Profile

Prof Ian Johnston
Professor
School Positions
Chandos Professor of Physiology (1997-present)
Director, Scottish Oceans Institute (2012-present)
Director, Gatty Marine Laboratory (1985-2008)
Director of Research, School of Biology (2003-6)
Member, School of Biology Management Group (2000-2006) (2012-present)
Head of School: (Biology & Preclinical Medicine, 1987-1992; Environmental & Evolutionary Biology, 1997-1999)
External Positions
Steering Committee Member of the European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC) – an ESFRI Research Infrastructure in the preparatory phase (2011-2014)
Steering Committee Member of LIFECYCLE an EU-funded FP7 Integrated Research Project (2009-2013)
Vice-President (2005-2007) and President (2007-2009) Society for Experimental Biology
Member of the Natural Environment Research Council & Chairman, Marine Science & Technology Board (1995-2000)
Adjunct Professor, University of Nordland, Norway (2002-2011)
Honours
Elected Fellow Royal Society of Edinburgh 1987
Awarded Scientific Medal Zoological Society of London 1984
Research Group
Dr Vera Vieira-Johnston (Honorary Research Fellow)
Dr Daniel J. Macqueen (MASTS Research Fellow)
Dr Daniel Garcia de la serrana (EU-funded)
Dr Thomas Ashton (BBSRC-funded)
Clara Coll-Llado, PhD student/academic apprentice (50% with Dr David Ferrier)
Collaborators
Professor Shugo Watabe, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan
Dr Bjarni K. Kristjánsson, Holar University College, Iceland
Dr Robert H. Devlin, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, West Vancouver, Canada
Professor Jorge Fernandes, University of Nordland, Norway
Industrial Partners
Young’s Seafood, SalmoBreed A/S, BioMar, Ewos Innovation
Research Overview:
Genomic and physiological approaches are being used to investigate muscle growth and adaptation in teleost fish. Skeletal muscle fibres are produced during the embryonic, larval and adult stages of the lifecycle. The genetic mechanisms controlling the production of muscle fibres and their subsequent hypertrophy are being studied. Several novel myogenic genes have been discovered and their functions characterised using in vivo and in vitro using primary muscle cultures. Using various models involving body size evolution and temperature adaptation I have shown strong selection for fibre size optimization, with consequences for the life-time production of muscle fibres. Universal scaling laws affecting muscle dimensions and energy metabolism can therefore successfully explain variations in fibre number and fine scale evolutionary patterns of myogenesis between populations and species. Salmonid fish have undergone two whole genome duplications relative to their common ancestor with tetrapods resulting in up to 8 copies (paralogues) of some genes. The role of gene paralogues in the signaling pathways regulating growth is being studied. Other research interests include the molecular mechanisms underlying seasonal temperature acclimation in fish and the consequences for muscle power output and swimming performance. Embryonic stress in zebrafish was shown to have persistent affects on thermal acclimation and myogenesis that persisted to adulthood, even after fish were raised from hatching at a common temperature. The mechanisms are currently under investigation at the genomic, tissue and whole animal levels.
50 (of 168 /dk/atira/pure/researchoutput/status/published available) for iaj (source: University of St Andrews PURE)
Please click title of any item for full details
Frontiers in Genetics 2019 vol. 10
Journal of Fish Biology 2019 vol. 94 pp. 614-620
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 2018 vol. 6
Frontiers in Genetics 2018 vol. 9
Aquaculture 2017 vol. 476 pp. 59-64
General and Comparative Endocrinology 2017 vol. 247 pp. 53-65
Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part B: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2016 vol. 199 pp. 50-57
BMC Research Notes 2015 vol. 8
BMC Genomics 2015 vol. 16
BMC Genomics 2015 vol. 16
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 2014 vol. 281
Biology Letters 2014 vol. 10
Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology 2014 vol. 167 pp. 90-99
Journal of Experimental Biology 2014 vol. 217 pp. 3392-3395
BMC Genomics 2014 vol. 15
Genome Biology and Evolution 2014 vol. 6 pp. 981-7
PLoS ONE 2013 vol. 8
Molecular Biology and Evolution 2013 vol. 30 pp. 1060-1076
PLoS One 2013 vol. 8
Reviews in Aquaculture 2013 vol. 5 pp. S168-S193
American Journal of Physiology. Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 2012 vol. 302 pp. R193-R206
PLoS One 2012 vol. 7
BMC Genomics 2012 vol. 13
British Journal of Nutrition 2012 vol. 108 pp. 2148-2157
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2012 vol. 109 pp. 14247-14252
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 2012 vol. 279 pp. 2255-2261
Journal of Experimental Biology 2011 vol. 214 pp. 1617-1628
Journal of Experimental Biology 2011 vol. 214 pp. 2125-2139
Molecular Ecology 2011 vol. 20 pp. 3167-3184
Molecular Biology and Evolution 2010 vol. 27 pp. 1886-1902
Journal of Food Science 2010 vol. 75 pp. 182-190
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 2010 vol. 396 pp. 265-271
Gene 2010 vol. 453 pp. 45-58
Physiological Genomics 2010 vol. 42A pp. 114-130
American Journal of Physiology. Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 2010 vol. 298 pp. 1615-1626
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 2010 vol. 400 pp. 599-605
Physiological Genomics 2010 vol. 42 pp. 134-148
Nucleic Acids Research 2010 vol. 38
PLoS One 2010 vol. 5
Journal of Experimental Biology 2009 vol. 212 pp. 1781-1793
BMC Evolutionary Biology 2009 vol. 9
Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part B: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2009 vol. 152 pp. 47-53
Journal of muscle research and cell motility 2009 vol. 30 pp. 233-242
Frontiers in Zoology 2009 vol. 6
BMC Molecular Biology 2009 vol. 10 pp. -
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2008 vol. 56 pp. 5953-5959
PLoS One 2008 vol. 3
Genetica 2008 vol. 134 pp. 325-334
Development Genes and Evolution 2008 vol. 218 pp. 1-14
Genomics 2008 vol. 91 pp. 315-325
Contact Details:
Prof Ian JohnstonScottish Oceans Institute
East Sands
University of St Andrews
St Andrews
KY16 8LB
Fife
UK
tel: 01334 463440
fax: 01334 463443
room: 1.2/3.1
email: iaj@st-andrews.ac.uk
Related:
research@st-andrewsFish Muscle Research Group
Fish Muscle Research Group
School of Biology
Centre for Biological Diversity
Scottish Oceans Institute
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The Secretary
Scottish Oceans Institute
Institiud Chuantan na h-Alba
Gatty Marine Laboratory
East Sands St Andrews
KY16 8LB
Scotland
UK
tel: +44 (0) 1334 463472
fax: +44 (0) 1334 463443
email: soi@st-andrews.ac.uk
Participating Schools