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Professional Interests: 
Vance has been involved in legume N₂ fixation, N and C metabolism, and plant-microbe interaction research for 30 years. During the last 15 years he has also been involved in studies of plant adaptation to P stress. His early work focused on root nodule development and the role of plant enzymes in nodule N assimilation. He was the first to isolate and characterize AS, AAT, PEPC, NADH-GOGAT, and MDH from legume nodules, produce antibodies to the proteins, and isolate the genes. Through studies of ineffective nodules he established the paradigm that root nodule formation is analogous to a highly controlled disease process. He collaborated in the development of alfalfa germplasm incapable of N₂ fixation and nodulation which has been shared with more than 100 laboratories. His work on P-stress induced cluster roots in white lupin has been instrumental in defining how plants adapt to the stress of low P. His laboratory has demonstrated a close link between the induction of P-deficiency induced genes in roots and their regulation by plant sugars. Most recently Vance has been an international leader in the functional genomics of symbiotic nitrogen fixation and root responses to P-deficiency. His project has sequenced a total of some 70,000ESTs from Medicago, Lupinus, and Phaseolus and characterized the whole genome transcript expression response in these species.