmer, M., Steenkamp, E. T., Maluk, M., Beukes, C., Hirsch, A. M., James, E. K., Venter, S. 2019. Trinickia dabaoshanensis sp. nov., a new name for a lost species. Archives of Microbiology, doi: 10.1007/s00203-019-01703-2.
James, E. K., Maluk, M., Ferrando Molina, F., Boath, A., Hawes, C., Iannetta, P. P. M. 2019. Developing commercial products and services to stabilise and maximise yield from peas and faba beans (Opti-N). Final Genomia Project Report.
Daly, P., McClellan, C., Maluk, M., Oakey, H., Lapierre, C., Waugh, R., Stephens, J., Marshall, D., Barakate, A., Tsuji, Y., Goeminne, G., Vanholme, R., Boerjan, W., Ralph, J., Halpin, C. 2018. RNAi-suppression of barley caffeic acid O-methyltransferase modifies lignin despite redundancy in the gene family. Plant Biotechnology Journal, DOI:10.1111/pbi.13001
Carmona, M., Lafos, M., Maluk, M., Batista, M.B., Junghare, M., Faoro, H., Magalhães, L., Battistoni, F. J., Souza, E. M., Pedrosa, F. O., Chen, W. M., Prasad, G., Poole, P. S., Dixon, R. A., James, E. K. August 2018. Comparative genomics reveals Azoarcus comprises three genera: Azoarcus sensu stricto, Aromatoleum gen. nov. and Gallonia gen. nov. Conference paper. XVI Symposium on Biological nitrogen fixation with NON-LEGUMES IV Latinamerican Workshop of PGPR. Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.
Dello Jacovo, E.*, Valentine, T.A.*, Maluk, M.*, Toorop, P., Lopez del Egido, L., Frachon, N., Kenicer, G., Park, L., Goff, M., Ferro, V.A., Bonomi, C., James, E.K., Iannetta, P.P.M. 2018. Towards a characterisation of the wild legume bitter vetch (Lathyrus linifolius L. (Reichard) Bässler): heteromorphic seed germination, root nodule structure and N-fixing rhizobial symbionts. Plant Biology, DOI: 10.1111/plb.12902
de los Santos, P. E., Palmer, M., Chávez-Ramírez, B., Beukes, C., Steenkamp, E., Briscoe, L., Khan, N., Maluk, M., Lafos, M., Humm, E., Arabit, M., Crook, M., Gross, E., Simon, M. F., Bueno dos Reis Junior, F., Whitman, W. B., Shapiro, N., Poole, P. S., Hirsch, A., Venter, S., James, E. K. 2018. Whole genome analyses suggest that Burkholderia sensu lato contains two further novel genera in the rhizoxinica-symbiotica group Mycetohabitans gen. nov., and Trinickia gen. nov.: implications for the evolution of diazotrophy and nodulation in the Burkholderiaceae. Genes 9(8), DOI:10.3390/genes9080389
Faoro, H., Rodrigo, Menegazzo, R. R., Battistoni, F. J., Prasad, G., do Amaral, F. P., Taulé, C., Rausch, S., Galvão, P. G., de los Santos, C., Mitra, S., Heijo, G., Sheu, S.-Y., Chen, W.-M., Mareque, C., Tadra-Sfeir, M. Z., Baldani, I. J., Maluk, M., Guimarães, A. P., Stacey, G., de Souza, E. M., Pedrosa, F. O., Cruz, L. M., James, E. K. 2017. The oil-contaminated soil diazotroph Azoarcus olearius DQS-4T is genetically and phenotypically similar to the model grass endophyte Azoarcus sp. BH72. Environmental Microbiology Reports, 9(3): 223–238.
Iannetta, P. P. M., Begg, G., Black, K., Hawes, C., Karley, A. J., James, E. K., Maluk, M., Newton, A. C., Squire, G. R., Walker, G., White, P. 2017. Teaming up for good: intercropping and farming-science partnership at the James Hutton Institute. NGO Report for www.LEAF.org, 8 November 2017.
Iannetta, P. P. M., Begg, G., Black, K., Hawes, C., Karley, A. J., James, E. K., Maluk, M., Newton, A. C., Squire, G. R., Walker, G., White, P. J. 2017. Sustainable legume systems for improved primary produce., SAB Annual Report, May 2017.
Baraύna, A., C., Rouws, L. F.,Simoes-Araujo, J. L.,Dos Reis Junior, F. B., Iannetta, P. P., Maluk, M., Goi, S. R., Reis, V. M.,James, E. K., Zilli, J. E. 2016. Rhizobium altipani sp. nov., isolated from effective nodules of Mimosa pudica growing in untypically alkaline soil in Central Brazil. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 66, 4118–4124.
Maluk, M. 2014. Improving barley for biofuel production–efficient transformation for lignin manipulation. Ph.D., University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland, UK.
Daly, P., Maluk, M., Zwirek, M. & Halpin, C. 2013. Lignin biosynthesis and lignin manipulation. In: Harding, S. (ed.) Stability of Complex Carbohydrate Structures: Biofuels, Foods, Vaccines and Shipwrecks. Cambridge: The Royal Society of Chemistry. DOI: 10.1039/9781849735643-00153
Halpin, C., Daly, P., Maluk, M., Kim, S. Y., McQueen-Mason, S., Gomez, L. D., Waugh, R. & Stephens, J. 2011. Manipulating lignin for bioenergy applications. Aspects of Applied Biology, 110, 3–5.
Halpin, C., Shafiei, R., Kam, J., Wilson, Y., Daly, P., Maluk, M., Zwirek, M., McQueen-Mason, S., Gomez, L. D., Whitehead, C., Comadran, J., Uzrek, N. & Waugh, R. 2011. Towards biomass ideotypes for bioenergy – optimising lignin for biofuel and combustion. . In: Bridgwater, A. V., ed. The Bioten Conference on Biomass Bioenergy and Biofuels 2010. CPL Press., 72–77.
Kulpa, D., Rzepka-Plevneš, D., Serafin, M. & Smolik, M. 2006. Somaclonal variability in chrysanthemum cultures. XXII EUCARPIA International Symposium section Ornamentals: Breeding for Beauty, Sanremo–Italy. 34.
Serafin, M. 2004. The influence of the age of culture on somacloning changes in chrysanthemum (Dendranthema grandiflora Tzvelv.)–Ja Dank variety. M.Sc., West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland
* Authors equally contributed to the work.
