Finding the missing links in salt and water transport in plants. Grain crops and horticultural plants use proteins called aquaporins to move water across cell membranes, but a group of these proteins can also transport some important nutrient ions as well as toxic sodium ions. This project aims to reveal the molecular pathways that regulate water and ion transport via aquaporins using advanced techniques in biophysics and molecular biology. These results will provide novel insights into how plan ....Finding the missing links in salt and water transport in plants. Grain crops and horticultural plants use proteins called aquaporins to move water across cell membranes, but a group of these proteins can also transport some important nutrient ions as well as toxic sodium ions. This project aims to reveal the molecular pathways that regulate water and ion transport via aquaporins using advanced techniques in biophysics and molecular biology. These results will provide novel insights into how plants coordinate and adapt to changing water and salt conditions, addressing a missing link in how ions and water move in and out of plant vacuoles. Benefits include an expanded, innovative range of targets for plant breeding programs to improve plant productivity in our changing climate.Read moreRead less
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
ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology. We propose a novel approach to improve sustainable yield by optimising the overall efficiency of energy capture, conversion and use by plants. Efficiency gains in metabolism, transport, and development will be more effective than optimising single nutrient inputs or product outputs. Improving multiple parameters simultaneously is a necessary solution to the increasing demand for more crop yield from finite land, water, and nutrient resources. Unp ....ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology. We propose a novel approach to improve sustainable yield by optimising the overall efficiency of energy capture, conversion and use by plants. Efficiency gains in metabolism, transport, and development will be more effective than optimising single nutrient inputs or product outputs. Improving multiple parameters simultaneously is a necessary solution to the increasing demand for more crop yield from finite land, water, and nutrient resources. Unpredictable environmental challenges adversely affect plant growth and further perturb plant energy balance, limiting yield. The epigenetic controls, gene variants and signals discovered will provide a new basis for sustainable productivity of crops and will future-proof plants in changing climates.Read moreRead less
Synthesis of substrate analogues for probing catalytic mechanisms and specificity of enzymes involved in the metabolism of plant polysaccharides. The project is aimed at strengthening collaborations between research groups in Adelaide and France, with the specific objective of synthesizing substrate analogues as probes of enzymatic mechanisms and substrate specificity in polysaccharide hydrolases and synthases of barley. The chemical expertise resides in France, while the enzymatic work will be ....Synthesis of substrate analogues for probing catalytic mechanisms and specificity of enzymes involved in the metabolism of plant polysaccharides. The project is aimed at strengthening collaborations between research groups in Adelaide and France, with the specific objective of synthesizing substrate analogues as probes of enzymatic mechanisms and substrate specificity in polysaccharide hydrolases and synthases of barley. The chemical expertise resides in France, while the enzymatic work will be conducted largely in Australia. Exchange of research staff, particularly at the postgraduate student and research associate levels, is considered essential to capture the benefits of the complementary expertise and to extend an existing international collaboration. The target enzymes are of central importance in cell wall metabolism during development of higher plants.Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Training Centres - Grant ID: IC130100009
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,100,000.00
Summary
ARC Training Centre for Molecular Technology in the Food Industry. A molecular technology platform for enabling the next revolution in the food industry. Society needs new approaches for solving the difficulties of providing enough food for the future. This Training Centre will train young scientists in the application of applying molecular analysis skills to solve specific problems that the food industry faces in the whole process of taking food production from “field to fork”.
Combating subsoil acidity for sustainable production through managing plant cation-anion uptake. At least 50 million hectares of topsoil and 23 million ha of subsoil of Australian land are presently affected by acidity, with this area expanding due to the ongoing processes of acidification. Surface liming is ineffective in neutralizing subsoil acidity. The project will develop an innovative method that stimulates root proliferation and ameliorates subsoil acidity through manipulating the balance ....Combating subsoil acidity for sustainable production through managing plant cation-anion uptake. At least 50 million hectares of topsoil and 23 million ha of subsoil of Australian land are presently affected by acidity, with this area expanding due to the ongoing processes of acidification. Surface liming is ineffective in neutralizing subsoil acidity. The project will develop an innovative method that stimulates root proliferation and ameliorates subsoil acidity through manipulating the balance of nutrient uptake by plants. The effects of the developed method on nutrient use efficiency and leaching loss, and crop yields will be quantified under different soil types and climatic conditions.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
Optimising crop root systems to enhance capture of soil water and nutrients. The project’s goal is to improve crop breeding for increased efficiency of acquiring soil resources. Increasing a crop’s efficiency in capturing soil resources (water and nutrients) is an imperative task in ensuring food security. This project plans to use barley as the model cereal crop and characterise root traits in a panel of cultivars assembled to represent maximum diversity as well as in biparental mapping populat ....Optimising crop root systems to enhance capture of soil water and nutrients. The project’s goal is to improve crop breeding for increased efficiency of acquiring soil resources. Increasing a crop’s efficiency in capturing soil resources (water and nutrients) is an imperative task in ensuring food security. This project plans to use barley as the model cereal crop and characterise root traits in a panel of cultivars assembled to represent maximum diversity as well as in biparental mapping population followed by association and linkage mapping to identify genetic markers linked with specific root traits. These markers will be incorporated into a computer model of 3-D root structure and function. The enhanced computer model would be able to simulate optimal root systems for specific environments and generate a list of selectable root-trait markers.Read moreRead less
Activating the female germline during plant development. This project aims to investigate the mechanistic basis for female germline formation in two plant species including barley, which is of agricultural relevance to Australia. This project’s approach will integrate novel regulatory genes and data from Arabidopsis and barley. This knowledge will provide significant benefits, such as novel reproductive strategies for crop improvement.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0561115
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$474,500.00
Summary
Adelaide Core Live Organism Imaging Facility. Live organism imaging represents a powerful and essential tool in many aspects of modern biology. This application is for the purchase of two major items of equipment: a Xenogen IVIS Imaging System 200 and a Skyscan 1076_in vivo micro-CT scanner. As there are presently no machines within Adelaide capable of real-time live animal and plant imaging, scientific progress in a number of projects is significantly restricted. The acquisition of a state-of ....Adelaide Core Live Organism Imaging Facility. Live organism imaging represents a powerful and essential tool in many aspects of modern biology. This application is for the purchase of two major items of equipment: a Xenogen IVIS Imaging System 200 and a Skyscan 1076_in vivo micro-CT scanner. As there are presently no machines within Adelaide capable of real-time live animal and plant imaging, scientific progress in a number of projects is significantly restricted. The acquisition of a state-of-the-art live organism imaging facility in Adelaide would be a major advance for investigators within the Adelaide bioscience community and would increase their research productivity and international competitivenessRead moreRead less