Manipulation of apoptosis-related genes to generate novel disease resistances in banana. Bananas are one of Australia's most important fruit crops. However, the industry is continually threatened by numerous diseases including yellow and black Sigatoka, Fusarium wilt and bunchy top. Control of these diseases currently requires either extensive pesticide treatments or complex agronomic procedures, of which most are ineffective, expensive or environmentally damaging. The aim of this project is to ....Manipulation of apoptosis-related genes to generate novel disease resistances in banana. Bananas are one of Australia's most important fruit crops. However, the industry is continually threatened by numerous diseases including yellow and black Sigatoka, Fusarium wilt and bunchy top. Control of these diseases currently requires either extensive pesticide treatments or complex agronomic procedures, of which most are ineffective, expensive or environmentally damaging. The aim of this project is to utilise a novel strategy to generate transgenic bananas with resistance to these diseases. The benefit will be both economic and environmental as implementation should significantly reduce or eliminate pesticide use. Importantly, this strategy can potentially be extrapolated to many other crops.Read moreRead less
Metabolite glucosylation during grape berry development. The research proposed contributes to building and transforming the Australian wine industry, and other horticultural industries, by developing expertise and knowledge in the area of grape berry metabolism. The synthesis and validation of a library of grape berry metabolites, annotation of part of the grapevine genome sequence dataset and development of the micro vine transformation system are innovative products of significant national and ....Metabolite glucosylation during grape berry development. The research proposed contributes to building and transforming the Australian wine industry, and other horticultural industries, by developing expertise and knowledge in the area of grape berry metabolism. The synthesis and validation of a library of grape berry metabolites, annotation of part of the grapevine genome sequence dataset and development of the micro vine transformation system are innovative products of significant national and international benefit. Two high-quality PhD students will be trained in a collaborative and high-quality research environment during the course of the proposed research.Read moreRead less
Does a novel class of small RNA molecules control self-incompatibility in solanaceous plants? Self-incompatibility is a simple and genetically defined cell recognition system that prevents inbreeding in many plant species. Flowers of self-incompatible plants can distinguish self pollen from foreign pollen, and allow only foreign pollen to fertilise their egg cells. This proposal will investigate the possibility that the part of the genetic self-incompatibility locus controlling recognition of ....Does a novel class of small RNA molecules control self-incompatibility in solanaceous plants? Self-incompatibility is a simple and genetically defined cell recognition system that prevents inbreeding in many plant species. Flowers of self-incompatible plants can distinguish self pollen from foreign pollen, and allow only foreign pollen to fertilise their egg cells. This proposal will investigate the possibility that the part of the genetic self-incompatibility locus controlling recognition of pollen is a novel type of gene that encodes a small RNA molecule but no protein. Knowledge gained by studying the self-incompatibility genes will help us to understand how plant cells recognise each other, and may allow us to manipulate seed (and hence crop) production.Read moreRead less
Manipulating plant root exudation for soil-borne disease control. This project expects to fundamentally advance analysis and manipulation of root exudation, determine influence of rhizosphere microbiota on exudation, molecular responses to resting spore stimulation and to develop novel disease controls. Expected outcomes of this project include the demonstrated potential of novel disease mitigation and student training in innovative approaches to plant pathology and analytical chemistry. This sh ....Manipulating plant root exudation for soil-borne disease control. This project expects to fundamentally advance analysis and manipulation of root exudation, determine influence of rhizosphere microbiota on exudation, molecular responses to resting spore stimulation and to develop novel disease controls. Expected outcomes of this project include the demonstrated potential of novel disease mitigation and student training in innovative approaches to plant pathology and analytical chemistry. This should provide significant benefits, such as effective disease management tools.Read moreRead less
Generating broad and stable resistance to gemini- and nanoviruses. The ssDNA geminiviruses and nanoviruses are considered a major threat to crop production in the tropics and subtropics. There are currently no effective control strategies for these viruses. We have been developing a novel transgenic strategy for generating resistance to ssDNA viruses based on the activation of a suicide gene in the presence of the viral Rep protein. Importantly, we have demonstrated proof-of-principle using Toba ....Generating broad and stable resistance to gemini- and nanoviruses. The ssDNA geminiviruses and nanoviruses are considered a major threat to crop production in the tropics and subtropics. There are currently no effective control strategies for these viruses. We have been developing a novel transgenic strategy for generating resistance to ssDNA viruses based on the activation of a suicide gene in the presence of the viral Rep protein. Importantly, we have demonstrated proof-of-principle using Tobacco yellow dwarf mastrevirus. In this project, we aim to further develop this strategy into a broad and stable mechanism for generating resistance to all known geminiviruses and nanoviruses.Read moreRead less