Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160101570
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$352,000.00
Summary
Inducible hyper-expression as a tool for metabolic engineering. This project aims to develop methods to improve plant natural products yields and diversify the products manufactured from a wide array of plant species. Valuable plant metabolites, including chemotherapeutics and opiates, are usually synthesised in minute amounts and can be so complex they can’t be chemically manufactured, limiting their use and affordability. This project aims to develop an inducible system that confers hyper-elev ....Inducible hyper-expression as a tool for metabolic engineering. This project aims to develop methods to improve plant natural products yields and diversify the products manufactured from a wide array of plant species. Valuable plant metabolites, including chemotherapeutics and opiates, are usually synthesised in minute amounts and can be so complex they can’t be chemically manufactured, limiting their use and affordability. This project aims to develop an inducible system that confers hyper-elevated levels of gene expression and independent control of multiple genes involved in metabolite synthesis in the same host. This technology is expected to enable flexible multi-trait bio-factories to be developed.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE140100133
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$230,000.00
Summary
Expansion and Upgrade of the Newcastle Plant Growth Facility. Expansion and upgrade of the Newcastle plant growth facility: The project will upgrade and expand the Newcastle plant growth facility to ensure a continuous supply of high quality plant material required for competitively-funded research programs. This outcome will be achieved by replacing plant growth cabinets that have passed their built-in 15 year redundancy by many years, and the addition of specialist cabinets for Arabidopsis res ....Expansion and Upgrade of the Newcastle Plant Growth Facility. Expansion and upgrade of the Newcastle plant growth facility: The project will upgrade and expand the Newcastle plant growth facility to ensure a continuous supply of high quality plant material required for competitively-funded research programs. This outcome will be achieved by replacing plant growth cabinets that have passed their built-in 15 year redundancy by many years, and the addition of specialist cabinets for Arabidopsis research housed in a renovated PC2 space. Together, the infrastructure additions will enhance the productivity and excellence of core areas of plant biology research in plant development and nutrient transport, which are both areas of research that will be critical to address issues of food security in the future.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101143
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$395,220.00
Summary
An electrophysiological insight into the role of chloroplasts in stomatal drought signalling. Drought implies a range of stresses with which plants have to cope. Drought is not only a domestic issue for Australian people who live in this dry continent but also significantly affects global food supply and drives climate change. Stomata guard cells exert major controls on global water and carbon cycles. Although the total stomatal pore area may be five per cent of a leaf surface, transpirational w ....An electrophysiological insight into the role of chloroplasts in stomatal drought signalling. Drought implies a range of stresses with which plants have to cope. Drought is not only a domestic issue for Australian people who live in this dry continent but also significantly affects global food supply and drives climate change. Stomata guard cells exert major controls on global water and carbon cycles. Although the total stomatal pore area may be five per cent of a leaf surface, transpirational water loss through the stomata contributes to 70 per cent of total agricultural water usage. As an environmental signal, drought regulates stomatal movements. This project seeks to understand the mechanisms of drought induced molecular retrograde signals and their regulation over stomata. The outcomes will aid the development of strategies for reducing water loss from crops.Read moreRead less
The genes and pathways regulated by the AMYB80 network are involved in Arabidopsis pollen development. Tapetum is the inner layer of an anther essential for pollen formation. The project will study tapetal AtMYB80 network regulating pollen development. Knowledge of the network will be important in developing means to protect crop yields against cold and drought. Regulation of AtMYB80 activity is being used to create hybrid crops of high productivity.
