Sainsbury Laboratory's Jonathan Jones Selected As A 2025 Wolf Prize Laureate in Agriculture

The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) Group Leader Professor Jonathan Jones has been selected as a 2025 Wolf Prize Laureate in Agriculture "for groundbreaking discoveries of the immune system and disease resistance in plants." Professor Jones shares the prize with Professors Jeffery L. Dangl and Brian J. Staskawicz.

The groundbreaking discoveries of Professors Jones, Dahl, and Staskawicz on the plant immune system form the current knowledge about plant immune system. Staskawicz identified the first bacterial avirulence effector gene, providing crucial molecular evidence supporting the “gene-for-gene” theory. This discovery and the parallel work of Jones and Dangl opened up the field of plant immunity. Staskawicz also showed that bacterial avirulence proteins can have virulence functions inside the plant cell. Jones cloned plant resistance genes first, encoding eukaryotic cell surface immune receptors, and all three identified multiple intracellular immune receptors. Jones and Dangl independently uncovered mechanisms that activate immune receptors. The discovery of pathogen effector proteins and plant immune receptors helped illuminate how these receptors are activated upon pathogen detection and helped reveal the downstream signaling pathways.

A landmark 2006 Nature review by Dangl and Jones provided the first detailed, and now textbook, model of the plant immune system. In a 2024 review in Cell, Jones, Dangl, and Staskawicz summarized 50 years of discoveries in plant immunity. Their contributions significantly shaped the current understanding of the field, leading to targeted strategies to enhance resistance and to control a broad spectrum of plant diseases.

The Wolf Prize is awarded annually to exceptional individuals across scientific and artistic disciplines. In science, the prize is awarded in Medicine, Agriculture, Mathematics, Chemistry, and Physics. Now in its 46th year, the Wolf Prize has recognized 382 scientists and artists worldwide for their transformative contributions.

For more details, read the news release from the TSL and the Wolf Prize website.