Webster Lab

The Webster Lab is within the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK.

Our research focuses on understanding:
How do plants produce their photosynthetic proteins?

Photosynthesis produces the energy that plants need to grow and the oxygen that we breathe. The proteins that perform photosynthesis are located within the chloroplasts of plants. Many of the genes that encode the photosynthetic protein are located within the chloroplast genome, and are transcribed and translated to produce the photosynthetic proteins by a unique and fascinating gene expression machinery. 

The Webster Lab focuses on understanding how photosynthetic proteins are produced by visualising the molecular machinery that performs chloroplast gene expression. We use cryo-EM, biochemical reconstitution and plant genetic manipulation to visualise the structures and functions of proteins that are essential to the establishment and maintenance of photosynthesis.

A detailed understanding of gene expression mechanisms is a foundation to developing plants that have improved photosynthetic capacity. Environmental stresses such as heat, drought and salinity impact the ability of plants to do photosynthesis. A molecular understanding of photosythetic protein production is expected to produce new ideas to make crops more robust to a changing climate. Our work is part of the JIC Institute Strategic Programme ‘Building Robustness in Crops’ (BRiC).