# Leon V. Kochian
**Leon V. Kochian** is a plant scientist who works on the molecular physiology of mineral nutrition in crops: how roots take up nutrients, how plants tolerate toxic aluminum on acid soils, and how some plants accumulate heavy metals such as zinc and cadmium. In August 2016 he became a professor at the [University of Saskatchewan](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-saskatchewan). Before moving to Canada he spent more than thirty years with the [United States Department of Agriculture](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-states-department-of-agriculture)'s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) at Cornell University, directing the Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health from 2008 to 2016.[2](https://rsc-src.ca/sites/default/files/candidates/KOCHIAN%2C%20Leon%5B9%5D_0.pdf)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Field | Plant nutrition, aluminum tolerance, heavy-metal transport, root architecture[1](https://plantnutrition.org/member/leon-v-kochian/) |
| Training | BA Botany, UC Berkeley (1978); PhD Plant Physiology, UC Davis (1983), advisor William J. Lucas; UC Davis postdoc (1984–85)[3](https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/3082/KochianCV-2010forwebsite.pdf) |
| Signature work | SbMATE aluminum-tolerance gene in sorghum, *Nature Genetics*, 2007[4](https://doi.org/10.1038/ng2074) |
| Holley Center | Director, USDA-ARS Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health, Cornell, 2008–2016[2](https://rsc-src.ca/sites/default/files/candidates/KOCHIAN%2C%20Leon%5B9%5D_0.pdf) |
| CERC appointment | Canada Excellence Research Chair in Food Systems and Security |[5](https://www.canada.ca/en/social-sciences-humanities-research/news/2016/09/government-canada-brings-world-leading-food-security-expert-university-saskatchewan.html) • [6](https://thestarphoenix.com/business/u-of-s-lands-new-canada-excellence-research-chair/)
| Field result | Sorghum lines carrying superior SbMATE versions showed 30–50% yield increases on acid soils in field trials[2](https://rsc-src.ca/sites/default/files/candidates/KOCHIAN%2C%20Leon%5B9%5D_0.pdf) |
| Recent honor | Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, 2024[7](https://www.grainews.ca/daily/saskatchewan-root-researcher-honoured-by-royal-society-of-canada/) |
## Education and early career
Kochian earned a B.A. in botany with Highest Honors at the [University of California](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-california), Berkeley in 1978, then moved to the [University of California, Davis](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-california-davis), where he was an NSF Doctoral Fellow in the botany department from 1978 to 1982 and a UC Davis Graduate Fellow from 1982 to 1983. His 1983 Ph.D. in plant physiology, with the dissertation "The Kinetics, Mechanisms and Localization of K+ Influx in *Zea mays* Roots," was supervised by [William J. Lucas](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-j-lucas), and he stayed at Davis as a postdoctoral research associate in 1984–85.[3](https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/3082/KochianCV-2010forwebsite.pdf)
In 1985 he joined USDA-ARS as a plant physiologist at the U.S. Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory in [Ithaca, New York](https://www.edgepedia.org/ithaca-new-york), on the Cornell campus; according to his USDA-ARS CV, he took adjunct appointments in Cornell's plant biology and agronomy departments later that decade.[3](https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/3082/KochianCV-2010forwebsite.pdf)
## Career at Cornell and the Holley Center
His USDA-ARS program at what became the Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health covered the molecular physiology of plant mineral nutrition; per the USDA-ARS research page, it included aluminum tolerance genes in sorghum, maize, and rice; phosphorus deficiency; iron and zinc accumulation in cereal seeds; phytoremediation of heavy-metal-contaminated soils using the zinc/cadmium hyperaccumulator *Thlaspi caerulescens* as a model; and two- and three-dimensional root-system imaging tools for genetic mapping of root architecture.[8](https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/ithaca-ny/robert-w-holley-center-for-agriculture-health/plant-soil-and-nutrition-research/docs/kochian/) By 2003 he was also serving as the laboratory's director and as a professor in Cornell's plant biology and crop and soil sciences departments.[9](https://clu-in.org/studio/2003phyto/bio.cfm?id=16)
