Autar Mattoo's Biography

Autar Mattoo, Research Plant Physiologist, USDA Agricultural Research Service

Dr. Autar Mattoo has been a research scientist for 44 years including the last 30 years with Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. Prior to returning to bench research in 2004, he served as a Research Leader for 16 years: nine years heading the Plant Molecular Biology Laboratory and seven years heading the Vegetable Laboratory at USDA-ARS. His accomplishments are documented in 247 publications (167 peer-reviewed papers, 48 symposium proceedings, 26 book chapters and 6 edited books) and one patent. He has guided: thirty-three M.S., fifteen Ph.D. students as a major or co-major advisor, and 50 postdoctoral research associates from the U.S. and foreign countries. Dr. Mattoo has been an invited keynote speaker and/or session Chair at numerous international symposia, spanning 21 countries. Dr. Mattoo has used several biological systems in his research. These include animals (rat liver and brain), fungi (Aspergillus flavus, Neurospora crassa, Penicillium digitatum, Eremothecium ashbyii), thermophiles (Talaromyces sp., Humicola lanuginose, Mucor pusillus), bacteria (Escherichia coli), model systems (Petunia, Arabidopsis, Spirodela, Lemna, tobacco, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii), fruits (apple, avocado, banana, mango, orange, tomato), beans (pea, beans, soybean), cereals (barley, rice), Solanaceous plants, weeds and a few medicinal plants. Dr. Mattoo’s current research focus is on the following areas: Molecular Biotechnology for Enhancing Phytonutrients in Tomato Fruit; Integrating Transgenic, Value-Added Plants with Sustainable Agriculture Systems; Unraveling the Regulatory Steps and Mechanisms Involved in the Cycling of the Photosystem II (PSII) Reaction Center Proteins; Role of Polyamines in the Plant World.