Dr John Ferguson
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Email
jfergu@essex.ac.uk -
Location
Colchester Campus
Profile
Biography
My research lies at the juncture of ecophysiology and quantitative genetics. I strive to take pragmatic approaches to answer key questions concerning the mechanistic basis of variation in plant-environment interactions. Recently, I have become increasingly interested in developing and employing phenomics approaches to quantify genetic variation associated with photo-physiology that has the potential be harnessed for crop improvement. The following research projects are active in my group: - Phenomics approaches to improve water-use efficiency in sugar beet (PhD student: Myo Myo Wai) - Comparative phylogenetics of the leaf economics spectrum (PhD student: Teddy Gaskin) - Development of a smart irrigation system for ornamental horticulture I am always keen to hear from prospective students or research fellows. Please feel free to reach out so we can identify opportunities together. Beyond research, I enjoy teaching at Essex where I am responsible for coordinating BS234 (Molecular Plant Physiology). Additionally, I also teach on several other modules including BS111 (Plant Biology and Ecosystems) and BS323 (Plant Biotechnology).
Qualifications
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PhD Biological Sciences University of Essex,
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MSc Plant Genetics University of East Anglia & John Innes Centre,
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BSc Ecology University of East Anglia,
Appointments
University of Essex
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Lecturer, School of Life Sciences, University of Essex (14/7/2022 - present)
Other academic
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Visiting Scholar, Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1/7/2016 - 1/7/2019)
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Research Fellow, Future Food Beacon, University of Nottingham (1/7/2019 - 1/1/2021)
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Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge (1/1/2021 - 14/7/2022)
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Visiting Researcher, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge (14/7/2022 - present)
Research and professional activities
Research interests
Field crops research
Plants are increasingly recognised to be "pampered inside, and pestered outside". This means the evaluation of plant physiology in a controlled environment may be of little consequence for understanding plant performance in an agronomic setting. I aim to transition the majority of my research on plant ecophysiology to field settings in recognition of this reality. Moreover, this offers the opportunity to better understand Genotype x Environment interactions.
Crop Phenomics
Phenomics technologies (in conjunction with genomics) have the potential to accelerate crop improvement by facilitating the identification genes and molecular markers of interest and by enhancing the accuracy of predictive models.
Carbon metabolism
The availability of carbohydrates for growth and productivity is dictated by rates of CO2 assimilation and CO2 efflux. I am interested in identifying novel genetic regulators of net-carbon gain, which will represent key targets for crop improvement.
Teaching and supervision
Current teaching responsibilities
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Plant Biology and Ecosystems (BS111)
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Employability Skills for the Biosciences (BS211)
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Genome Science (BS222)
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Plant Molecular Physiology and Genetics (BS234)
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Molecular Ecology (BS240)
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Professional skills for Ecological and Marine Scientists (BS257)
