What determines plant sensitivity to heat?: Individual to lifetime impacts. Temperature is a major determinant of the distribution of species and yet the capacity to predict the thermal sensitivity of plants is extremely limited. How vulnerability varies as a plant grows from seed to adult and produces more seed is a key question. Whether chronic warming exacerbates or ameliorates effects of extreme events, e.g. triggering the plant to enlist defensive strategies, is also an open question. This ....What determines plant sensitivity to heat?: Individual to lifetime impacts. Temperature is a major determinant of the distribution of species and yet the capacity to predict the thermal sensitivity of plants is extremely limited. How vulnerability varies as a plant grows from seed to adult and produces more seed is a key question. Whether chronic warming exacerbates or ameliorates effects of extreme events, e.g. triggering the plant to enlist defensive strategies, is also an open question. This project will advance fundamental understanding of how thermal tolerance varies across species and over the plant life cycle and how it scales demographically to lifetime vulnerability. The work will yield a significant advance in our capacity to predict impacts of extreme heat events on plant performance and distribution.
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Protecting cereal grain development at high temperatures. This project aims to investigate new temperature-responsive factors that regulate cereal grain development to protect grain production under heat stress. The new research will leverage international collaborations with access to cutting-edge genetic and technological resources, and refine novel X-ray imaging techniques in Australia, to observe how temperature affects flower structure and function in barley and rice. Favourable mutations t ....Protecting cereal grain development at high temperatures. This project aims to investigate new temperature-responsive factors that regulate cereal grain development to protect grain production under heat stress. The new research will leverage international collaborations with access to cutting-edge genetic and technological resources, and refine novel X-ray imaging techniques in Australia, to observe how temperature affects flower structure and function in barley and rice. Favourable mutations that optimise plant yield and fitness will be defined and explored in other, more complex, cereals such as wheat. Expected outcomes will be fundamental breakthroughs in understanding how plants respond to, and buffer, the effects of heat to lead to translational breeding strategies that bolster grain yield.Read moreRead less
Australian tropical rainforests in the face of climate change. This project aims to investigate the roles of increasing atmospheric water stress and rising carbon dioxide in driving changes in tree performance and species composition in Australian tropical rainforests. Forest census plots indicate increasing tree mortality, but the mechanisms through which this is occurring are unknown. Experiments will be conducted to unravel the underlying physiological processes. Community-level behavior will ....Australian tropical rainforests in the face of climate change. This project aims to investigate the roles of increasing atmospheric water stress and rising carbon dioxide in driving changes in tree performance and species composition in Australian tropical rainforests. Forest census plots indicate increasing tree mortality, but the mechanisms through which this is occurring are unknown. Experiments will be conducted to unravel the underlying physiological processes. Community-level behavior will be investigated with flux tower and remotely sensed data. The project expects to generate new knowledge of how Australian tropical rainforests are responding to climate change. The expected outcome is an enhanced capacity to understand and manage a highly valued component of the Australian forest estate.Read moreRead less
ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space. ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space. This Centre aims to create on-demand, zero-waste, high-efficiency plants and plant products to address grand challenges in sustainability for Space and on Earth. Significant advances in plant, food, and sensory science; process and systems engineering; law and policy; and psychology are expected to deliver transformative solutions for Space habitation – and create enhanced plant-derived food and bioresour ....ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space. ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space. This Centre aims to create on-demand, zero-waste, high-efficiency plants and plant products to address grand challenges in sustainability for Space and on Earth. Significant advances in plant, food, and sensory science; process and systems engineering; law and policy; and psychology are expected to deliver transformative solutions for Space habitation – and create enhanced plant-derived food and bioresources to capitalise upon emergent and rapidly expanding domestic and global markets. Anticipated outcomes include industry uptake of innovative plant forms, foods, technologies, and commodities; and an ambitious education and international co-ordination agenda to position Australia as a global leader in research supporting Space habitation.Read moreRead less
Striving for the path of least herbicide resistance. This project aims to investigate novel strategies to mitigate the rise in herbicide resistance threatening Australian agricultural production and exports. The project expects to pioneer long-term strategies for the development of herbicides that “resist” resistance generation in weeds to prolong their effectiveness. Expected outcomes include advances in the development of single- and multi-target herbicidal compounds with new modes of action, ....Striving for the path of least herbicide resistance. This project aims to investigate novel strategies to mitigate the rise in herbicide resistance threatening Australian agricultural production and exports. The project expects to pioneer long-term strategies for the development of herbicides that “resist” resistance generation in weeds to prolong their effectiveness. Expected outcomes include advances in the development of single- and multi-target herbicidal compounds with new modes of action, and validation of their potential to yield synergistic combinations and delay the evolution of resistance. This should lay the foundations for significant long-term benefits to farmers and consumers, both in Australia and globally, including increased crop yields and improved food security.Read moreRead less
