Is the extreme phosphate sensitivity found among Australian plants a consequence of their adaptation to a severely phosphate-limited environment? The phosphorus (P)-impoverished soils of south-western Australia have allowed the evolution of many plants that are amazingly efficient at retrieving P from dying tissues. This project will contribute to the understanding of the mechanism determining P efficiency and will contribute significantly to the development of crops that are less reliant on non ....Is the extreme phosphate sensitivity found among Australian plants a consequence of their adaptation to a severely phosphate-limited environment? The phosphorus (P)-impoverished soils of south-western Australia have allowed the evolution of many plants that are amazingly efficient at retrieving P from dying tissues. This project will contribute to the understanding of the mechanism determining P efficiency and will contribute significantly to the development of crops that are less reliant on non-renewable P fertilisers.Read moreRead less
Developmental functions of oxygen and redox cues in plants. This project aims to transform our understanding of the regulation of meristem functions, with a central hypothesis that plant cell quiescence (repressed cell division) is governed by oxygen and oxidation/reduction (redox)-dependent cues. Meristems are the growing tips of plants, and thus the fundamental unit of plant growth and productivity. This project will develop new knowledge of how plants integrate changes in the environment to r ....Developmental functions of oxygen and redox cues in plants. This project aims to transform our understanding of the regulation of meristem functions, with a central hypothesis that plant cell quiescence (repressed cell division) is governed by oxygen and oxidation/reduction (redox)-dependent cues. Meristems are the growing tips of plants, and thus the fundamental unit of plant growth and productivity. This project will develop new knowledge of how plants integrate changes in the environment to regulate meristem activity. This project will define new paradigms of how oxygen and redox status interact with energy and other cues to regulate decisions to grow or quiesce. This will underpin the development of new strategies to optimise crop management and productivity, improve the efficiency of inputs, and reduce the risk of decision making in crop production.Read moreRead less
Functional genomics approaches to the mechanisms of starch mobilisation in Arabidopsis. Starch is a key carbon and energy reserve that underpins plant growth. This in turn underpins much of Australia's $60 billion agriculture industry. Starch also provides most of the calories in the human diet and is a renewable commodity supporting manufacturing industries. Dependence of society on starch will increase as it becomes used more for novel materials and for bio-ethanol production, which in turn w ....Functional genomics approaches to the mechanisms of starch mobilisation in Arabidopsis. Starch is a key carbon and energy reserve that underpins plant growth. This in turn underpins much of Australia's $60 billion agriculture industry. Starch also provides most of the calories in the human diet and is a renewable commodity supporting manufacturing industries. Dependence of society on starch will increase as it becomes used more for novel materials and for bio-ethanol production, which in turn will create new jobs in the rural economy. A major quality problem in cereal grain is pre-harvest starch breakdown caused by warm wet weather triggering events associated with germination. By understanding starch metabolism in plants we will be better able to manage and enhance growth of crop plants, starch production and seed quality.Read moreRead less
Functional characterisation of novel transport protein in plants. The products of plants provide the food we eat, the air we breath and it is recognised that they play an integral role in defining and protecting the environment. Thus it is essential to understand how plant work to allow their use in novel applications and to adapt to changing environments. Many aspects of plant metabolism are unique to plants and thus we cannot guess or estimate importance from studies in animals or fungi. Appro ....Functional characterisation of novel transport protein in plants. The products of plants provide the food we eat, the air we breath and it is recognised that they play an integral role in defining and protecting the environment. Thus it is essential to understand how plant work to allow their use in novel applications and to adapt to changing environments. Many aspects of plant metabolism are unique to plants and thus we cannot guess or estimate importance from studies in animals or fungi. Approximately 4,000 proteins are specific to plants, or contain domains that are unique to plants. This investigation proposes to elucidate the function of some of these novel proteins, transporters, that play a critical role in transport processes in cells.Read moreRead less
Deciphering a protein code for recognising Ribonucleic acid (RNA) targets. This project will decipher the protein code employed by a large family of plant proteins for the specific recognition of RNA sequences. This knowledge will be immediately helpful for designing a new generation of biotechnological tools for the agricultural and biomedical sciences.
Rethinking and revitalising herbicides to counter resistance. Weeds and increasingly herbicide resistant weeds are the major yield penalty for agriculture. This project aims to develop innovative ways to overcome resistance. This project expects to (i) make herbicides work more efficiently, (ii) reveal a new mode of action for an under-used herbicide and (iii) assign breakdown pathways to herbicides. Expected outcomes of this project are to (i) to find rare, but truly synergistic herbicide combi ....Rethinking and revitalising herbicides to counter resistance. Weeds and increasingly herbicide resistant weeds are the major yield penalty for agriculture. This project aims to develop innovative ways to overcome resistance. This project expects to (i) make herbicides work more efficiently, (ii) reveal a new mode of action for an under-used herbicide and (iii) assign breakdown pathways to herbicides. Expected outcomes of this project are to (i) to find rare, but truly synergistic herbicide combinations; (ii) reveal a herbicide against which weeds outside of Japan have not evolved resistance to; and (iii) establish how best to make breakdown blockers. A benefit of using existing herbicides is the approaches are close to market, so with partner Nexgen Plants, its outcomes can be commercialised.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL140100179
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,800,000.00
Summary
Controlling gene expression with synthetic RNA-binding proteins. Controlling gene expression with synthetic RNA-binding proteins. The growth and development of living organisms is largely determined by the genes they contain, but converting the genetic information into biological activity requires intermediary processes involving RNA and proteins that bind to and process RNA. This project aims to understand how the largest class of RNA-binding protein in plants recognise their target RNAs and ai ....Controlling gene expression with synthetic RNA-binding proteins. Controlling gene expression with synthetic RNA-binding proteins. The growth and development of living organisms is largely determined by the genes they contain, but converting the genetic information into biological activity requires intermediary processes involving RNA and proteins that bind to and process RNA. This project aims to understand how the largest class of RNA-binding protein in plants recognise their target RNAs and aims to develop custom-designed proteins for switching genes on or off. This technology will be used to create new hybrid cereal varieties and will also be valuable for applications in human health, such as the correction of genetic mutations.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130101760
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$374,000.00
Summary
Uncovering the roles of key ribonucleases critical for post-transcriptional control of chloroplast gene expression. Higher plant chloroplasts harbour key biological processes that are essential to life on earth. Deciphering the roles of important plastid-targeted ribonucleases, central to post-transcriptional ribonucleic acid (RNA) processing events, is crucial to elucidate the genetic elements required to engineer chloroplast metabolic pathways to enhance productive crop yields.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120101117
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Understanding the molecular machines making proteins essential for life: investigating specialisation of plastid ribosome composition and function. Plastid ribosomes are complex molecular machines responsible for the production of proteins required for photosynthesis, a process which underlies global food and oxygen production. By determining if distinct plastid types have ribosomes that differ in both composition and function, the project could benefit biotechnological applications.
Regulation and role of metabolic networks for respiration in plants. This project aims to understand the regulation of respiration in plants which underpins the energy provision that cells need to operate. Understanding respiration and how it responds to the changing environment is a building block needed for rational engineering of our future food from plants.