Dual-targeting of proteins and its role in coordinating organelle functions in plants. Innovative agricultural solutions in Australia's future will be built on understanding and manipulating the expression of groups of genes to influence whole plant phenotypes providing more robust plants and high value plant products. Plant energy organelles are central components in plant metabolism, their coordination by processes such as dual-targeting has potential to modify germination characteristics, ear ....Dual-targeting of proteins and its role in coordinating organelle functions in plants. Innovative agricultural solutions in Australia's future will be built on understanding and manipulating the expression of groups of genes to influence whole plant phenotypes providing more robust plants and high value plant products. Plant energy organelles are central components in plant metabolism, their coordination by processes such as dual-targeting has potential to modify germination characteristics, early seedling vigour, and stress tolerance. Studying energy organelles could generate valuable intellectual property to be applied within Australia's large plant-based industries and at the same time provide a rich intellectual environment for the training of research students and postdoctoral researchers.Read moreRead less
Mid-rotation diagnosis and management options for correction of water and nutrient deficiencies in plantation-grown eucalypts. This research will improve productivity of bluegum plantations by improving current diagnostic techniques (foliage and soil analysis) for nutrient disorders and the supply of water. Using a novel phloem sampling and analysis technique, we will develop a nutrient (e.g. N, P) and water diagnosis procedure that is quick, cheap, robust and reliable for field use. A major in ....Mid-rotation diagnosis and management options for correction of water and nutrient deficiencies in plantation-grown eucalypts. This research will improve productivity of bluegum plantations by improving current diagnostic techniques (foliage and soil analysis) for nutrient disorders and the supply of water. Using a novel phloem sampling and analysis technique, we will develop a nutrient (e.g. N, P) and water diagnosis procedure that is quick, cheap, robust and reliable for field use. A major innovation will be distinguishing the effects of shortages of water on growth from those of other growth influences. Overall, this project will provide a highly significant theoretical, conceptual and practical advance in mid-rotation, diagnostics for plantations with considerable commercial promise.Read moreRead less
The structure and function of cyanobacterial carboxysome multi-protein complexes and their role in carbon sequestration in cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria are important contributors to global photosynthesis and have evolved unique mechanisms for capturing CO2 from their aquatic environments. Understanding these molecular mechanisms is important for both predicting how cyanobacteria affect carbon fixation at the global scale, and how their genetic specialisation may be used for improving photosynthe ....The structure and function of cyanobacterial carboxysome multi-protein complexes and their role in carbon sequestration in cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria are important contributors to global photosynthesis and have evolved unique mechanisms for capturing CO2 from their aquatic environments. Understanding these molecular mechanisms is important for both predicting how cyanobacteria affect carbon fixation at the global scale, and how their genetic specialisation may be used for improving photosynthesis in agricultural plants. This project aims to examine one particular aspect of this specialisation, the multi-protein carboxysome complex, where CO2 fixation occurs. Using recent whole-genome information we will take a proteogenomic approach to understanding the structure and function of the carboxysome and how it contributes to the photosynthesis of the cell.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0668487
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$553,000.00
Summary
Plant Phenomics Imaging and Analysis Facility. The Australian plant science community faces a major challenge in being able to comprehensively characterise the performance or phenotype of plants in a high throughput manner necessary for post-genomic era science with model plant species, smart-breeding of crop plants and to assess plant-environment interactions. Our capacity to accurately 'phenotype' either a new mutant or a new variety has fallen behind out capacity to generate novel genetic mat ....Plant Phenomics Imaging and Analysis Facility. The Australian plant science community faces a major challenge in being able to comprehensively characterise the performance or phenotype of plants in a high throughput manner necessary for post-genomic era science with model plant species, smart-breeding of crop plants and to assess plant-environment interactions. Our capacity to accurately 'phenotype' either a new mutant or a new variety has fallen behind out capacity to generate novel genetic material. This facility will significantly boost research outputs across a range of disciplines pivotal to Australia's future agricultural plant productivity and environmental sustainability. Read moreRead less
Characteristics of chlorophyll d-binding protein complexes: assembly of light-harvesting complexes. This project will investigate molecular mechanisms of photosynthesis in Chl d with the view to applying our findings in biotechnology and artificial photosynthesis. We will use a variety of molecular biology, proteomics and physical techniques to probe the bonding of Chl d to binding proteins. Synthetic peptide maquettes will provide a model to develop this understanding. Only two chlorophylls (a ....Characteristics of chlorophyll d-binding protein complexes: assembly of light-harvesting complexes. This project will investigate molecular mechanisms of photosynthesis in Chl d with the view to applying our findings in biotechnology and artificial photosynthesis. We will use a variety of molecular biology, proteomics and physical techniques to probe the bonding of Chl d to binding proteins. Synthetic peptide maquettes will provide a model to develop this understanding. Only two chlorophylls (a and d) have so far been found to take part in the primary reactions of photosynthesis. This research will grow our understanding of this pivotal process and underpin future developments in artificial photosynthesis and in the photonics industry.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0775702
