Jose F. Marcos

Jose F. Marcos holds a CSIC Scientific Researcher position at IATA-CSIC and is currently the Director of IATA-CSIC. He develops his career in the areas of molecular plant pathology and biotechnology of filamentous fungi, also with contributions in food microbiology and plant biotechnology. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology (University of Valencia, 1991) working on molecular plant virology and the characterization of viroids, under advice of Prof. R. Flores (IBMCP, Valencia). He then moved as a postdoctoral fellow for three years to the group of Prof. R. N. Beachy at TSRI (La Jolla, CA, USA), wherein he worked on plant genetic transformation for the development of virus-resistant plants by using viral genes. During this period, he began his interest in antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and pioneered and published the first example of a rationally designed synthetic peptide with activity against a plant virus (Marcos et al., 1995, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92: 12466). Back to Spain in 1995, he first joined the group of Prof. V. Pallás (then at the CEBAS-CSIC, Murcia) to continue working on the molecular characterization and diagnosis of plant viruses and viroids. He moved to IATA and obtained a CSIC permanent research position in 2000, with a project on the characterization of fungus-fruit interactions and the development of alternatives for the control of fruit postharvest decay with a focus on the use of antimicrobial peptides. Dr, Jose Marcos co-leads with Dr. Paloma Manzanares the research group “Bioactive Proteins and Peptides of Agricultural and Food Interest”, in the Department of Food Biotechnology at IATA-CSIC. Research in the laboratory focuses in two main areas. The first one is on the identification, characterization, and development of bioactive, antimicrobial and antifungal peptides and proteins with application in agriculture and food science. This research contributed to: (i) the novel proposal of using antifungal peptides as sustainable alternatives of control in postharvest conservation using the pathosystem Penicillium digitatum-citrus fruit as an experimental model that also has high economic interest (López-García et al., 2000, Mol. Plant-Microbe Interac. 13: 837); and (ii) from a more basic point of view, the identification of antifungal peptide mechanisms of action that are specific and not cytolytic (publications. For these contributions, the laboratory is internationally recognized and received the invitation to write revisions, among others, in the prestigious Annual Reviews (Marcos et al., 2008, Annu. Rev. Phytopathol. 46: 273). The second area of interest is the development of molecular, cell biology and synthetic biology tools to study the biology of filamentous fungi and for their biotechnological exploitation in agrifood applications. One of the world reference strains of P. digitatum (PHI26, CECT20796) was isolated and characterized in the laboratory and the first with its complete genome sequenced (Marcet-Houben et al., 2012, BMC Genomics 13: 646). The most recent investigations are related to the study and characterization of antifungal proteins (AFP) of fungal origin, both to decipher their basic functions in the biology of the producing fungus and for its promising exploitation as new antifungal biomolecules. Jose Marcos is co-author of 128 publications, including 91 SCI publications and the co-edition of two books. He has participated in 42 research projects or contracts; being principal investigator (PI) of 11 National, 1 European ERANet and 1 European H2020 projects; filed 8 patents (5 of them international); and directed 7 doctoral theses and 3 additional underway. Six of the doctorates have remained dedicated to science, either in the academia or in biotech companies, including one tenured scientist at CSIC and two abroad. He has been member of the Academic Commission of the Doctorate in Biotechnology (2014-2019) (UPV). Jose Marcos is currently the Director of IATA-CSIC (since 2019) and member of the Consell Valencià de la Innovació (Generalitat Valenciana).