Can we engineer plants to grow on salty soils? This project aims to answer questions about how plants can sustain their growth on salty soils. Plant-derived products constitute a pillar for our society. However, crop yields may be severely penalised due to unfavourable growth conditions, including soil salinity. This is particularly relevant for Australia as a large fraction of its arable land is affected by salt. This project aims to use molecular and cell biology techniques to resolve mechanis ....Can we engineer plants to grow on salty soils? This project aims to answer questions about how plants can sustain their growth on salty soils. Plant-derived products constitute a pillar for our society. However, crop yields may be severely penalised due to unfavourable growth conditions, including soil salinity. This is particularly relevant for Australia as a large fraction of its arable land is affected by salt. This project aims to use molecular and cell biology techniques to resolve mechanisms of how the synthesis of cellulose, which constitutes the bulk of a plant's biomass, is maintained in plants during salt stress. This project has potential for climate change mitigation, enhanced plant biomass production and improved fuel security.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE180100001
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$345,475.00
Summary
Pushing the limits of fluorescence microscopy with adaptive optics. This project aims to establish an adaptive optics, super-resolution optical microscopy facility to image cellular events with the highest possible spatial resolution, in a whole cell or tissue context. Sophisticated computer-controlled deformable mirrors will be used to correct the way light is distorted as it passes through specimens, thereby overcoming aberrations found in thick and complex samples. This adaptive optics system ....Pushing the limits of fluorescence microscopy with adaptive optics. This project aims to establish an adaptive optics, super-resolution optical microscopy facility to image cellular events with the highest possible spatial resolution, in a whole cell or tissue context. Sophisticated computer-controlled deformable mirrors will be used to correct the way light is distorted as it passes through specimens, thereby overcoming aberrations found in thick and complex samples. This adaptive optics system will enable researchers to study complex behaviour of biological specimens, at the optical resolution limit in plant and animal tissues, leading to basic biology and biotechnology outcomes in biofuels, biomaterials and biomedicines.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE110100188
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$550,000.00
Summary
Terabase sequencing for mutant, developmental, environmental and population genomics. This facility will make it possible to completely sequence the genome (and epi-genome and transcriptome) of a large number of samples in a cost effective manner. This will provide researchers with unprecedented ability to compare individuals in a population and to discover and define novel traits which govern disease resistance, yield and population dynamics in natural systems.
Investigating a new paradigm for plant-pathogen interactions; Identification of host-selective toxin proteins in the wheat pathogen Stagonospora nodorum. Stagonospora nodorum is a fungus that causes leaf and glume blotch disease on wheat. This disease alone causes $55 million dollars in yield losses per annum. Traditional breeding methods have yielded crops that are only mildly resistant leaving control of the disease to be worryingly reliant on fungicides. This project aims to identify and char ....Investigating a new paradigm for plant-pathogen interactions; Identification of host-selective toxin proteins in the wheat pathogen Stagonospora nodorum. Stagonospora nodorum is a fungus that causes leaf and glume blotch disease on wheat. This disease alone causes $55 million dollars in yield losses per annum. Traditional breeding methods have yielded crops that are only mildly resistant leaving control of the disease to be worryingly reliant on fungicides. This project aims to identify and characterise proteins that the fungus secretes to cause disease on wheat. By identifying these proteins, it is anticipated that strategies, both traditional and modern, could be employed to enable better control of the disease. This in turn would help provide a long term and secure supply of wheat and wheat based products to the community.Read moreRead less
A novel DNA motif involved in plant mitochondrial stress responses. The future of Australia's agriculture is threatened by limited water resources, temperature extremes and soil salinity. This project aims to unravel how plants are able to adapt to this continuously changing environment, by focusing on the role of mitochondria - cellular compartments essential for energy metabolism and plant stress responses.
Factors causing wheat stripe rust epidemics. This project aims to tackle wheat stripe rust, one of the most important fungal diseases of wheat in Australia, causing losses of up to $125 million a year. This project expects to gain insights into the fungal evolution and the molecular mechanism that causes hyper-virulent pathogen isolates. The expected outcome is to identify and characterise multiple genetic factors in the pathogen that contribute to wheat stripe rust epidemics in Australia. This ....Factors causing wheat stripe rust epidemics. This project aims to tackle wheat stripe rust, one of the most important fungal diseases of wheat in Australia, causing losses of up to $125 million a year. This project expects to gain insights into the fungal evolution and the molecular mechanism that causes hyper-virulent pathogen isolates. The expected outcome is to identify and characterise multiple genetic factors in the pathogen that contribute to wheat stripe rust epidemics in Australia. This project will contribute to improved disease management strategies to contain wheat stripe rust, resulting in higher wheat yields, reduced application of fungicides and increased revenue for Australian wheat farmers.Read moreRead less