Industrial Transformation Research Hubs - Grant ID: IH190100022
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$4,787,259.00
Summary
ARC Research Hub for Sustainable Crop Protection. The Hub aims to develop and commercialise an innovative biological alternative to chemical fungicides targeting economically significant diseases of broadacre and horticultural crops. It addresses industry challenges of fungicide resistance, chemical residues in food, off-target effects and environmental harm. It builds on ground-breaking ‘BioClay’ platform to deliver pathogen targeting RNA using clay particles as non-genetically modified crop pr ....ARC Research Hub for Sustainable Crop Protection. The Hub aims to develop and commercialise an innovative biological alternative to chemical fungicides targeting economically significant diseases of broadacre and horticultural crops. It addresses industry challenges of fungicide resistance, chemical residues in food, off-target effects and environmental harm. It builds on ground-breaking ‘BioClay’ platform to deliver pathogen targeting RNA using clay particles as non-genetically modified crop protection. An expert multidisciplinary team uniting science, commercial and social licence pathways ensures industry and consumer uptake advancing $60B Australian Agriculture. The Hub translates to increased productivity, market access and enhanced environmental credentials of Australian food.
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Buffering the ecosystem impact of invasive cane toads. This project aims to address the devastating ecological problems caused by invasive species, by developing a novel approach that does not rely upon eradicating the invader through training vulnerable native predators not to eat toxic cane toads. Expected outcomes of this project include building a broad coalition of conservation-focused groups, from private land-owners and local businesses through to Indigenous groups and government and non- ....Buffering the ecosystem impact of invasive cane toads. This project aims to address the devastating ecological problems caused by invasive species, by developing a novel approach that does not rely upon eradicating the invader through training vulnerable native predators not to eat toxic cane toads. Expected outcomes of this project include building a broad coalition of conservation-focused groups, from private land-owners and local businesses through to Indigenous groups and government and non-government agencies across the entire Kimberley region. It will also result in the evaluation of methods for deployment of taste-aversion at a landscape scale. This should provide significant benefits by conserving vulnerable fauna and building a powerful network within a region of high biodiversity in tropical Australia.Read moreRead less
Messing with their minds: using deception to improve pest management. This project aims to develop new approaches to improve wildlife management by showing how deceit and misinformation can alter decision-making in pest animals. Using wild house mice as a model, it will test new theory on how animals decide whether or not to interact with wildlife control devices, like traps and baits, which is critical to all pest control efforts. The expected outcomes include new pest control tools that make s ....Messing with their minds: using deception to improve pest management. This project aims to develop new approaches to improve wildlife management by showing how deceit and misinformation can alter decision-making in pest animals. Using wild house mice as a model, it will test new theory on how animals decide whether or not to interact with wildlife control devices, like traps and baits, which is critical to all pest control efforts. The expected outcomes include new pest control tools that make strategic use of misinformation to alter decision making, to reduce a pest's ability to damage important agricultural crops such as wheat, boost the attraction of lures to traps, and improve bait uptake. These outcomes should provide significant new options for vertebrate pest control in Australia and globally.Read moreRead less
Does plasma membrane perception of 2,4-D influence auxin resistance? This project aims to investigate the role of the cell membrane in synthetic auxin herbicide resistance by analysing the functions and interaction partners of candidate resistance proteins. It is expected that this project will generate new knowledge about the very early response of plants to auxin and the difference between susceptible and resistant weeds in perceiving auxin herbicides. Expected outcomes of this project include ....Does plasma membrane perception of 2,4-D influence auxin resistance? This project aims to investigate the role of the cell membrane in synthetic auxin herbicide resistance by analysing the functions and interaction partners of candidate resistance proteins. It is expected that this project will generate new knowledge about the very early response of plants to auxin and the difference between susceptible and resistant weeds in perceiving auxin herbicides. Expected outcomes of this project include the identification of potential herbicide synergists and a greater understanding of how weeds develop resistance to auxin herbicides. This should benefit Australian grain growers by providing more effective weed control options and lessening the amount of unnecessarily-applied herbicide in the environment.Read moreRead less
Eco-friendly pesticides for crop protection. The aims of the project are to develop robust methods for measuring bioactive pesticidal molecules in butterfly pea cultivars, characterise their modes of action, determine the exposure and persistence of these molecules in field runoff and waterways and, in the longer term, develop butterfly pea cultivars with optimised bioactivity and safety. The major outcome of the project is the generation of new knowledge that will contribute to the development ....Eco-friendly pesticides for crop protection. The aims of the project are to develop robust methods for measuring bioactive pesticidal molecules in butterfly pea cultivars, characterise their modes of action, determine the exposure and persistence of these molecules in field runoff and waterways and, in the longer term, develop butterfly pea cultivars with optimised bioactivity and safety. The major outcome of the project is the generation of new knowledge that will contribute to the development of novel antifungal and insecticidal agents. This outcome is significant as there is a huge need for new pesticidal agents that exhibit wide safety margins, reduce problems associated with resistance to existing treatments, and that are safe for the environment.Read moreRead less
