Industrial Transformation Research Hubs - Grant ID: IH130200013
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$4,979,922.00
Summary
ARC Research Hub for advanced breeding to transform prawn aquaculture. ARC Research Hub for advanced breeding to transform prawn aquaculture. This Research Hub aims to bring together world-leading animal geneticists, research and service providers, and Australia's largest prawn farm to gather the genomic resources, commercial phenotypic data, and apply cutting-edge genetic and genomic selection methodologies, leading to the transformative improvement program for a black tiger prawn aquaculture s ....ARC Research Hub for advanced breeding to transform prawn aquaculture. ARC Research Hub for advanced breeding to transform prawn aquaculture. This Research Hub aims to bring together world-leading animal geneticists, research and service providers, and Australia's largest prawn farm to gather the genomic resources, commercial phenotypic data, and apply cutting-edge genetic and genomic selection methodologies, leading to the transformative improvement program for a black tiger prawn aquaculture species globally.Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Training Centres - Grant ID: IC230100016
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$5,000,000.00
Summary
ARC Training Centre in Predictive Breeding for Agricultural Futures. This Centre aims to develop the advanced capacity needed to secure Australia’s food and fibre production and export value into the future. Leveraging immense industry support, the Centre expects to develop and integrate cutting-edge plant and animal breeding technologies and deliver world-class training that addresses critical demand for highly skilled industry leaders. Expected outcomes include a future-ready predictive breedi ....ARC Training Centre in Predictive Breeding for Agricultural Futures. This Centre aims to develop the advanced capacity needed to secure Australia’s food and fibre production and export value into the future. Leveraging immense industry support, the Centre expects to develop and integrate cutting-edge plant and animal breeding technologies and deliver world-class training that addresses critical demand for highly skilled industry leaders. Expected outcomes include a future-ready predictive breeding industry able to transform data into optimised decisions, and the human capacity to drive it. This should provide significant benefits to enhance the sustainability and profitability of all major Australian agriculture sectors, including livestock, grains, horticulture, cotton, wine, dairy, forestry and fisheries.Read moreRead less
Reducing environmental footprint by improving phosphorous use efficiency. While modern agriculture relies heavily on the use of phosphorous fertilizers, most of them are not used by plants and lost in runoff, resulting in a massive environmental damage through contamination of waterways (termed eutrophication). This project takes advantage of an untapped resource - a unique collection of Tibetan wild barley genotypes, to reveal key traits that confer superior phosphorus use efficiency in wild ba ....Reducing environmental footprint by improving phosphorous use efficiency. While modern agriculture relies heavily on the use of phosphorous fertilizers, most of them are not used by plants and lost in runoff, resulting in a massive environmental damage through contamination of waterways (termed eutrophication). This project takes advantage of an untapped resource - a unique collection of Tibetan wild barley genotypes, to reveal key traits that confer superior phosphorus use efficiency in wild barley and identify appropriate candidate genes and their position on chromosomes for further incorporating these traits into commercial barley cultivars. This will reduce the environmental footprint of modern agricultural practices on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems without compromising food security.Read moreRead less
Characterisation of a major quantitative trait locus on wheat chromosome 3BL responsible for Fusarium crown rot resistance. Fusarium crown rot (FCR) is a serious wheat disease in Australia and worldwide. Our team has identified a major chromosome region controlling this disease. This project is proposing to develop DNA markers for marker assisted breeding, to understand the genetic mechanism of resistance and to identify genes responsible for resistance to the disease.
Towards improving the yield of Canola and other Brassicas during drought. One of the major problems faced by world agriculture is drought; this project should improve the yield of Canola during moderate to severe droughts. Significantly, this project includes both "traditional" non-genetically modified (GM) strategies and GM strategies to maximise the market for our drought-tolerant canola both in Australia and overseas.
