Michael Melkonian

Michael Melkonian (born 1948) is a German botanist and phycologist. He was a professor of botany at the University of Cologne from 1988 to 2017. He is currently a senior professor of phycology at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Michael Melkonian
Nationality	German
Occupation	Senior Professor of Phycology
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Hamburg
Academic work
Discipline	Phycologist
Institutions	University of Duisburg-Essen University of Cologne University of Münster

Early life and education

Michael Melkonian was born in 1948 in Hamburg. He earned his bachelor's degree in botany at the University of Hamburg in 1974. He received a doctorate in Botany with a focus in plant physiology in 1978 from the University of Hamburg.

Career

From 1978 to 1988 Melkonian was an Assistant Professor to the Botany Department at the University of Münster. In 1982, he was a visiting assistant professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. From 1986–1988 he was a Heisenberg Fellow of the German Research Foundation (DFG).

In 1988, he moved to the University of Cologne as a full professor and Chair of the Botany department. In 2001 Melkonian became the Director of the Central Collection of Algal Cultures (CCAC).[1] Melkonian became a Professor Emeritus in 2017. In 2019, he became a Senior Professor of Phycology at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Melkonian played a role in establishing multiple phycological societies in Europe, including organizing the first European Phycological Congress[2] and encouraging the founding of the Hellenic Phycological Society.[3]

Melkonian holds 16 patents[4] and is a co-founder of Algenion GmbH & Co. KG, an algal biotech company.[5]

Research

Melkonian's research primarily focuses on microalgae and has researched specific areas including cell biology, systematics and evolution, and the development of biotechnologies.[6] He has published more than 240 refereed research papers and book articles, edited several books, including the Handbook of Protoctista (1990). He also authored German textbooks including General Botany (1974, 1984) and Illustrated Guide to Freshwater Algae (2004, 2012).

Melkonian studied the structure, function and development of the flagellar apparatus in algae[7] and co-discovered several centrosomal proteins novel for eukaryotes (e.g. centrin,[8] SF-assemblin). He further provided evidence that flagellar development in unicellular eukaryotes extends over more than one cell cycle generating flagella with different functions in the same cell.[9] Through the study of the biogenesis of extracellular scales in green algae led to the revival of the cisternal maturation model of intra-Golgi apparatus.[10] Studies on the eyespot apparatus of green algae[11] led to the identification of the photoreceptor channelrhodopsin.

Melkonian also studied the systematics, diversity and evolution of algae with emphasis on green algae,[12] cryptophytes, and euglenophytes[13] but also heterotrophic protists,[14] such as the Picozoa.[15] Molecular phylogenetic analyses helped to identify the flagellate Mesostigma as the earliest divergence in the Streptophyta[16] and the Zygnematophyceae as the likely sister group to the embryophyte land plants.[17] Melkonian also worked on early research understanding the cercozoan photosynthetic amoeba Paulinella chromatophora, which has an independently evolved chloroplast called a chromatophore, and is an important example for the evolution of endosymbiotic organelles.[18]

Additionally, his group developed a novel technique to grow microalgae at technical scale immobilized on Twin-Layers.[19]

Activity in International Organizations

• 1992–1994 - President, International Society for Evolutionary Protistology
• 1993–1994 - Vice-President, British Phycological Society
• 1996 - Organizer of the First European Phycological Congress[2]
• 2002–2004 - President, International Phycological Society
• 2011–2012 - Vice-President, International Society of Protistologists
• 1998–present - Editor-in-Chief Emeritus Protist[21]

Academic Memberships

• 2003 - elected as a Corresponding Member of the Botanical Society of America[22]
• 2014 - Honorary Member, Hellenic Phycological Society[23]

Awards

• 1984 - Biology Prize, Göttingen Academy of Sciences[24]
• 2004 - Fritz Schaudinn Award for the best original paper published during 2002 and 2003 in the journal Protist[25]
• 2014 - Hans-Adolf von Stosch Medal, Section of Phycology (German Botanical Society), for outstanding service to Phycology in Germany[26]

Selected books

• Algal Cell Motility[27]
• Allgemeine Botanik. Nach einer Vorlesung von H. Drawert
• Handbook of Protoctista: The Structure, Cultivation, Habitats and Life Histories of the Eukaryotic, Microorganisms and Their Descendants Exclusive O (The Jones and Bartlett series in life sciences)
• Der Kosmos-Algenführer

