The origins of electroreception and nocturnality in the earliest known jawed vertebrates and their bearing on vertebrate diversification. This project aims to discover primary new data to pinpoint the timing, anatomical origins and phylogenetic significance when two key sensory systems first appeared in modern vertebrates: electroreception and specialised nocturnal vision. Such abilities today allow high diversity of vertebrates to co-exist within the same geographical range, for example on trop ....The origins of electroreception and nocturnality in the earliest known jawed vertebrates and their bearing on vertebrate diversification. This project aims to discover primary new data to pinpoint the timing, anatomical origins and phylogenetic significance when two key sensory systems first appeared in modern vertebrates: electroreception and specialised nocturnal vision. Such abilities today allow high diversity of vertebrates to co-exist within the same geographical range, for example on tropical reefs or rainforest communities, through careful temporal niche partitioning where reliance on other sensory systems takes over from vision and olfaction as the principal method of prey detection. This project aims to elucidate how the modern fish diversity was shaped by such significant early evolutionary events.Read moreRead less
Exploring the gene regulation networks governing mitochondrial biogenesis in Arabidopsis. Mitochondria, subcellular organelles that perform many functions indispensable to plant growth and productivity, are dynamic compartments whose protein complement changes dramatically during plant development and under stress. Yet, the cellular processes that regulate the production of these organelles are virtually unknown. By combining conventional approaches with an extremely powerful holistic method for ....Exploring the gene regulation networks governing mitochondrial biogenesis in Arabidopsis. Mitochondria, subcellular organelles that perform many functions indispensable to plant growth and productivity, are dynamic compartments whose protein complement changes dramatically during plant development and under stress. Yet, the cellular processes that regulate the production of these organelles are virtually unknown. By combining conventional approaches with an extremely powerful holistic method for simultaneously examining the expression patterns of every gene in the model plant Arabidopsis, this project will identify proteins that regulate mitochondrial biosynthesis and uncover the gene networks that these proteins control. The project outcomes will provide new opportunities for the rational manipulation of plant growth and productivity.Read moreRead less
Does coevolution drive speciation? This project aims to connect micro-evolutionary processes with macro-evolutionary patterns to test the extent to which tightly coupled co-evolutionary interactions between species drive evolutionary diversification. The project will use techniques including the most recent phylogenetic modelling methods, field experiments and molecular genetics. Expected outcomes include advancing understanding of the mechanisms that generate biodiversity and developing new tec ....Does coevolution drive speciation? This project aims to connect micro-evolutionary processes with macro-evolutionary patterns to test the extent to which tightly coupled co-evolutionary interactions between species drive evolutionary diversification. The project will use techniques including the most recent phylogenetic modelling methods, field experiments and molecular genetics. Expected outcomes include advancing understanding of the mechanisms that generate biodiversity and developing new techniques for acquisition of DNA from museum specimens. The project is expected to provide significant benefits, such as insights into the processes that promote new species in nature.Read moreRead less
Genome Approaches to Investigate Metabolic Coordination in Plant Cells. Metabolism of C and N in legume nodules requires interaction between the symbiotic bacteria and plant organelles, particularly metabolism in plastids and mitochondria. Fixed N is assimilated through the de novo synthesis of purines in both plastids and mitochondria. However, each of the nine pathway enzymes is encoded by a single gene, indicating each protein is targeted to both organelles. Purine metabolism will provide ....Genome Approaches to Investigate Metabolic Coordination in Plant Cells. Metabolism of C and N in legume nodules requires interaction between the symbiotic bacteria and plant organelles, particularly metabolism in plastids and mitochondria. Fixed N is assimilated through the de novo synthesis of purines in both plastids and mitochondria. However, each of the nine pathway enzymes is encoded by a single gene, indicating each protein is targeted to both organelles. Purine metabolism will provide a model to assess the more general occurrence of dual-targeted proteins in plants. The aim is to identify and eventually exploit the signalling mechanism(s) that mediate communication between plastids and mitochondria.Read moreRead less
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
Ants, plants, diversity and function: trophic interactions and ecosystem function in a large-scale restoration experiment. Food and clean water are but two of the benefits we reap from functioning ecosystems, but we know little about how individual species contribute to making ecosystems work. This project capitalises on the diversity of Australia's ant fauna by using ants as a model taxon to explore the link between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
