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
How do plant roots align nitrogen uptake to soil opportunities? Improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in crop plants is required to achieve sustainable plant agriculture practices that maximise productivity while minimising nitrogen fertiliser-dependent pollution. Current high-input monoculture plant production systems suffer from poor NUE and can contribute to local and global nitrogen pollution outcomes. Improving how plants manage their nitrogen uptake will improve NUE and help support Aust ....How do plant roots align nitrogen uptake to soil opportunities? Improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in crop plants is required to achieve sustainable plant agriculture practices that maximise productivity while minimising nitrogen fertiliser-dependent pollution. Current high-input monoculture plant production systems suffer from poor NUE and can contribute to local and global nitrogen pollution outcomes. Improving how plants manage their nitrogen uptake will improve NUE and help support Australian plant agriculture. This project will investigate novel technologies that re-engineer nitrate transport activity. The project will also investigate the biochemical and molecular links between nitrogen uptake on root development required for improved plant growth.Read moreRead less
Cereals and rusts: molecular interactions for plant defence, food security. This project aims to discover the fundamental molecular interactions between proteases and protease inhibitors that occur in the ongoing conflict between cereals and their rust fungal pathogens. The research combines plant pathology, genomics and functional proteomics, and is enabled by a rapidly developing experimental approach known as activity-based protein profiling. The knowledge and outcomes potentially benefit pl ....Cereals and rusts: molecular interactions for plant defence, food security. This project aims to discover the fundamental molecular interactions between proteases and protease inhibitors that occur in the ongoing conflict between cereals and their rust fungal pathogens. The research combines plant pathology, genomics and functional proteomics, and is enabled by a rapidly developing experimental approach known as activity-based protein profiling. The knowledge and outcomes potentially benefit plant breeders through significantly improved resistance of cereals to rust diseases in Australia and overseas, thereby enhancing global food security.Read moreRead less
Starting closer to home: disease control and the nonhost resistance paradigm in plants. The wellbeing of all humans depends upon plant production. This project will investigate the feasibility of transferring disease resistance genes among wheat, barley and oats, which account for 78 per cent of Australian grain production, to achieve sustained disease control, by dissecting the genetic bases of resistance to stem rust across these three crop species.