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Principles of Molecular Virology (BS310)
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Plant Biotechnology (BS323)
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Methods in Marine Biology (BS707)
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Research Project: MSc Biotechnology (BS984)
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Research Project in Life Sciences (BS832)
Current supervision
Publications
Publications (4)
Ferguson, JN., Brendel, O. and Bechtold, U., (2025). MYB59 is linked to natural variation of water use associated with warmer temperatures inArabidopsis thaliana
Vath, RL., Fernandes, SB., Monier, B., Głowacka, K., Walter, J., Lipka, AE., Ferguson, J., Bernacchi, CJ., Pederson, T. and Kromdijk, J., (2025). High throughput screen of NPQ in sorghum shows highly polygenic architecture of photoprotection
Ferguson, JN., Schmuker, P., Dmitrieva, A., Quach, T., Zhang, T., Ge, Z., Nersesian, N., Sato, SJ., Clemente, TE. and Leakey, ADB., (2024). Reducing stomatal density by expression of a synthetic EPF increases leaf intrinsic water use efficiency and reduces plant water use in a C4crop
Ferguson, JN., Caproni, L., Walter, J., Shaw, K., Thein, MS., Mager, S., Taylor, G., Cackett, L., Mathan, J., Vath, RL., Martin, L., Genty, B., Pe, E., Lawson, T., Dell’Acqua, M. and Kromdijk, J., (2023). The genetic basis of dynamic non-photochemical quenching and photosystem II efficiency in fluctuating light reveals novel molecular targets for maize (Zea mays) improvement
Journal articles (20)
Ferguson, JN., Caproni, L., Walter, J., Shaw, K., Arce-Cubas, L., Baines, A., Thein, MS., Mager, S., Taylor, G., Cackett, L., Mathan, J., Vath, RL., Martin, L., Genty, B., Pè, ME., Lawson, T., Dell’Acqua, M. and Kromdijk, J., (2025). A deficient CP24 allele defines variation for dynamic nonphotochemical quenching and photosystem II efficiency in maize. The Plant Cell. 37 (4), koaf063-
Busch, FA., Ainsworth, EA., Amtmann, A., Cavanagh, AP., Driever, SM., Ferguson, JN., Kromdijk, J., Lawson, T., Leakey, ADB., Matthews, JSA., Meacham‐Hensold, K., Vath, RL., Vialet‐Chabrand, S., Walker, BJ. and Papanatsiou, M., (2024). A guide to photosynthetic gas exchange measurements: Fundamental principles, best practice and potential pitfalls. Plant, Cell & Environment. 47 (9), 3344-3364
Ferguson, JN., Schmuker, P., Dmitrieva, A., Quach, T., Zhang, T., Ge, Z., Nersesian, N., Sato, SJ., Clemente, TE. and Leakey, ADB., (2024). Reducing stomatal density by expression of a synthetic epidermal patterning factor increases leaf intrinsic water use efficiency and reduces plant water use in a C4 crop. Journal of Experimental Botany. 75 (21), 6823-6836
Ferguson, JN., Jithesh, T., Lawson, T. and Kromdijk, J., (2023). Excised leaves show limited and species-specific effects on photosynthetic parameters across crop functional types. Journal of Experimental Botany. 74 (21), 6662-6676
Robson, JK., Ferguson, JN., McAusland, L., Atkinson, JA., Tranchant-Dubreuil, C., Cubry, P., Sabot, F., Wells, DM., Price, AH., Wilson, ZA. and Murchie, EH., (2023). Chlorophyll fluorescence-based high-throughput phenotyping facilitates the genetic dissection of photosynthetic heat tolerance in African (Oryza glaberrima) and Asian (Oryza sativa) rice.. Journal of Experimental Botany. 74 (17), 5181-5197
Gojon, A., Nussaume, L., Luu, DT., Murchie, EH., Baekelandt, A., Rodrigues Saltenis, VL., Cohan, J., Desnos, T., Inzé, D., Ferguson, JN., Guiderdonni, E., Krapp, A., Klein Lankhorst, R., Maurel, C., Rouached, H., Parry, MAJ., Pribil, M., Scharff, LB. and Nacry, P., (2023). Approaches and determinants to sustainably improve crop production. Food and Energy Security. 12 (1), 1-23
Cowling, SB., Treeintong, P., Ferguson, J., Soltani, H., Swarup, R., Mayes, S. and Murchie, EH., (2022). Out of Africa: characterizing the natural variation in dynamic photosynthetic traits in a diverse population of African rice (Oryza glaberrima).. Journal of Experimental Botany. 73 (10), 3283-3298