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$337,000.00
Summary
Climate controlled physical containment 2 (PC2) and pathogen/ insect contained glasshouse facility. The Australian economy relies heavily on agricultural production. The outcomes of the projects supported by these growth facilities will be of economic benefit to the nation by producing new knowledge of plant-insect and plant-pathogen interactions, how plants acquire essential nutrients, and how they respond to environmental stress. The research outcomes will benefit the environment by increasin ....Climate controlled physical containment 2 (PC2) and pathogen/ insect contained glasshouse facility. The Australian economy relies heavily on agricultural production. The outcomes of the projects supported by these growth facilities will be of economic benefit to the nation by producing new knowledge of plant-insect and plant-pathogen interactions, how plants acquire essential nutrients, and how they respond to environmental stress. The research outcomes will benefit the environment by increasing legume production and so reducing land degradation and risk of nitrate contamination of waterways and lowering the environmental risk from agrochemicals by developing safer strategies for control of pests and diseases. In addition, a number of projects that will benefit from the glasshouse facilities aim to produce healthier and safer foods.Read moreRead less
Molecular mechanisms of spectral extension in photosynthesis: the substitution and formation of the novel pigment chlorophyll d. This project builds on new discoveries of novel chlorophylls and how their spectral properties are fine-tuned in photosynthetic bacteria. We will focus on how key photopigments, the chlorophylls, are biosynthesised, including their enzyme structures, mechanisms and regulatory elements. Understanding the power of natural selection on spectral extension in photosynthesis ....Molecular mechanisms of spectral extension in photosynthesis: the substitution and formation of the novel pigment chlorophyll d. This project builds on new discoveries of novel chlorophylls and how their spectral properties are fine-tuned in photosynthetic bacteria. We will focus on how key photopigments, the chlorophylls, are biosynthesised, including their enzyme structures, mechanisms and regulatory elements. Understanding the power of natural selection on spectral extension in photosynthesis will shed light on the evolutionary development of photopigments, and will allow us explore the possibilities for the production of new pigments in solar energy research.Read moreRead less
Efficient organelle transformation. Chloroplasts and mitochondria are the powerhouses of plant and animal cells. Ability to express introduced genes in these organelles has enormous biotechnological potential in agriculture and medicine, but practical development has been almost stalled for 15 years by very low transformation efficiency. Plastid transformation is today routine only in tobacco; and mitochondrial transformation has been achieved only in yeasts and algae. We have developed a soluti ....Efficient organelle transformation. Chloroplasts and mitochondria are the powerhouses of plant and animal cells. Ability to express introduced genes in these organelles has enormous biotechnological potential in agriculture and medicine, but practical development has been almost stalled for 15 years by very low transformation efficiency. Plastid transformation is today routine only in tobacco; and mitochondrial transformation has been achieved only in yeasts and algae. We have developed a solution, and achieved the key technical requirements for proof of concept. This collaboration between industry, government and university partners will deliver key Australian-owned IP, for environmentally-friendly plant biofactories, and for treatment of mitochondrial genetic disorders.Read moreRead less
Systemic control of nodule proliferation. We aim to clone and characterize the functions of the supernodulation (NTS-1) locus of soybean using positional cloning and functional genomics approaches. Supernodulation fascinatingly results from a mutant Nts-1 gene functioning in the shoot, although the phenotype is expressed as excessive nodule proliferation in the root. The cloned gene will be used to monitor expression changes after inoculation with Bradyrhizobium, treatment with nitrate, nod-fac ....Systemic control of nodule proliferation. We aim to clone and characterize the functions of the supernodulation (NTS-1) locus of soybean using positional cloning and functional genomics approaches. Supernodulation fascinatingly results from a mutant Nts-1 gene functioning in the shoot, although the phenotype is expressed as excessive nodule proliferation in the root. The cloned gene will be used to monitor expression changes after inoculation with Bradyrhizobium, treatment with nitrate, nod-factor, xylem exudates and phytohormones. We will use RT-PCR, in situ hybridisation and reporter gene expression in transgenic plants. Microarray analysis of soybean ESTs (4200 arrayed) will analyse concurrent gene expression changes in both root and shoot.Read moreRead less
Metabolomic and genetic approaches to the discovery of genes that direct carbon partitioning in plants. Plants make starch, sucrose, cell walls (fibre), oil, organic acids, vitamins and other products of great economic and social importance. The partitioning of carbon resources into such products determines crop productivity and quality. This partitioning is strongly influenced by nutrients, water and salinity. The powerful genomics resources of Arabidopsis including the new discipline of metabo ....Metabolomic and genetic approaches to the discovery of genes that direct carbon partitioning in plants. Plants make starch, sucrose, cell walls (fibre), oil, organic acids, vitamins and other products of great economic and social importance. The partitioning of carbon resources into such products determines crop productivity and quality. This partitioning is strongly influenced by nutrients, water and salinity. The powerful genomics resources of Arabidopsis including the new discipline of metabolomics, will be deployed to understand the regulation of carbon partitioning in leaves and to discover genes that direct partitioning. National research capability will be enhanced and new resources will be generated to breed crops with improved yield potential and product quality under varied environmental conditions.Read moreRead less