As director from 2008 to 2016 he expanded the center substantially: its faculty grew from seven to 25 and its annual budget from $7 million to $15 million.[2](https://rsc-src.ca/sites/default/files/candidates/KOCHIAN%2C%20Leon%5B9%5D_0.pdf) His Cornell research also addressed limiting the entry of [toxic heavy metals](https://www.edgepedia.org/toxic-heavy-metal) such as cadmium and lead into the food chain.[10](http://vivo.cornell.edu/display/individual5367/)
## Saskatchewan and the CERC appointment
In September 2016 the [Government of Canada](https://www.edgepedia.org/government-of-canada) announced an investment of $10 million over seven years to bring Kochian to the University of Saskatchewan as the CERC in Food Systems and Security, with a further $10 million from the university.[5](https://www.canada.ca/en/social-sciences-humanities-research/news/2016/09/government-canada-brings-world-leading-food-security-expert-university-saskatchewan.html) • [6](https://thestarphoenix.com/business/u-of-s-lands-new-canada-excellence-research-chair/) He joined the Global Institute for Food Security, a $50 million partnership founded in 2012 between [PotashCorp](https://www.edgepedia.org/potashcorp), the [Saskatchewan](https://www.edgepedia.org/saskatchewan) government and the university, as its associate director, with faculty positions in plant sciences and soil science.[1](https://plantnutrition.org/member/leon-v-kochian/) • [11](https://www.cerc.gc.ca/news_room-salle_de_presse/spotlight-pleins_feux/kochian-food_security-securite_alimentaire-eng.aspx)
The CERC program applied his root-phenotyping approach to Canadian crops, using the [Canadian Light Source](https://www.edgepedia.org/canadian-light-source) synchrotron and other imaging tools to digitize root traits for breeding root systems suited to specific environments in wheat, barley, lentils, and canola.[11](https://www.cerc.gc.ca/news_room-salle_de_presse/spotlight-pleins_feux/kochian-food_security-securite_alimentaire-eng.aspx)
## Representative work
His most influential paper, published in *Nature Genetics* in 2007, identified a gene in the multidrug and toxic compound extrusion (MATE) family, SbMATE, as a major gene conferring aluminum tolerance in sorghum; according to the Selected Publications list of GIFS, the paper came out of a collaboration with Brazil's EMBRAPA agricultural research organization.[4](https://doi.org/10.1038/ng2074) • [12](https://gifs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Selected-Publications.pdf) Kochian's team and collaborators went on to isolate the maize homolog ZmMATE1.[2](https://rsc-src.ca/sites/default/files/candidates/KOCHIAN%2C%20Leon%5B9%5D_0.pdf) Earlier, a team he was part of used yeast complementation to clone the first plant potassium transport gene, opening the way to cloning hundreds of other plant transport genes.[2](https://rsc-src.ca/sites/default/files/candidates/KOCHIAN%2C%20Leon%5B9%5D_0.pdf)
## Aluminum tolerance and acid soils
Aluminum toxicity is a principal constraint on acid soils, which the USDA-ARS program described as up to 50% of the world's arable land while the Royal Society of Canada candidate document gives about 40%; both figures are cited here as reported.[8](https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/ithaca-ny/robert-w-holley-center-for-agriculture-health/plant-soil-and-nutrition-research/docs/kochian/) • [2](https://rsc-src.ca/sites/default/files/candidates/KOCHIAN%2C%20Leon%5B9%5D_0.pdf) On such soils, toxic aluminum and manganese together with suboptimal phosphorus damage roots and reduce yields, by nearly 70 percent according to Kochian's Royal Society of Canada candidate document.[2](https://rsc-src.ca/sites/default/files/candidates/KOCHIAN%2C%20Leon%5B9%5D_0.pdf) • [13](https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.arplant.55.031903.141655) A related 2006 PNAS paper identified *AtALMT1*, which encodes a malate transporter, as one of several genes critical for aluminum tolerance in *Arabidopsis*.[14](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0602868103) The translation path runs through breeding: field trials with sorghum lines carrying superior SbMATE versions showed 30–50% yield increases on acid soils.[2](https://rsc-src.ca/sites/default/files/candidates/KOCHIAN%2C%20Leon%5B9%5D_0.pdf) His root-architecture work showed that cultivars with larger root systems take up more phosphorus in low-phosphorus soils and more nitrogen in low-nitrogen soils.[7](https://www.grainews.ca/daily/saskatchewan-root-researcher-honoured-by-royal-society-of-canada/)