Arabidopsis DNA binding proteins that control transcription of its mitochondrial genome. The increases in crop output and quality needed to drive the agricultural sector of Australia's future economy will arise from knowledge gained by combining traditional methods and the type of cutting-edge research that identifies plant mitochondrial DNA-binding proteins and their sites of action. Mitochondria are fundamental to many agronomically important traits, including plant growth, fruit ripening and ....Arabidopsis DNA binding proteins that control transcription of its mitochondrial genome. The increases in crop output and quality needed to drive the agricultural sector of Australia's future economy will arise from knowledge gained by combining traditional methods and the type of cutting-edge research that identifies plant mitochondrial DNA-binding proteins and their sites of action. Mitochondria are fundamental to many agronomically important traits, including plant growth, fruit ripening and plant stress and disease defence. Opportunities for the rational manipulation of these and hitherto undiscovered traits will come from new knowledge generated by this project, which will develop and use frontier technologies that will keep Australia at the forefront of international research into mitochondrial structure and function.Read moreRead less
Species redundancy in response to multiple disturbances. This project aims to elucidate how the context within which disturbances occur affects food web linkages and how these map to responses in ecosystem function. There is a critical need to test the common assumption in environmental management that high biodiversity makes ecosystems resilient to disturbances. Studies that merely observe biodiversity change after disturbance cannot identify ecological processes connecting high diversity and e ....Species redundancy in response to multiple disturbances. This project aims to elucidate how the context within which disturbances occur affects food web linkages and how these map to responses in ecosystem function. There is a critical need to test the common assumption in environmental management that high biodiversity makes ecosystems resilient to disturbances. Studies that merely observe biodiversity change after disturbance cannot identify ecological processes connecting high diversity and ecosystem function, making experiments that manipulate identical disturbances in ecosystems with different biodiversity essential. This project will use field experiments that manipulate disturbances in streams replicated in low and high biodiversity regions and across gradients of chronic background stress to show how biodiversity sustains functional ecosystems, and how much diversity can be lost before ecosystems collapse.Read moreRead less
Protein modifications in plant mitochondria: towards functional proteomics. Energy production within plants in cellular structures called mitochondria is vital for their growth and development and is central to the early success of germinating and growing seedlings. This project intends to analyse mitochondria within plants using state of the art instrumentation and technologies. The findings from this research have the potential to directly flow into the plant biotechnology industry and could a ....Protein modifications in plant mitochondria: towards functional proteomics. Energy production within plants in cellular structures called mitochondria is vital for their growth and development and is central to the early success of germinating and growing seedlings. This project intends to analyse mitochondria within plants using state of the art instrumentation and technologies. The findings from this research have the potential to directly flow into the plant biotechnology industry and could assist the future development of Australian agriculture through genetic improvements. The expertise developed by this work will ensure that Australia is well placed to exploit future advances in this field and to further generate the development of novel biotechnological applications in agriculture.Read moreRead less
A hierarchical quantum mechanical and classical simulation of biological ion channels. I aim to develop a methodology incorporating molecular quantum
mechanics and classical Brownian mechanics in a way that can be
applied practically to large macromolecular systems, thus relating
fine structural details to experimentally measurable
properties. Specifically, I will apply this methodology to study ion
channels in which the challenge is to relate electronic and atomic
structure to the conduct ....A hierarchical quantum mechanical and classical simulation of biological ion channels. I aim to develop a methodology incorporating molecular quantum
mechanics and classical Brownian mechanics in a way that can be
applied practically to large macromolecular systems, thus relating
fine structural details to experimentally measurable
properties. Specifically, I will apply this methodology to study ion
channels in which the challenge is to relate electronic and atomic
structure to the conductance properties of the channel. Accurately
determining these relationships provides a pathway to developing cures
for many neurological, cardiac, and muscular diseases.
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