Control of crop-microbe symbiosis by new plant hormones. This project aims to discover how plants use hormone-like chemicals, called butenolides, to control symbiotic relationships with soil fungi. It will use multidisciplinary and collaborative techniques to establish how butenolide metabolism affects the diversity of fungal colonisation. Expected outcomes of this project include a deeper understanding of how plants regulate the competency of roots to host symbiotic fungi, and how this affects ....Control of crop-microbe symbiosis by new plant hormones. This project aims to discover how plants use hormone-like chemicals, called butenolides, to control symbiotic relationships with soil fungi. It will use multidisciplinary and collaborative techniques to establish how butenolide metabolism affects the diversity of fungal colonisation. Expected outcomes of this project include a deeper understanding of how plants regulate the competency of roots to host symbiotic fungi, and how this affects plant growth. As such, it will generate knowledge of how cereals such as barley could be modified to improve their nutrient use efficiency. Benefits of this project include the potential to reduce fertiliser inputs, thereby improving the competitiveness and environmental impact of Australian agriculture.Read moreRead less
Boosting C4 photosynthesis to climate proof crop yields. Building next generation C4 crops, such as maize, sugarcane and sorghum, to cope with drought and heat stress is requisite to ensure the supply of food and fodder. Here we will increase the content and / or catalytic efficiency of the primary carboxylase of C4 photosynthesis (PEPC) that supplies CO2 to the carbon concentrating mechanism and ensures high photosynthetic rates. We will develop new SynBio tools to create and test novel PEPC is ....Boosting C4 photosynthesis to climate proof crop yields. Building next generation C4 crops, such as maize, sugarcane and sorghum, to cope with drought and heat stress is requisite to ensure the supply of food and fodder. Here we will increase the content and / or catalytic efficiency of the primary carboxylase of C4 photosynthesis (PEPC) that supplies CO2 to the carbon concentrating mechanism and ensures high photosynthetic rates. We will develop new SynBio tools to create and test novel PEPC isoforms with desirable properties. Ultimately, the project aims to identify isoforms that improve plant fitness under stress conditions. Optimising PEPC activity will provide next generation solutions to improve water balance and carbon assimilation to keep C4 crops productive under future climates.Read moreRead less
Unlocking secrets of fertility restoration for hybrid breeding in crops. Hybrid varieties give higher and more stable yields than conventional lines, but a cost-effective system to make hybrid seed on a commercial scale is still missing for economically important crops like wheat or barley. By elucidating the mode of action of a new type of restorer gene plus exploiting ancient or exotic wheat and barley collections this project will reveal aspects of largely understudied mechanisms underlying f ....Unlocking secrets of fertility restoration for hybrid breeding in crops. Hybrid varieties give higher and more stable yields than conventional lines, but a cost-effective system to make hybrid seed on a commercial scale is still missing for economically important crops like wheat or barley. By elucidating the mode of action of a new type of restorer gene plus exploiting ancient or exotic wheat and barley collections this project will reveal aspects of largely understudied mechanisms underlying fertility restoration in wheat and barley. The expected outcomes of the proposed research have the potential to deliver new tools for hybrid seed production programs in wheat and barley. Higher and more stable yields from hybrids will ensure food security in the face of an uncertain climate and growing human population.Read moreRead less
Pyruvate provision for mitochondrial respiration in plants. This project aims to generate new knowledge about pyruvate provision for respiration in plants as it is a major pathway of carbon loss from plants. It will address specific gaps in knowledge about how pyruvate is provided to mitochondria for respiration, how channelling of pyruvate is achieved between components in this pathway and it will seek to engineering a new pyruvate supply pathway to change respiratory processes in plants. It wi ....Pyruvate provision for mitochondrial respiration in plants. This project aims to generate new knowledge about pyruvate provision for respiration in plants as it is a major pathway of carbon loss from plants. It will address specific gaps in knowledge about how pyruvate is provided to mitochondria for respiration, how channelling of pyruvate is achieved between components in this pathway and it will seek to engineering a new pyruvate supply pathway to change respiratory processes in plants. It will develop techniques for analysis of metabolic processes in plants and genetic proof for assumptions of how plant respiration works. Benefits will be training of early career researchers, enhanced international reputation of Australian plant science and new approaches to engineer respiratory rate in plants.Read moreRead less
Mid-Career Industry Fellowships - Grant ID: IM230100042
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$980,358.00
Summary
Unlocking the full reproductive potential for hybrid wheat breeding. Globally, wheat is cultivated as an inbred self-fertile crop with yield gains stagnating over the last decades. This contrasts with unabated yield gains and yield stability achieved for rice and corn through hybrid breeding and cross-pollination. Wheat hybrids hold potential for a 10-22% yield boost, but commercial deployment is restricted due to high seed production costs, a result of wheat’s floral architecture and poor outcr ....Unlocking the full reproductive potential for hybrid wheat breeding. Globally, wheat is cultivated as an inbred self-fertile crop with yield gains stagnating over the last decades. This contrasts with unabated yield gains and yield stability achieved for rice and corn through hybrid breeding and cross-pollination. Wheat hybrids hold potential for a 10-22% yield boost, but commercial deployment is restricted due to high seed production costs, a result of wheat’s floral architecture and poor outcrossing characteristics. This project aims to reduce costs by improving wheat’s female receptivity to airborne pollen, a major bottleneck to commercial realization of hybrids globally. Higher and more stable yields from wheat hybrids will ensure food security in the face of climate uncertainty and growing population.Read moreRead less