The architecture of networks: Characterisation and visualisation of complex systems as fluctuating networks. Complex systems comprise many mutually interacting components, characterised by a range of different interactions over time and space. They are dynamical systems, whose features are reminiscent of a web, with fluctuating links of varying strengths. The natural paradigm for such systems is a generic network, or a graph. A suite of novel measures from statistical physics, graph theory, top ....The architecture of networks: Characterisation and visualisation of complex systems as fluctuating networks. Complex systems comprise many mutually interacting components, characterised by a range of different interactions over time and space. They are dynamical systems, whose features are reminiscent of a web, with fluctuating links of varying strengths. The natural paradigm for such systems is a generic network, or a graph. A suite of novel measures from statistical physics, graph theory, topology, geometry, and computer graphics will be developed to characterise system/graph growth and stability. The aim is two-fold: first to reduce real complex systems (mainly financial systems) to computationally manageable structures (including direct visualisation) and second to construct realistic models of the evolution of such systems.Read moreRead less
Using defined biotic and abiotic stimuli to dissect patterns of gene expression and protein accumulation that specify root architecture. Root morphogenesis is fundamental to agriculture and valuable for investigating the informational networks of genes, proteins and metabolites that control root growth and plant development. Root systems vary widely both within and between species. Root morphology is directed by a basic genetic program that is influenced by environmental factors to provide an e ....Using defined biotic and abiotic stimuli to dissect patterns of gene expression and protein accumulation that specify root architecture. Root morphogenesis is fundamental to agriculture and valuable for investigating the informational networks of genes, proteins and metabolites that control root growth and plant development. Root systems vary widely both within and between species. Root morphology is directed by a basic genetic program that is influenced by environmental factors to provide an enormous "phenotypic plasticity". This project will use two model plant systems to investigate how different external signals are "translated" by the plant into different developmental regimes. This knowledge is crucial to understanding how the plasticity of root development is modulated in response to changing environmental factors.Read moreRead less
Can efficient algal variants of the photosynthetic CO2-fixing enzyme, Rubisco, be folded and assembled in functional forms in higher-plant plastids? We have shown that it is possible to alter the photosynthetic phenotype of a plant predictably and profoundly by engineering the plastid genome to replace the plant's CO2-fixing enzyme, Rubisco, with a bacterial homolog. Thus it may be possible to replace the plant enzyme with more efficient algal Rubiscos that would allow plants to grow with less l ....Can efficient algal variants of the photosynthetic CO2-fixing enzyme, Rubisco, be folded and assembled in functional forms in higher-plant plastids? We have shown that it is possible to alter the photosynthetic phenotype of a plant predictably and profoundly by engineering the plastid genome to replace the plant's CO2-fixing enzyme, Rubisco, with a bacterial homolog. Thus it may be possible to replace the plant enzyme with more efficient algal Rubiscos that would allow plants to grow with less light, less water or less fertiliser. Before such desirable changes to the plant phenotype can be realised, some complex issues of modification, folding and assembly of Rubisco subunits need to be resolved. This proposal addresses them.Read moreRead less
Identification of transcription factor genes involved in the regulation of aspects of photosynthetic capacity in plants. There is increasing evidence to suggest that we may be reaching a yield plateau with many agricultural plants and that future avenues for yield increases may depend on increases in photosynthetic capacity per unit leaf area. Molecular genetic technology offers the promise of the direct manipulation of photosynthetic gene expression to increase photosynthetic capacity. This pro ....Identification of transcription factor genes involved in the regulation of aspects of photosynthetic capacity in plants. There is increasing evidence to suggest that we may be reaching a yield plateau with many agricultural plants and that future avenues for yield increases may depend on increases in photosynthetic capacity per unit leaf area. Molecular genetic technology offers the promise of the direct manipulation of photosynthetic gene expression to increase photosynthetic capacity. This project aims to understand one important part of genetic regulation, the transcription factors, that may determine aspects of photosynthetic capacity. Altered expression of these transcription factors in transgenic plants will be used to test the their ability to control photosynthesis and generate agricultural intellectual property.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