Novel laser isotopic techniques to assess the potential for water-use efficiency improvement of Australian crops. This project aims to develop new methods to reduce the water used by grain crops while maintaining productivity by advancing knowledge of the regulation plant carbon gain and water loss. Novel laser-lased measurement systems developed and applied in this project will provide new mechanistic understanding of plant carbon-water dynamics for individual leaves and at the whole crop scal ....Novel laser isotopic techniques to assess the potential for water-use efficiency improvement of Australian crops. This project aims to develop new methods to reduce the water used by grain crops while maintaining productivity by advancing knowledge of the regulation plant carbon gain and water loss. Novel laser-lased measurement systems developed and applied in this project will provide new mechanistic understanding of plant carbon-water dynamics for individual leaves and at the whole crop scale. Water availability is the most pressing environmental issue facing the Australian grain industry, so improvements in the efficiency with which water is used will have profound economic and environmental effects.Read moreRead less
Plant heterotrimeric G proteins: new roles in defence, stomatal control and ABA perception. Agriculture is an important economic activity in Australia that results in considerable export revenues. Two of the major problems facing agriculture around the globe are the incidence of diseases and the scarcity of water. Agricultural losses caused by plant pathogens and low water availability account for billions of dollars every year and have profound economic and social implications. Water is an extr ....Plant heterotrimeric G proteins: new roles in defence, stomatal control and ABA perception. Agriculture is an important economic activity in Australia that results in considerable export revenues. Two of the major problems facing agriculture around the globe are the incidence of diseases and the scarcity of water. Agricultural losses caused by plant pathogens and low water availability account for billions of dollars every year and have profound economic and social implications. Water is an extremely scarce resource in Australia and periodic droughts inflict immense losses to the Australian agricultural sector. Our research will explore new and cleaner strategies to provide crop protection as well as to increase water use efficiency.Read moreRead less
Wheat biomarkers - the effect of nitrogen withdrawal on the proteome and peptidome. Nitrogen is a crucial macroelement for plants. Its importance is highlighted by the wide use of agricultural nitrogen fertilizers in Australia and world wide. This comes at substantial costs for the environment and the economy, due to low nitrogen use efficiency of cereals and environmental impacts. By understanding plant responses to nitrogen we can improve nitrogen efficiency. This project will identify protein ....Wheat biomarkers - the effect of nitrogen withdrawal on the proteome and peptidome. Nitrogen is a crucial macroelement for plants. Its importance is highlighted by the wide use of agricultural nitrogen fertilizers in Australia and world wide. This comes at substantial costs for the environment and the economy, due to low nitrogen use efficiency of cereals and environmental impacts. By understanding plant responses to nitrogen we can improve nitrogen efficiency. This project will identify proteins and peptides as biomarkers of plant responses to nitrogen withdrawal. Such biomarkers can be used in plant breeding and in agricultural prediction of plant nitrogen requirements with the potential to reduce agricultural costs and environmental impacts.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0668536
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$485,000.00
Summary
Western Australian Facility for High Throughput Biological and Organic Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. Disciplines such as pharmaceuticals, plant protection, mineral extraction, and conservation all need to separate, identify and quantify molecules. The method of choice for small molecules (< 500 amu) is gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A broad range of laboratories in WA are using GC-MS, but the equipment is fully utilised, outdated and limiting progress. This applicatio ....Western Australian Facility for High Throughput Biological and Organic Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. Disciplines such as pharmaceuticals, plant protection, mineral extraction, and conservation all need to separate, identify and quantify molecules. The method of choice for small molecules (< 500 amu) is gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A broad range of laboratories in WA are using GC-MS, but the equipment is fully utilised, outdated and limiting progress. This application seeks to purchase research grade GC-MS equipment with order-of-magnitude improvements in mass range, sample throughput, discrimination and data handling capacities. This equipment will transform capabilities and will enhance projects supporting the minerals and agricultural industries and enhance biodiversity conservation efforts.Read moreRead less
Plant Mitochondrial Signalling and Regulation. Plant energy production is essential for successful growth and development and is essential for processes such as seedling establishment and germination. This research project intends to expand our understanding of energy regulation within the plant using advanced technologies. Such studies can provide direct benefits to the Australian agriculture community through novel targets for genetic improvements. The capacity to create such advantages is eco ....Plant Mitochondrial Signalling and Regulation. Plant energy production is essential for successful growth and development and is essential for processes such as seedling establishment and germination. This research project intends to expand our understanding of energy regulation within the plant using advanced technologies. Such studies can provide direct benefits to the Australian agriculture community through novel targets for genetic improvements. The capacity to create such advantages is economically vital for the industry and the development of such expertise within Australia will ensure we are well placed to exploit future advances in agricultural improvements and provide the capacity to further generate novel biotechnological applications.Read moreRead less
