Improving plant productivity and human health using next generation biotechnology approaches. Both medical and plant sciences face similar technological problems in harnessing the power of modern DNA sequencing for accelerating the pace of beneficial gene function discovery. Plant and animal researchers will collaborate in this program to meet this common challenge. The research outcomes envisaged in this proposal will benefit human health by enabling more rapid discovery of genes related to obe ....Improving plant productivity and human health using next generation biotechnology approaches. Both medical and plant sciences face similar technological problems in harnessing the power of modern DNA sequencing for accelerating the pace of beneficial gene function discovery. Plant and animal researchers will collaborate in this program to meet this common challenge. The research outcomes envisaged in this proposal will benefit human health by enabling more rapid discovery of genes related to obesity, immunity, fertility, neurological function and cancer. In the plant sphere, the outcomes will shed new light on plant functions related to plant energy metabolism, vitamin biosynthesis drought tolerance and water use by crops. The research will benefit both human health and agricultural food production and quality.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0453608
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$579,230.00
Summary
Multifunctional confocal laser scanning microscope with time resolved and two photon imaging and fluorescence correlation capabilities. We seek to establish an Australian first confocal laser scanning microscope with time resolved imaging and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy capabilities. Its advantages include ultrasensitive detection of weak fluorescent emissions against high autofluorescent background by using fluorescence lifetime signatures, with over three orders of magnitude discrimi ....Multifunctional confocal laser scanning microscope with time resolved and two photon imaging and fluorescence correlation capabilities. We seek to establish an Australian first confocal laser scanning microscope with time resolved imaging and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy capabilities. Its advantages include ultrasensitive detection of weak fluorescent emissions against high autofluorescent background by using fluorescence lifetime signatures, with over three orders of magnitude discrimination improvement. The system will also be able to monitor binding of single molecules. These techniques will open new and exciting avenues for interdisciplinary research at the frontier between biological and physical sciences. The microscope will operate within an existing multi-user Optical Characterisation Facility supporting research of an established network of scientists in the Sydney area.Read moreRead less
New approaches to unravelling post-translational controls operating on the cyanobacterial carbon dioxide concentrating mechanism. Marine blue-green algae contribute to global primary productivity but their carbon dioxide acquisition processes are poorly understood. The project will employ mutagenesis and genome sequencing to discover the controls that regulate carbon dioxide uptake processes required for efficient photosynthesis and use this data to aid in engineering crop plants that use less w ....New approaches to unravelling post-translational controls operating on the cyanobacterial carbon dioxide concentrating mechanism. Marine blue-green algae contribute to global primary productivity but their carbon dioxide acquisition processes are poorly understood. The project will employ mutagenesis and genome sequencing to discover the controls that regulate carbon dioxide uptake processes required for efficient photosynthesis and use this data to aid in engineering crop plants that use less water.Read moreRead less
Adapting cyanobacterial bicarbonate transporters for application in crop improvement. Marine blue-green algae contribute to global primary productivity but their carbon dioxide (CO2) acquisition processes are poorly understood. The project will determine protein structure and regulatory controls present in two classes of bicarbonate transporters required for efficient photosynthesis, and use this data towards the engineering crop plants that use less water.
Novel photoprotective mechanisms and functional biodiversity of high light tolerance in the model alga Chlamydomonas. Most plants have limited capacity to avoid high light (HL) stress which commonly accompanies drought and high temperature stress. We will identify novel genes and proteins that underlie diverse mechanisms of photoprotection in unique very high light resistant (VHLR) mutants in the alga Chlamydomonas and develop new tools to screen other plants for these attributes. Depending on p ....Novel photoprotective mechanisms and functional biodiversity of high light tolerance in the model alga Chlamydomonas. Most plants have limited capacity to avoid high light (HL) stress which commonly accompanies drought and high temperature stress. We will identify novel genes and proteins that underlie diverse mechanisms of photoprotection in unique very high light resistant (VHLR) mutants in the alga Chlamydomonas and develop new tools to screen other plants for these attributes. Depending on progress, we expect to express them in the higher plant Arabidopsis as a first step towards utilization of VHLR genes for crop improvement. Understanding the mechanisms conferring HL photoprotection is a research priority in plant sciences and will further strengthen Australia's innovative contributions to the internationally networked Chlamydomonas Genome Project.Read moreRead less