References

1. "Staff - Central Collection of Algal Cultures (CCAC)". www.uni-due.de. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
2. History of the European Phycological Congresses and the Foundation of FEPS. (PDF), Federation of European Phycological Societies, 2022
3. "Home". Hellenic Phycological Society (HEL.P.S.). Retrieved 2024-10-06.
4. "www.melkonian.uni-koeln.de". www.melkonian.uni-koeln.de. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
5. "Algenion-biotec.de". Archived from the original on 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
6. "www.melkonian.uni-koeln.de". www.melkonian.uni-koeln.de. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
7. Geimer, S., Melkonian, M. (2004): The ultrastructure of the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii basal apparatus: identification of an early marker of radial asymmetry inherent to the basal body. J. Cell Sci. 117, 2663-2674
8. Salisbury, J.L., Baron, A., Surek, B., Melkonian, M. (1984): Striated flagellar roots: isolation and partial characterization of a calcium-modulated contractile organelle. J. Cell Biol. 99, 962-970
9. Melkonian, M., Reize, I.B., Preisig, H.R. (1987): Maturation of a flagellum/basal body requires more than one cell cycle in algal flagellates: Studies on Nephroselmis olivacea (Prasinophyceae). In: Algal Development. Molecular and Cellular Aspects (Wiessner, W., Robinson, D.G., Starr, R.C., eds.), pp. 102-113. Berlin-Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag
10. Becker, B., Bölinger, B., Melkonian, M. (1995): Anterograde transport of algal scales through the Golgi complex is not mediated by vesicles. Trends in Cell Biology 5 , 305-306
11. Melkonian, M., Robenek, H. (1980): Eyespot membranes of Chlamydomonas reinhardii: a freeze-fracture study. J. Ultrastruct. Res. 72, 90-102
12. Melkonian, M. (1982a): Structural and evolutionary aspects of the flagellar apparatus in green algae and land plants. Taxon 31, 255-265
13. Marin, B., Palm, A., Klingberg, M., Melkonian, M. (2003): Phylogeny and taxonomic revision of plastid-containing Euglenophytes based on SSU rDNA sequence comparisons and synapomorphic signatures in the SSU rRNA secondary structure. Protist 154, 99-145
14. Hess, S., Melkonian, M. (2013) The Mystery of Clade X: Orciraptor and Viridiraptor genera nova are highly specialised, algivorous amoeboflagellates (Glissomonadida, Cercozoa). Protist 164: 706-741
15. Seenivasan, R., Sausen, N., Medlin, L.K., Melkonian, M. (2013) Picomonas judraskeda gen. et sp. nov.: The first identified member of the Picozoa phylum nov., a widespread group of picoeukaryotes, formerly known as ‘picobiliphytes.’ PLoS ONE 8(3): e59565
16. Marin, B., Melkonian, M. (1999): Mesostigmatophyceae, a new class of streptophyte green algae revealed by SSU rRNA sequence comparisons. Protist 150, 399-417
17. Wodniok, S., Brinkmann, H., Glöckner, G., Heidel, A.J., Philippe, H., Melkonian, M., Becker, B. (2011) Origin of land plants: Do conjugating green algae hold the key? BMC Evol. Biol. 11: 104
18. Nowack, E.C.M., Melkonian, M., Glöckner, G. (2008): Chromatophore genome sequence of Paulinella sheds light on acquisition of photosynthesis by eukaryotes. Curr. Biol. 18, 410-418
19. Naumann, T., Çebi, Z., Podola, B., Melkonian, M. (2013) Growing microalgae as aquaculture feeds on Twin-Layers, a novel solid state photobioreactor. J. Appl. Phycol. 25: 1413-1420
20. International Plant Names Index.  Melkonian.
21. "Editorial board - Protist | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier". www.sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
22. "Botanical Society of America". Archived from the original on 2018-08-11. Retrieved 2014-04-14.
23. Hellenic Phycological Society (HEL.P.S.)
24. Biology Prize Archived 2014-11-07 at the Wayback Machine, Göttingen Academy of Sciences
25. Fritz Schaudinn Award
26. "Hans-Adolf von Stosch Medal". Archived from the original on 2014-11-06. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
27. Algal Cell Motility. doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-9683-7.

External links

• Publication list 1975-2014