Robert B Mellor

Dr Robert Brooke Mellor (b Yorkshire, UK) is a British scientist, known for his "unified vacuole theory" which states that in endosymbioses generally, the micro-symbiont and the macro-symbiont share their lytic vacuolar compartments. This stems from his earlier symbiosome (or "symbiosome is a lysosome" theory) which states that the organelle that microsymbionts inhabit partially takes over the lysosomal functions in these cells, analogous to the role of protein bodies in seeds (Mellor, 1989) in particular that the rhizobial symbiosome is an organ-specific form of lysosome in legume root nodules.

Mellor was also very interested in how plants distinguish between symbiotic and pathogenic infections and in 1984 set about measuring defence responses in nodules infected with different Rhizobial mutants and it gradually appeared that in Rhizobia the nod genes are responsible for producing different nod factors (lipo-chitin molecules) and that amongst their many effects was that they can provoke plant defence responses, so that it was essential that these genes were switched off (by molecules called "nodoffs") after infection, or that symbiosis could not take place. This convincing model won general acclaim and indeed the paper with Professor David B Collinge was later reprinted as that year’s number one most important publication (Mellor and Collinge, 1995).

In other works Dr R. B. Mellor has claimed that in legumes the root nodule cytoplasm may be under water stress and the plant may combat this by producing trehalose. Indeed, this may explain why nodulated plants have a higher drought-tolerance than non-nodulated plants.

However Mellor was also interested in applied science and invented and a patented system to power immobilized oxido-reductase enzymes and artificial co-factors using electrical power out of a domestic socket.

In early 2000 he joined and helped start-up the IT University of Copenhagen [1], after which he became Director of Enterprise at Kingston University [2], London, in Computing, Information Systems and Mathematics. Dr Mellor teaches innovation and the mathematical modelling of business processes at MSc level at Kingston University. Dr Robert B Mellor [3] is author of over 120 scientific publications in reputable journals as well as ten books, several of which have been translated into other languages. His impact factor (h-Index) is 22. He is an active consultant with over twelve years industrial experience and lectures at postgraduate level on subjects like ‘strategic information systems’, ‘knowledge management’, ‘strategic innovation’ and ‘entrepreneurship’. In 2011 his computer modelling of the Knowledge Based View of the Firm [4] resulted in a complete explanation of the evolution of SMEs, small and medium-sized enterprises.

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