Extracellular vesicles in the pathogenesis of fungal plant disease. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small membrane bound sacs that carry information between cells in essentially all organisms. EVs are also produced by bacterial and fungal pathogens and have a crucial role in infection in mammals . We propose that fungal EVs are key players in the establishment of fungal diseases in plants. We have isolated EVs from the cereal pathogen Fusarium graminearum which decreases yield and quality of gr ....Extracellular vesicles in the pathogenesis of fungal plant disease. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small membrane bound sacs that carry information between cells in essentially all organisms. EVs are also produced by bacterial and fungal pathogens and have a crucial role in infection in mammals . We propose that fungal EVs are key players in the establishment of fungal diseases in plants. We have isolated EVs from the cereal pathogen Fusarium graminearum which decreases yield and quality of grain in major food crops such as wheat, barley and corn. This project will focus on the cargo that EVs transport through the fungal cell wall and into the plant host and will establish the role of this cargo in disease progression. Ultimately, this knowledge will be used to design new strategies for disease control.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100884
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$426,691.00
Summary
Do novel diets reshape wildlife microbiomes and resilience to stressors? This project aims to investigate how bacteria can assist wildlife in adapting to the accelerating threat of environmental change. Using an innovative, interdisciplinary approach this project expects to identify interactions between environmental change and the diet, microbial communities and stress resilience of wildlife, using the threatened Grey-headed flying fox as a model system. Expected outcomes include detailed under ....Do novel diets reshape wildlife microbiomes and resilience to stressors? This project aims to investigate how bacteria can assist wildlife in adapting to the accelerating threat of environmental change. Using an innovative, interdisciplinary approach this project expects to identify interactions between environmental change and the diet, microbial communities and stress resilience of wildlife, using the threatened Grey-headed flying fox as a model system. Expected outcomes include detailed understanding of the role of microbial communities in shaping wildlife adaptations and development of ecological interventions to enhance wildlife resilience in Australia and globally. Such outcomes may reveal opportunities for management strategies that safeguard threatened species and reduce human-wildlife conflicts.Read moreRead less
Plant cyclotides as novel sustainable tools for crop protection . This project between the University of Queensland and Syngenta, a top-tier agricultural biotech company, aims at developing new crop protection technologies based on peptides. Insecticides are essential to meet the 60% increase in food production goal set by the UN but long-term exposure to traditional insecticides can harm beneficial pollinating insect populations. Expected outcomes include an exciting new insecticide technology ....Plant cyclotides as novel sustainable tools for crop protection . This project between the University of Queensland and Syngenta, a top-tier agricultural biotech company, aims at developing new crop protection technologies based on peptides. Insecticides are essential to meet the 60% increase in food production goal set by the UN but long-term exposure to traditional insecticides can harm beneficial pollinating insect populations. Expected outcomes include an exciting new insecticide technology based on natural plant defense peptides, the cyclotides, which has potential to revolutionise crop protection, leading to safer products for the environment. Benefits from the technology include a reduction in toxic insecticide residues, precision targetted applications and agrichemicals that degrade without trace.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100885
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$435,000.00
Summary
Molecular characterisation of pore-forming proteins as pest control agents. This project aims to utilise protein engineering, structural biology, and biochemistry to characterise the function of key members of the aerolysin/epsilon toxin/Toxin_10 pore-forming protein superfamily. Pore formation is a ubiquitous mechanism deployed by all kingdoms as defences against invading organisms. The expected outcomes of this project include the development of novel techniques aimed, broadly, at studying por ....Molecular characterisation of pore-forming proteins as pest control agents. This project aims to utilise protein engineering, structural biology, and biochemistry to characterise the function of key members of the aerolysin/epsilon toxin/Toxin_10 pore-forming protein superfamily. Pore formation is a ubiquitous mechanism deployed by all kingdoms as defences against invading organisms. The expected outcomes of this project include the development of novel techniques aimed, broadly, at studying pore-forming proteins during the assembly pathway. This project should be of benefit to the wider research community by improving our understanding of pore-forming proteins as potential pest control agents. Read moreRead less
The molecular mechanism of bacterial ABC toxins. This project aims to establish that the ABC family of bacterial protein toxins, the main virulence factors in many species of naturally-occurring bacterial pathogens of insect pests, represent a protein machinery that cells and other organisms may use to deliver bioactive proteins to specific cells. ABC toxins are the main virulence factors in many species of naturally-occurring bacterial pathogens of insect pests. This project aims to establish t ....The molecular mechanism of bacterial ABC toxins. This project aims to establish that the ABC family of bacterial protein toxins, the main virulence factors in many species of naturally-occurring bacterial pathogens of insect pests, represent a protein machinery that cells and other organisms may use to deliver bioactive proteins to specific cells. ABC toxins are the main virulence factors in many species of naturally-occurring bacterial pathogens of insect pests. This project aims to establish that ABC toxins represent a new protein machinery that may be used more widely throughout cells and other organisms to direct the intercellular delivery of bioactive proteins in a highly cell-specific manner. The project expects these findings to enable the development of biopesticides based on ABC toxins, and generic intercellular protein delivery devices for biotechnological use.Read moreRead less