Li, S., Moller, CA., Mitchell, NG., Martin, DG., Sacks, EJ., Saikia, S., Labonte, NR., Baldwin, BS., Morrison, JI., Ferguson, JN., Leakey, ADB. and Ainsworth, EA., (2022). The leaf economics spectrum of triploid and tetraploid C₄ grass Miscanthus x giganteus.. Plant, Cell and Environment. 45 (12), 3462-3475
Ferguson, JN., Tidy, AC., Murchie, EH. and Wilson, ZA., (2021). The potential of resilient carbon dynamics for stabilizing crop reproductive development and productivity during heat stress.. Plant, Cell and Environment. 44 (7), 2066-2089
Ferguson, JN., Fernandes, SB., Monier, B., Miller, ND., Allen, D., Dmitrieva, A., Schmuker, P., Lozano, R., Valluru, R., Buckler, ES., Gore, MA., Brown, PJ., Spalding, EP. and Leakey, ADB., (2021). Machine learning-enabled phenotyping for GWAS and TWAS of WUE traits in 869 field-grown sorghum accessions. Plant Physiology. 187 (3), 1481-1500
Bettgenhaeuser, J., Hernández-Pinzón, I., Dawson, AM., Gardiner, M., Green, P., Taylor, J., Smoker, M., Ferguson, JN., Emmrich, P., Hubbard, A., Bayles, R., Waugh, R., Steffenson, BJ., Wulff, BBH., Dreiseitl, A., Ward, ER. and Moscou, MJ., (2021). The barley immune receptor Mla recognizes multiple pathogens and contributes to host range dynamics. Nature Communications. 12 (1), 6915-
Ferguson, JN., McAusland, L., Smith, KE., Price, AH., Wilson, ZA. and Murchie, EH., (2020). Rapid temperature responses of photosystem II efficiency forecast genotypic variation in rice vegetative heat tolerance. The Plant Journal. 104 (3), 839-855
Ferguson, JN., Meyer, RC., Edwards, KD., Humphry, M., Brendel, O. and Bechtold, U., (2019). Accelerated flowering time reduces lifetime water use without penalizing reproductive performance in Arabidopsis. Plant, Cell and Environment. 42 (6), 1847-1867
Leakey, ADB., Ferguson, JN., Pignon, CP., Wu, A., Jin, Z., Hammer, GL. and Lobell, DB., (2019). Water Use Efficiency as a Constraint and Target for Improving the Resilience and Productivity of C3 and C4 Crops. Annual Review of Plant Biology. 70 (1), 781-808
Ferguson, JN., (2019). Climate change and abiotic stress mechanisms in plants. Emerging Topics in Life Sciences. 3 (2), 165-181
Valluru, R., Gazave, EE., Fernandes, SB., Ferguson, JN., Lozano, R., Hirannaiah, P., Zuo, T., Brown, PJ., Leakey, ADB., Gore, MA., Buckler, ES. and Bandillo, N., (2019). Deleterious Mutation Burden and Its Association with Complex Traits in Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor). Genetics. 211 (3), 1075-1087
Bechtold, U., Ferguson, JN. and Mullineaux, PM., (2018). To defend or to grow: Lessons from Arabidopsis C24. Journal of Experimental Botany. 69 (11), 2809-2821
Ferguson, JN., Humphry, M., Lawson, T., Brendel, O. and Bechtold, U., (2018). Natural variation of life-history traits, water use, and drought responses in Arabidopsis. Plant Direct. 2 (1), e00035-
Dawson, AM., Ferguson, JN., Gardiner, M., Green, P., Hubbard, A. and Moscou, MJ., (2016). Isolation and fine mapping of Rps6: an intermediate host resistance gene in barley to wheat stripe rust. Theoretical and Applied Genetics. 129 (4), 831-843
Dawson, AM., Ferguson, JN., Gardiner, M., Green, P., Hubbard, A. and Moscou, MJ., (2016). Erratum to: Isolation and fine mapping of Rps6: an intermediate host resistance gene in barley to wheat stripe rust. Theoretical and Applied Genetics. 129 (4), 861-861
Thesis dissertation (1)
Ferguson, JN., (2017). Natural variation of water use and water productivity in Arabidopsis thaliana
Grants and funding
2024
Non-Invasive Technological Approaches to Crop Health Detection
Innovate UK (formerly Technology Strategy Board)
Phenomics technologies to improve sugar beet water use efficiency -PhD Studentship
British Beet Research Organisation
2023
Dynamic Plant Phenotyping for future proofing crop productivity
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Development of a smart irrigation system to minimise water use in a plant nursery
University of Essex (BBSRC IAA)
