Early evolution of the endomesoderm gene regulatory network. This project aims to unravel the endomesoderm gene network’s evolutionary history by identifying its conserved components’ target genes in the calcareous sponge Sycon. Little is known about the evolutionary origin of the developmental gene regulatory networks active in the development of all Eumetazoans (animals with nerves and digestive systems). Sponges are key models to study the transition from protists to eumetazoans, and gene exp ....Early evolution of the endomesoderm gene regulatory network. This project aims to unravel the endomesoderm gene network’s evolutionary history by identifying its conserved components’ target genes in the calcareous sponge Sycon. Little is known about the evolutionary origin of the developmental gene regulatory networks active in the development of all Eumetazoans (animals with nerves and digestive systems). Sponges are key models to study the transition from protists to eumetazoans, and gene expression data supports homology between sponge and eumetazoan tissues and body plans. This project could illuminate the evolutionary history of the animal body plan.Read moreRead less
Identifying climate-resilient wheat for a warmer, high CO2 world. This project aims to reveal which plant traits help maintain or increase crop yield under the CO2 and temperature conditions predicted for the next few decades, thus providing early insights for generating climate-resilient wheat. Wheat production is vital to global food security, but its yield decreases 5-6% per 1 degree Celsius of warming. Elevated CO2 may offset yield losses, but reduces grain protein and nutrients. As the firs ....Identifying climate-resilient wheat for a warmer, high CO2 world. This project aims to reveal which plant traits help maintain or increase crop yield under the CO2 and temperature conditions predicted for the next few decades, thus providing early insights for generating climate-resilient wheat. Wheat production is vital to global food security, but its yield decreases 5-6% per 1 degree Celsius of warming. Elevated CO2 may offset yield losses, but reduces grain protein and nutrients. As the first study to evaluate Australian wheat performance under the dual pressures of elevated CO2 and temperature, the project will deliver important fundamental knowledge on wheat productivity and quality resilience traits, novel inputs for future breeding programs, and help enable food security in a changing climate.Read moreRead less
Evolution and functional impact of gene silencing by hairpin derived RNAs. This project aims to study RNA-mediated gene silencing in genome evolution. RNA interference (RNAi) has been widely used as an experimental tool since its Nobel Prize-winning discovery in 1998, but little is known about endogenous RNAi or its evolution. This project uses bioinformatics, high-throughput sequencing and molecular approaches to study hpRNAs, a class of small interfering RNAs, their adaptive evolution across f ....Evolution and functional impact of gene silencing by hairpin derived RNAs. This project aims to study RNA-mediated gene silencing in genome evolution. RNA interference (RNAi) has been widely used as an experimental tool since its Nobel Prize-winning discovery in 1998, but little is known about endogenous RNAi or its evolution. This project uses bioinformatics, high-throughput sequencing and molecular approaches to study hpRNAs, a class of small interfering RNAs, their adaptive evolution across fly species and vertebrates, and their functional effect on testis morphogenesis and distortion of female/male sex-ratio. The project also studies splicing-dependent small RNAs and miRNA-target interaction. This research could have applications from animal development to human pathology.Read moreRead less