Sequencing and assembling microbial community metagenomes in real-time. This project aims to assemble metagenomes directly from environmental samples using nanopore sequencing. Short-read approaches to metagenomics cannot assemble mixed genomes from an environmental sample, so focus on describing which species and genes are present. Long-read nanopore sequencing enables the assembly of full genomes of multiple species in a sample. Assembling complete genomes in important resources such as water ....Sequencing and assembling microbial community metagenomes in real-time. This project aims to assemble metagenomes directly from environmental samples using nanopore sequencing. Short-read approaches to metagenomics cannot assemble mixed genomes from an environmental sample, so focus on describing which species and genes are present. Long-read nanopore sequencing enables the assembly of full genomes of multiple species in a sample. Assembling complete genomes in important resources such as water and soil should lead to deeper understanding of the dynamics, variation and transfer of genetic material within these resources’ microbial communities, strategies to manage microbial diversity, and improved productivity and long-term sustainability for these resources.Read moreRead less
National Macadamia Conservation Program. Macadamia is a national icon, and the only indigenous Australian plant food crop to be commercialised. However, it is vulnerable to extinction in the wild, needing conservation action. University, government, industry and community sectors will work together applying cutting edge research methodologies to produce a systematic conservation and recovery plan for Macadamia. This requires: Habitat modelling to predict past, contemporary and potential distribu ....National Macadamia Conservation Program. Macadamia is a national icon, and the only indigenous Australian plant food crop to be commercialised. However, it is vulnerable to extinction in the wild, needing conservation action. University, government, industry and community sectors will work together applying cutting edge research methodologies to produce a systematic conservation and recovery plan for Macadamia. This requires: Habitat modelling to predict past, contemporary and potential distributions for advising resource discovery and rehabilitation; Genetic variation modelling to assess quality and distinctness of native genetic resources and potential for rehabilitation by natural colonisation; and Developing a unifying statistical framework to support this work.Read moreRead less
Australian native plant species as models for understanding the regulation and roles of betalain pigment synthesis. This project will have triple bottom line benefits. Economic: new cultivars developed from understanding betalains will sell worldwide, generating returns, incomes and employment in urban, peri-urban and rural Australia. Social: Novel Ptilotus and Calandrinia cultivars will adorn parks and gardens around Australia, thereby enhancing quality of life. Environmental: Ptilotus and Cala ....Australian native plant species as models for understanding the regulation and roles of betalain pigment synthesis. This project will have triple bottom line benefits. Economic: new cultivars developed from understanding betalains will sell worldwide, generating returns, incomes and employment in urban, peri-urban and rural Australia. Social: Novel Ptilotus and Calandrinia cultivars will adorn parks and gardens around Australia, thereby enhancing quality of life. Environmental: Ptilotus and Calandrinia are inherently drought resistant. Novel ornamental cultivars will have high water use efficiency and contribute to water conservation in urban Australia in the face of drought and global warming. Moreover, understanding their synthesis and roles could yield new strategies for enhancing stress tolerance in other species, including crop plants.Read moreRead less
Mapping recombination blocks in Brassica. DNA technology provides new ways to study genomes. Understanding how the genome behaves during plant breeding will help design strategies for the breeding and selection of improved crop plants.