REdefining metabolic Schemes and Pathways In plant leaf REspiration. Leaf respiration-related metabolism in terrestrial vegetation liberates considerable amounts of carbon dioxide, ammonia and hydrogen sulphide into the atmosphere. Such gaseous losses are detrimental to biomass production but respiration also sustains nutrient assimilation and biosyntheses. This project aims to describe flux patterns in respiratory metabolism and disentangle interactions with other pathways such as photorespirat ....REdefining metabolic Schemes and Pathways In plant leaf REspiration. Leaf respiration-related metabolism in terrestrial vegetation liberates considerable amounts of carbon dioxide, ammonia and hydrogen sulphide into the atmosphere. Such gaseous losses are detrimental to biomass production but respiration also sustains nutrient assimilation and biosyntheses. This project aims to describe flux patterns in respiratory metabolism and disentangle interactions with other pathways such as photorespiration and nitrogen assimilation. It will exploit stable isotopes to quantify metabolic partitioning and show coordination between major processes. It will establish key mechanisms by which respiration dictates plant carbon balance and contributes to identifying metabolic bottle-necks in plant primary production.Read moreRead less
Harnessing peptide hormone outputs to improve root nodulation’s efficacy. This project aims to transform our understanding of symbiotic nitrogen fixation in legume root nodules. Root nodulation sustainably fixes sizeable amounts of nitrogen to boost crop production worldwide yet its utilisation is waning in favour of using nitrogen fertilisers. The project applies cutting-edge tools to define how two hormone systems boost and limit nitrogen fixation, respectively. The project expects to reveal w ....Harnessing peptide hormone outputs to improve root nodulation’s efficacy. This project aims to transform our understanding of symbiotic nitrogen fixation in legume root nodules. Root nodulation sustainably fixes sizeable amounts of nitrogen to boost crop production worldwide yet its utilisation is waning in favour of using nitrogen fertilisers. The project applies cutting-edge tools to define how two hormone systems boost and limit nitrogen fixation, respectively. The project expects to reveal ways to reconfigure these hormone outputs to improve nodule number and the efficacy of nitrogen fixation. The findings will benefit agriculture by reducing the reliance on costly nitrogen fertilisers, thus mitigating the huge environmental damage they cause, and will provide more sustainable ways to ensure food security.Read moreRead less
A new route to controlling root system architecture and drought tolerance. This project aims to transform our understanding of the relationship between root architecture and water and nitrogen acquisition, factors critical to determining yield. We have discovered that mutants affected in a peptide hormone receptor have unique root architectural features relevant to acquiring water and nitrogen. The mutants are drought tolerant and their roots are nitrate insensitive. The project aims to define t ....A new route to controlling root system architecture and drought tolerance. This project aims to transform our understanding of the relationship between root architecture and water and nitrogen acquisition, factors critical to determining yield. We have discovered that mutants affected in a peptide hormone receptor have unique root architectural features relevant to acquiring water and nitrogen. The mutants are drought tolerant and their roots are nitrate insensitive. The project aims to define the receptor’s genetic outputs and expects to uncover new ways to improve water and nitrate acquisition and determine if our findings apply to crops. The application of these findings will reduce the severe environmental damage caused by poor nitrogen fertiliser uptake and provide sustainable ways to ensure food security.Read moreRead less
The key to making root nodules - new tricks for old hormones. This project aims to use and develop new chemical and microscopy-based tools to test whether the cell-type specific plant hormone changes induced by rhizobia in legumes can be triggered in non-legumes. Most crop plants rely on fossil fuel-derived nitrogen fertilisers, while legumes benefit from biologically-fixed nitrogen through a symbiosis with rhizobia bacteria that initiate nodules. It is not understood why non-legumes cannot form ....The key to making root nodules - new tricks for old hormones. This project aims to use and develop new chemical and microscopy-based tools to test whether the cell-type specific plant hormone changes induced by rhizobia in legumes can be triggered in non-legumes. Most crop plants rely on fossil fuel-derived nitrogen fertilisers, while legumes benefit from biologically-fixed nitrogen through a symbiosis with rhizobia bacteria that initiate nodules. It is not understood why non-legumes cannot form this symbiosis. This project aims to apply detailed knowledge of nodulation in model legumes to a phylogenetically diverse range of nodulating and non-nodulating plant species. This is expected to give new insight into the evolution of nodulation and advance the long held goal of extending nodulation to non-legumes.Read moreRead less
Plant microRNA systems: investigating slicing versus translational repression and the development of an anti-viral defence mechanism. The ability to specifically switch off genes has revolutionised biotechnological approaches, from fighting diseases to developing superior crops, however the underlying mechanism is poorly understood, limiting its application in practice. Outcomes from this project will provide such knowledge, allowing its precise use in diverse applications.