Investigation of the impact of malt haze active proteins to improve brewing efficiency and beer quality. Australia is a major world exporter of malting barley (~2 millon t/pa) and malt (600,000 t/pa), primarily to the rapidly expanding Asian economic development region. An additional 200,000 t/pa of malt is provided to the Australian domestic brewing industry. By improving the quality of Australian malting barley and optimising the cost of brewery colloidal stabilisation measures, we expect hi ....Investigation of the impact of malt haze active proteins to improve brewing efficiency and beer quality. Australia is a major world exporter of malting barley (~2 millon t/pa) and malt (600,000 t/pa), primarily to the rapidly expanding Asian economic development region. An additional 200,000 t/pa of malt is provided to the Australian domestic brewing industry. By improving the quality of Australian malting barley and optimising the cost of brewery colloidal stabilisation measures, we expect higher demand and prices for Australian malting barley and malt. This will help support the viability of rural communities and the value adding involved in the malting and brewing of their produce in Australia.Read moreRead less
Physiological and molecular characterisation of salinity tolerance in chickpea. Chickpea is a grain legume often grown in rotation with cereal crops to enhance profitability and environmental sustainability of broadacre cropping systems in Australia, and elsewhere. Chickpea is sensitive to salinity, and thus can not be grown on soils affected even by mild salinity. Limited grain legume options currently exist for these soils. This project will improve salt tolerance in chickpea and thus allow it ....Physiological and molecular characterisation of salinity tolerance in chickpea. Chickpea is a grain legume often grown in rotation with cereal crops to enhance profitability and environmental sustainability of broadacre cropping systems in Australia, and elsewhere. Chickpea is sensitive to salinity, and thus can not be grown on soils affected even by mild salinity. Limited grain legume options currently exist for these soils. This project will improve salt tolerance in chickpea and thus allow it to be grown in areas too saline for current cultivars. The research contributes to the National Research Priority of 'An Environmentally Sustainable Australia', as new cultivars of chickpea with improved salt tolerance will enhance the profitability and sustainability of rotational cropping systems in Australia.Read moreRead less
Role of alanine aminotransferase in improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in cereals. The use of nitrogen-based fertilisers by crop plants is poor where efficiencies (nitrogen taken up to that applied) is often less than 40%. Nitrogen not used is often lost to the environment through leaching and or volatilisation. Improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in agriculture will decrease overall nitrogen fertiliser use and minimise its environmental footprint. This project will characterise a nov ....Role of alanine aminotransferase in improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in cereals. The use of nitrogen-based fertilisers by crop plants is poor where efficiencies (nitrogen taken up to that applied) is often less than 40%. Nitrogen not used is often lost to the environment through leaching and or volatilisation. Improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in agriculture will decrease overall nitrogen fertiliser use and minimise its environmental footprint. This project will characterise a novel NUE technology that when transferred to plants significantly improves NUE. We will define the phenotype at the molecular, biochemical and physiological levels to maximise its adoption to other agricultural crops such as wheat, barley and maize.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0775534
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$300,000.00
Summary
A liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometer for plant metabolomics. The Australian Agrifood sector will benefit significantly from the establishment of functional genomics platform technologies, such as metabolomics, that underpin 'Systems Biology'; a new branch of biology that attempts to discover and understand biological properties that emerge from the interactions of many system elements. Australian agriculture will benefit through the development of techniques to improve both yield and quality ....A liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometer for plant metabolomics. The Australian Agrifood sector will benefit significantly from the establishment of functional genomics platform technologies, such as metabolomics, that underpin 'Systems Biology'; a new branch of biology that attempts to discover and understand biological properties that emerge from the interactions of many system elements. Australian agriculture will benefit through the development of techniques to improve both yield and quality through minimising the effects of abiotic and biotic stresses, and a reduced dependence on inputs (eg fertilisers) leading to environmentally sustainable production systems. Ultimately this will result in enhanced food quality and analytical methods to monitor quality and safety characteristics of food.Read moreRead less
Assembly and function of arabinogalactan-proteins: a class of proteoglycans involved in plant growth and development. We aim to define the mechanisms by which a family of cell surface proteoglycans, the arabinogalactan-proteins (AGPs), are assembled and contribute to the regulation of plant growth and development using Arabidopsis, a model system amenable to a functional genomics strategy. This will be achieved through the application of bioinformatics for gene discovery and molecular, biochemi ....Assembly and function of arabinogalactan-proteins: a class of proteoglycans involved in plant growth and development. We aim to define the mechanisms by which a family of cell surface proteoglycans, the arabinogalactan-proteins (AGPs), are assembled and contribute to the regulation of plant growth and development using Arabidopsis, a model system amenable to a functional genomics strategy. This will be achieved through the application of bioinformatics for gene discovery and molecular, biochemical and genetics approaches to define gene function. Understanding mechanisms that control plant growth and development will ultimately impact on industries (agriculture, horticulture and forestry) vital to Australia's prosperity.Read moreRead less