Environmental determinants of mass extinctions by emerging disease: why does chytridiomycosis exterminate frogs in rainforest but not in open forest? The emerging fungal disease known as chytridiomycosis is causing decline and extinctions of many species of frogs around the world; Australia is no exception. Although a threat abatement plan is currently in place, a successful management strategy to deal with this problem in the wild does not exist. In the wet tropics region of north Queensland, h ....Environmental determinants of mass extinctions by emerging disease: why does chytridiomycosis exterminate frogs in rainforest but not in open forest? The emerging fungal disease known as chytridiomycosis is causing decline and extinctions of many species of frogs around the world; Australia is no exception. Although a threat abatement plan is currently in place, a successful management strategy to deal with this problem in the wild does not exist. In the wet tropics region of north Queensland, healthy populations of torrent frogs exist in the drier areas adjacent to the rainforest where they disappeared. Understanding how they coexist with this pathogen, as well as their dispersal capacity to recolonise the rainforest is basic information necessary to aid theses species in future conservation efforts.Read moreRead less
Tracing the origins of stress in the symbionts of reef-building corals. Symbiotic dinoflagellates of corals are critical to the world's major tropical reef ecosystems. Recent work in our laboratories and others has revealed that these algae are sensitive to a wide array of stresses (including climate change) and hence may be the ?Achilles Heel? of reef ecosystems. This project will identify the key genes and processes in these algae using expressed sequence tags and microarray technology. On th ....Tracing the origins of stress in the symbionts of reef-building corals. Symbiotic dinoflagellates of corals are critical to the world's major tropical reef ecosystems. Recent work in our laboratories and others has revealed that these algae are sensitive to a wide array of stresses (including climate change) and hence may be the ?Achilles Heel? of reef ecosystems. This project will identify the key genes and processes in these algae using expressed sequence tags and microarray technology. On this basis, the underlying molecular mechanisms of these stress responses and their genetic diversity will be studied in order to better understand the differential susceptibility of reef-building corals to bleaching.Read moreRead less
Investigating differences in decision-making ability in older adults. This project aims to investigate how healthy ageing impacts decision making and its associated neural circuits using computation modelling and neurogenetic methods. Decision-making is a fundamental cognitive ability, allowing us to choose the best course of action. This project will investigate the relationship between genes and decision-making performance across the adult lifespan. Expected outcomes include a deeper understan ....Investigating differences in decision-making ability in older adults. This project aims to investigate how healthy ageing impacts decision making and its associated neural circuits using computation modelling and neurogenetic methods. Decision-making is a fundamental cognitive ability, allowing us to choose the best course of action. This project will investigate the relationship between genes and decision-making performance across the adult lifespan. Expected outcomes include a deeper understanding of how decision-making evolves in healthy ageing, and a tool based on genetic scores and computational modelling to predict an individual's trajectory of cognitive function. This could help identify individuals who are at risk for cognitive decline, which could then inform better interventions.Read moreRead less
Fisheries genomics of snapper in Australia and New Zealand Waters. This industry-driven project aims to assemble a strategic research alliance to generate and apply knowledge to a highly significant fisheries resource. It involves collaboration between the five major state government fisheries agencies in Australia, the New Zealand’s Crown Research Institute for seafood and two Australian labs with leadership in fish genetics and genomics. It expects to generate and integrate genomic, environmen ....Fisheries genomics of snapper in Australia and New Zealand Waters. This industry-driven project aims to assemble a strategic research alliance to generate and apply knowledge to a highly significant fisheries resource. It involves collaboration between the five major state government fisheries agencies in Australia, the New Zealand’s Crown Research Institute for seafood and two Australian labs with leadership in fish genetics and genomics. It expects to generate and integrate genomic, environmental and phenotypic datasets for snapper populations from across vast coastal regions of the two countries. The outcomes should substantially enhance intra- and inter-jurisdictional fisheries management and aquaculture initiatives, providing commercial, social and environmental benefits for many stakeholders.Read moreRead less
The MYB gene as a model for global transcriptional regulation: stopping, starting and looping. This project will study how transcriptional elongation controls the MYB gene, a key regulator of normal and cancerous growth and regulation. There are three major benefits that are likely to flow from the proposed research It will strengthen research in new and important areas of transcriptional regulation, by building research capacity in Australia in the area of gene expression, particularly with res ....The MYB gene as a model for global transcriptional regulation: stopping, starting and looping. This project will study how transcriptional elongation controls the MYB gene, a key regulator of normal and cancerous growth and regulation. There are three major benefits that are likely to flow from the proposed research It will strengthen research in new and important areas of transcriptional regulation, by building research capacity in Australia in the area of gene expression, particularly with respect to transcriptional elongation and long-range regulation. It will highlight a new approach to the therapeutic targeting of MYB in cancer: data generated from this research may enable us to target MYB expression in a range of cancers including breast cancer by inhibiting transcriptional elongation. And it will provide training in advanced molecular biology to postdoctoral scientists and students.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120100668
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
New Brassica crop species through evolutionary breeding. This projects aims to investigate natural mechanisms by which plants evolve into new species through hybridisation, using Brassica species (canola, cabbages and mustards) as a model. Understanding these processes will allow us to make new, widely adapted Brassica crop species for agricultural production.