## Honors and recognition
Kochian received the Arrell Global Food Innovation Award in 2019, is a Fellow of the [American Association for the Advancement of Science](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-association-for-the-advancement-of-science) (2008) and of the American Society of Plant Physiologists (2007), and was elected to the USDA Agricultural Research Service Hall of Fame in 2016.[2](https://rsc-src.ca/sites/default/files/candidates/KOCHIAN%2C%20Leon%5B9%5D_0.pdf) In 2024 he received a fellowship from the Royal Society of Canada, according to *Grainews*.[7](https://www.grainews.ca/daily/saskatchewan-root-researcher-honoured-by-royal-society-of-canada/)
## Recent developments
His associate directorship at the Global Institute for Food Security ended in 2023, and the CERC term ran from 2016 to 2025.[2](https://rsc-src.ca/sites/default/files/candidates/KOCHIAN%2C%20Leon%5B9%5D_0.pdf) The Royal Society of Canada fellowship followed in 2024, recognizing four decades of root-architecture research.[7](https://www.grainews.ca/daily/saskatchewan-root-researcher-honoured-by-royal-society-of-canada/)
## References
1. Leon V. Kochian – International Plant Nutrition Council. https://plantnutrition.org/member/leon-v-kochian/
2. Kochian, Leon – Royal Society of Canada candidate document. https://rsc-src.ca/sites/default/files/candidates/KOCHIAN%2C%20Leon%5B9%5D_0.pdf
3. Leon V. Kochian CV (USDA-ARS, 2010). https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/3082/KochianCV-2010forwebsite.pdf
4. A gene in the multidrug and toxic compound extrusion (MATE) family confers aluminum tolerance in sorghum, *Nature Genetics*, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1038/ng2074
5. Government of Canada brings world-leading food security expert to the University of Saskatchewan. https://www.canada.ca/en/social-sciences-humanities-research/news/2016/09/government-canada-brings-world-leading-food-security-expert-university-saskatchewan.html
6. U of S lands new Canada Excellence Research Chair – The StarPhoenix. https://thestarphoenix.com/business/u-of-s-lands-new-canada-excellence-research-chair/
7. Saskatchewan root researcher honoured by Royal Society of Canada – Grainews. https://www.grainews.ca/daily/saskatchewan-root-researcher-honoured-by-royal-society-of-canada/
8. Kochian: USDA ARS research page. https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/ithaca-ny/robert-w-holley-center-for-agriculture-health/plant-soil-and-nutrition-research/docs/kochian/
9. Leon Kochian biography, EPA CLU-IN phytoremediation seminar (2003). https://clu-in.org/studio/2003phyto/bio.cfm?id=16
10. Kochian, Leon V. – Cornell VIVO. http://vivo.cornell.edu/display/individual5367/
11. Canada Excellence Research Chairs – Kochian spotlight. https://www.cerc.gc.ca/news_room-salle_de_presse/spotlight-pleins_feux/kochian-food_security-securite_alimentaire-eng.aspx
12. Selected Publications (GIFS). https://gifs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Selected-Publications.pdf
13. How Do Crop Plants Tolerate Acid Soils? *Annual Review of Plant Biology*, 2004. https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.arplant.55.031903.141655
14. *AtALMT1*, which encodes a malate transporter, is identified as one of several genes critical for aluminum tolerance in *Arabidopsis*, *PNAS*, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0602868103
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Life scientists › Researchers in developmental biology, stem cells, and plant biology › Plant physiology and biochemistry*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license