Identifying components of a novel imprinting mechanism that regulates seed size in plants. Australia is a major exporter of agricultural food crops thus producers must maintain their competitive advantage in order to compete on the world stage. This project will study a fundamental biological process of seed development as seeds are a major food staple and an important export product for Australian farmers.
Environmental regulation of root architecture by a gene controlling auxin transport. This project will study the function of a gene that we found to control root branching in response to the availability of nutrients in the environment. This could lead to new strategies for breeding of crop plants with improved ability to withstand environmental change.
Unique plant hormone responses: the key to nitrogen-fixing nodules. This project aims to build a model of the signals that regulate root nodule formation, unique root organs formed by some plants that host nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Nitrogen is often limited in the soil and agriculture relies on nitrogen fertiliser. Sustainable sources of plant nutrients are required to ensure food security and minimise the environmental impact of intensive farming. This project will provide fundamental informati ....Unique plant hormone responses: the key to nitrogen-fixing nodules. This project aims to build a model of the signals that regulate root nodule formation, unique root organs formed by some plants that host nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Nitrogen is often limited in the soil and agriculture relies on nitrogen fertiliser. Sustainable sources of plant nutrients are required to ensure food security and minimise the environmental impact of intensive farming. This project will provide fundamental information on why some species can form nitrogen-fixing nodules by examining the role of plant hormones. This will build the knowledge base required to potentially expand this symbiosis into non-legumes, harnessing the huge advantage nodule forming species have in staple crops.Read moreRead less
The role of auxin in root organ specification - from symbiont to parasite. Sustainable agriculture in a changing climate depends on strategies to maximise crop performance and to minimise crop losses due to parasites. This project aims to identify genes and molecular mechanisms that symbiotic and parasitic microbes, which affect major crop plants, use to alter plant growth in a beneficial or detrimental way.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101886
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$386,929.00
Summary
Plant microRNA targeting: defining regulatory factors additional to complementarity. Central to our understanding of microRNA biology is the identification of which genes they target. In plants, high complementarity is regarded as the sole determinant, and drives bioinformatic predictions. However, functional evidence is inconsistent with this, arguing that complementarity alone is insufficient to accurately predict targets. This project uses novel applications of next generation sequencing to c ....Plant microRNA targeting: defining regulatory factors additional to complementarity. Central to our understanding of microRNA biology is the identification of which genes they target. In plants, high complementarity is regarded as the sole determinant, and drives bioinformatic predictions. However, functional evidence is inconsistent with this, arguing that complementarity alone is insufficient to accurately predict targets. This project uses novel applications of next generation sequencing to categorise bioinformatically predicted Arabidopsis targets as either strongly or poorly regulated. These categories will be analysed to determine what factors, in addition to complementarity, are required for strong targeting. The outcomes will impact artificial microRNA design and have important implications for biotechnology. Read moreRead less
Newly discovered regulatory peptides underpin root organogenesis, environmental sensing, symbiosis and nematode parasitism. We have discovered the elusive missing link that enables plants to simultaneously sense environmental stimuli and orchestrate root growth patterns. Findings of this project can be used to breed new plant crops varieties with improved performance that will be crucial for long-term agricultural and environmental sustainability worldwide.
CEP peptides provide a new paradigm for improving N-fixation and root shape. Two pivotal goals of agronomic research are to extend the benefits of symbiotic nitrogen fixation resulting from legume interactions with rhizobia, and to improve root architecture so that plants more effectively acquire nutrients and water. This project aims to discover new regulators that are central players in both processes. Applying these regulators to roots should enable legumes to nodulate more, to fix more nitr ....CEP peptides provide a new paradigm for improving N-fixation and root shape. Two pivotal goals of agronomic research are to extend the benefits of symbiotic nitrogen fixation resulting from legume interactions with rhizobia, and to improve root architecture so that plants more effectively acquire nutrients and water. This project aims to discover new regulators that are central players in both processes. Applying these regulators to roots should enable legumes to nodulate more, to fix more nitrogen, and to fundamentally alter important aspects of root architecture. Thus, these regulators will be used to enhance nitrogen fixation more widely in legumes and to alter their root architecture to enhance growth. These regulators may find wide utility in improving agriculture in developed and developing countries.Read moreRead less
Systemic gene silencing in Arabidopsis, and relevance to plant biology. Gene silencing is a highly conserved process in plants and animals. It is of fundamental importance to gene regulation, virus defence, genome response to environment, and genome evolution. Remarkably, when gene silencing is triggered in plants it can spread throughout the organism. The aim of this project is to define the mechanism of intercellular movement of gene silencing in plants, and its relevance to plant growth and d ....Systemic gene silencing in Arabidopsis, and relevance to plant biology. Gene silencing is a highly conserved process in plants and animals. It is of fundamental importance to gene regulation, virus defence, genome response to environment, and genome evolution. Remarkably, when gene silencing is triggered in plants it can spread throughout the organism. The aim of this project is to define the mechanism of intercellular movement of gene silencing in plants, and its relevance to plant growth and defence against pathogens. Expected outcomes include increased understanding of intercellular genetic signalling in plants and its role in plant growth and disease resistance. The findings may also shed new light on mechanisms of gene silencing in animals.Read moreRead less
Crop improvement using peptide regulators of growth and N demand signalling. This project aims to reduce reliance on nitrogen fertilisers without reducing crop yield. Global food security relies on using high-yielding grain varieties and nitrogen-based fertilisers. Since 1950, fertiliser use has increased 20-fold but the yield benefits of this use are declining. Crops only absorb 30–50 per cent of the applied fertiliser and the unused nitrogen causes environmental damage which is costly to mitig ....Crop improvement using peptide regulators of growth and N demand signalling. This project aims to reduce reliance on nitrogen fertilisers without reducing crop yield. Global food security relies on using high-yielding grain varieties and nitrogen-based fertilisers. Since 1950, fertiliser use has increased 20-fold but the yield benefits of this use are declining. Crops only absorb 30–50 per cent of the applied fertiliser and the unused nitrogen causes environmental damage which is costly to mitigate. The novel technology platform of the project aims to develop new crops with more expansive root systems that use applied nitrogen fertiliser more efficiently and new legume varieties that symbiotically fix more nitrogen in an ecologically-sustainable way.Read moreRead less
The use of molecular sponges to inhibit small Ribonucleic acid activity in plants. The deletion of gene activity is the most powerful way to understand gene function; however for genes encoding small Ribonucleic acids (RNAs) no current methodology can efficiently achieve this. Here, we aim to develop a gene silencing technology for small RNA encoding genes, which can be utilised to determine their function and used for biotechnological applications.