COLUMBIA, MO — The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has awarded the distinction of Fellow to Arun Chatterjee, a professor emeritus of plant sciences in the College of Agricultural, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri.
Chatterjee was elected for his "distinguished contributions to the field of plant bacteriology, particularly for global regulation of virulence factors by transcriptional factors, signaling systems, and RNA regulators," according to an AAAS press release.
Election as a Fellow is an honor bestowed on AAAS members by their peers. This year, 503 members were awarded this honor. Chatterjee was the only MU faculty elected in 2010.
Chatterjee is well known for his research on Erwinia carotovora, a bacterium that can cause disease in a wide range of plants, including carrots, tomatoes, potatoes and onions. His studies have shed light on molecules in this bacterium that lead to disease in some plants and resistance in others. Many of his findings have been novel, including the discovery of the regulatory role a small RNA, called rsmB, plays in controlling the production of proteins that destroy leaf tissues. His work has led to new genetic and molecular tools and concepts that have facilitated the exploration of Erwinia and other bacterial systems, including human and animal pathogens.
Chatterjee joined the MU faculty in 1987 as one of the first plant science professors to be hired as part of the University's Food for the 21st Century Program. The addition of Chatterjee brings the total number of plant scientists at MU who are AAAS Fellows to 12, out of a total of 33 AAAS Fellows at MU.
Chatterjee is also a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society and the American Academy of Microbiology. He is also an honorary member of the Mycological Society of India.
He will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue rosette pin on Feb. 19 in Washington, D.C.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal, Science .