FSBSI ARRIAM
Federal State Budget Scientific Institution
All-Russia Research Institute for Agricultural Microbiology
All-Russia Research Institute for Agricultural Microbiology
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E-mail: i.tikhonovich@arriam.ru
Телефон: +7 (812) 470-51-00
Scientific Director of the Institute, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Academician Tikhonovich Igor Anatolyevich
Игорь Анатольевич Тихонович родился 1 января 1949 года в г. Горловка Донецкой области, УССР (ныне — Российская Федерация).
In 1971 he graduated with honors from the Biological Faculty of Donetsk State University, in 1971-1972, 1973-1975. — Postgraduate student of the Department of Genetics and Breeding at Leningrad State University, in 1972-1973 — served in the Soviet Army. In 1975-1979, he was a junior researcher at the Research Institute of Biology of Leningrad State University. In 1975 he defended his PhD thesis "Study of chromosome variability by differential staining in populations and inbred lines of rye and radish"
From 1979 to the present, I.A. Tikhonovich has been working at the All-Russian Research Institute of Agricultural Microbiology (ARRIAM): in 1979-1983 — senior researcher, in 1983-1986 — Deputy Director of the Institute for Scientific Affairs, since 1986 (more than 30 years) — Director of ARRIAM, since 2017 — scientific director of ARRIAM, from 1988 to the present — Head of the Department of Biotechnology. In 1991, he defended his doctoral dissertation "Genetic control of symbiotic nitrogen fixation in peas: (Pisum sativum L.)", since 1995 he has received the title of professor.
From 2002 to 2009 — Chairman of the Presidium of the North-Western Scientific and Methodological Center of RAS.
I.A. Tikhonovich has been working at St. Petersburg State University since 2002: Professor of the Department of Genetics and Breeding (since 2013 - Department of Genetics and Biotechnology), in 2015-2016 — Acting Dean of the Faculty of Biology, since 2016 — Dean of the Faculty of Biology of St. Petersburg State University.
Academician of RAS since 1997, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences of the Department of Agricultural Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 2013.
Academician I.A. Tikhonovich is one of the leading microbiologists and geneticists, widely known in our country and abroad, the creator of the national school in the field of molecular genetic relations of microorganisms and plants, molecular biology, genetics of nitrogen fixation and plant—microbial interaction. I.A. Tikhonovich is developing ways to mobilize the genetic resources of the planet in order to create modern technologies agriculture. He was one of the first in the world to consider the genome of a host plant in a system with the genomes of its symbiotic environment.
I.A. Tikhonovich's research areas are plant genetics, soil science, plant physiology and microbiology, molecular biology and biotechnology.
I.A. Tikhonovich's main research is devoted to the molecular genetic foundations of the interaction of microorganisms and plants in the soil. The subject of his research was the symbiotic (controlling interactions with microorganisms) genes of plants, about which almost nothing was previously known.
Fundamental research by I.A. Tikhonovich:
A methodology has been developed for the coordinated breeding of plants and microorganisms, which makes it possible to radically change the structure of agrocenoses and ensure the creation of environmentally safe agricultural production systems. Unique collections of plant mutants with altered symbiotic properties have been created, on the basis of which genetic models have been built, which made it possible to study all the main aspects of symbiosis genetics — signaling interactions of partners, as well as morphology and biochemistry of microbial-plant systems.
Applied research by I.A. Tikhonovich:
A whole range of biological products has been developed, alternative to chemical ones, widely used in agricultural production in Russia and abroad. The use of these biological products makes it possible to increase the yield of agricultural products by up to 30%, improve its quality, obtain environmentally safe products, fight diseases and pests of agriculture, and dispose of livestock waste.
The most famous works of I.A. Tikhonovich are on the mechanisms of symbiosis specificity, including in forms of peas of Afghan origin, as well as on the production of signaling molecules of bacterial origin with altered structure and functions.
He formulated the position on the microbial-plant system (MRS), which arises as a result of the functional integration of the micro- and macro-symbiont genes. The practical significance of the conducted research lies in the possibility of using the potential of partner interactions to create an MPC with maximum self-sufficiency and allowing to produce high-quality products while minimizing costs.
Special attention should be paid to the development by I.A. Tikhonovich and the approbation of a methodological apparatus for analyzing the genetic control of symbiotic relationships between plants and microorganisms using modern achievements of molecular biology — genetics, genomics, transcriptomics and bioinformatics. This allowed us to formulate the basic principle of complementarity of genomes in interspecific interaction — the formation of a single genetic system of pro- and eukaryotes, which ensures the appearance of new traits in the microbial-plant system, many of which did not exist in partners before interaction.
I.A. Tikhonovich laid the foundation for a new branch of ecological genetics — symbiogenetics, the development of the provisions of which the author devoted more than 40 years of his scientific, educational and practical activities. Symbiogenetics studies the formation of combined microbial-plant genetic systems that ensure the expansion of their adaptations and the ability of crops to form stable yields under stressful conditions.
Head of the direction "Agrobiotechnology of soil fertility management in Russia in the interests of highly productive agriculture with minimal environmental risk" NCMU "Agrotechnologies of the Future". Head of the department "Biology and Biotechnology of Plants", Scientific Center of Genetics and Life Sciences of St. Petersburg State University.
As a professor at the Department of Genetics and Biotechnology of St. Petersburg State University, he organized and headed the unique educational program "Ecological Genetics", within which he lectures "Symbiosis and Symbiogenetics" and "Genetics of interorganizational interactions", a course of lectures "Metagenomics" within the framework of the curriculum "Molecular Biology of plants and Biotechnology". At the Faculty of Biology of St. Petersburg State University for bachelors and masters, as well as at NTU "Sirius" for masters, schoolchildren and secondary school teachers, courses developed by him on symbiogenetics, molecular foundations of interaction, chapters on the evolution of a plant cell, its organellogenesis are taught. The lecture course "Symbiogenetics" created by him in 2004 at the Biofactory has no analogues in the domestic and world practice of biological education.
I.A. Tikhonovich is the organizer of more than 20 international scientific forums, among them the World Congress on Biological Nitrogen Fixation (1975). Organizer of the 10th International Congress on Biological Nitrogen Fixation (St. Petersburg, 1995, about 700 participants from 50 countries of the world). Organizer of the 11th International Congress on Molecular Microbial-Plant Interactions (St. Petersburg, 2003, about 800 participants from 70 countries). Organizer of the 7th Congress of VOGiS, (St. Petersburg, 2019, more than 1000 participants from 33 countries).
Member of the editorial board of the journals "Microbiology", "Agricultural Biology", "Applied Biochemistry and Microbiology", "Ecological Genetics", "Bulletin of Agricultural Sciences", member of the editorial board of the journals "Proceedings of Applied Botany, Genetics and Breeding", "Vavilov Journal of Genetics and Breeding", "Genetics".
I.A. Tikhonovich was a member of the Presidential Council for Science and Education. He is a member of the Agrarian Commission of the State Prizes Committee under the President of the Russian Federation.
President of the Vavilov Society of Geneticists and Breeders (2014-present).
Awarded the Order of Friendship, 2005.
Laureate of the N.I. Vavilov Prize of the Government of St. Petersburg in the field of biological sciences, 2009
Laureate of the Russian Government Prize in Science and Technology, 2013
Awarded the N.I. Vavilov Gold Medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2023.
