Linking Stress Tolerance to Molecular Evolution of Grass Stomata. Salinity and drought are two detrimental environmental stresses, affecting agricultural productivity and ecosystem health in Australia and around the world. This project will focus on the evolutionary, physiological and molecular aspects of stomatal regulation between wheat, barley and their wild relatives for salinity and drought tolerance. This project will advance the scientific knowledge in the evolution of stomatal regulation ....Linking Stress Tolerance to Molecular Evolution of Grass Stomata. Salinity and drought are two detrimental environmental stresses, affecting agricultural productivity and ecosystem health in Australia and around the world. This project will focus on the evolutionary, physiological and molecular aspects of stomatal regulation between wheat, barley and their wild relatives for salinity and drought tolerance. This project will advance the scientific knowledge in the evolution of stomatal regulation in two staple crops wheat and barley. The project will also assist plant breeders with increasing crop salinity and drought tolerance for global food security.Read moreRead less
Cell wall invertase regulates fruit and seed development through sugar signals, sugar transporters and plasmodesmal gating. This project seeks to understand the molecular and cellular events controlling carbohydrate allocation in fruit and seed by focusing the coupling between sugar metabolism and transport using tomato as a model. The information generated may provide technological opportunities to improve fruit and seed development hence, crop yield.
Mechanisms regulating plant cell expansion: assessing the role of aquaporins and sugar signalling. This project seeks to understand the role of water channel genes in controlling water flow into expanding plant cells by using cotton fibre as a model cell. Water flow plays critical roles in plant growth, hence yield. The information generated may provide technological opportunities for improving water flow and utilization, hence, crop yield.
Tolerance of temperature extremes under drought: linking physiological processes with morphological constraints on leaf function. Freezing temperatures affect over 70% of Australia. Each year frosts cause substantial damage to agriculture and forestry. We will examine how decrease in hydraulic conduit diameter increases freeze tolerance in native woody species and quantify impacts of this tolerance on productivity of leaves. The results have application in managing temperate woody vegetation un ....Tolerance of temperature extremes under drought: linking physiological processes with morphological constraints on leaf function. Freezing temperatures affect over 70% of Australia. Each year frosts cause substantial damage to agriculture and forestry. We will examine how decrease in hydraulic conduit diameter increases freeze tolerance in native woody species and quantify impacts of this tolerance on productivity of leaves. The results have application in managing temperate woody vegetation under current and future climate scenarios. By improving understanding of the behaviour of water in leaves during freezing, we will contribute to improved models of physical stresses and strains in biological tissues during freezing, which find application in cryo-storage of biological materials important in agriculture, medicine, and conservation.Read moreRead less
Ecology, Physiology and Phylogeography: an integrated approach to the study of the invasive marine green macroalga Caulerpa taxifolia in Australia. The green marine macroalga Caulerpa taxifolia is one of the world's worst invasive species. In Australia 'exotic strains' of this alga are a listed pest species. Invasions in NSW and SA have caused environmental harm and managing them has cost $10 million since 2000. We propose to integrate ecology, physiology and genetic analyses to provide data to ....Ecology, Physiology and Phylogeography: an integrated approach to the study of the invasive marine green macroalga Caulerpa taxifolia in Australia. The green marine macroalga Caulerpa taxifolia is one of the world's worst invasive species. In Australia 'exotic strains' of this alga are a listed pest species. Invasions in NSW and SA have caused environmental harm and managing them has cost $10 million since 2000. We propose to integrate ecology, physiology and genetic analyses to provide data to better respond to this pest, potentially savings millions of dollars per year. We will produce the first empirical evidence of the effects of climate change and ocean acidification on this marine pest, in the context of increasing coastal human populations.Read moreRead less
Identifying novel salinity tolerance mechanisms by spatial and temporal analysis of lipids in barley. Agrifood production faces the dual challenges of an increasing world population and the threats of abiotic stresses arising from climate change and the erosion of arable land. Cereals, the major food crops, are poorly adapted to tolerate most abiotic stresses, including salinity. This project applies new technologies investigating spatial and temporal biochemical mechanisms a model cereal, Horde ....Identifying novel salinity tolerance mechanisms by spatial and temporal analysis of lipids in barley. Agrifood production faces the dual challenges of an increasing world population and the threats of abiotic stresses arising from climate change and the erosion of arable land. Cereals, the major food crops, are poorly adapted to tolerate most abiotic stresses, including salinity. This project applies new technologies investigating spatial and temporal biochemical mechanisms a model cereal, Hordeum vulgare (barley), utilises to adapt and tolerate salinity. The aims are to investigate the role of specifically plasma membrane lipids modulating either signalling pathways or membrane fluidity that impacts on adaptation during salinity. The results will provide new leads for the development of cereal germplasm with increased salt tolerance.Read moreRead less
Discovering the activity of novel CLE peptide hormones that regulate legume nodulation. This project aims to functionally characterise novel peptide hormones that regulate the number of nitrogen-fixing root nodules that legumes form. Findings will enhance the current nodulation model and could help to alleviate our reliance on expensive, often polluting, nitrogen-fertilisers by helping to optimise the nodulation process in agriculture.
Discovery of the systemic regulator of legume nodulation. This project aims to discover the novel, shoot-derived factor that legumes produce to regulate the number of nitrogen-fixing root nodules they form. Outcomes will enhance the current nodulation model and could help optimise the process in agriculture, which would help alleviate current reliance on nitrogen-fertilisers that are expensive and pollute.
Functional characterisation of the necrotrophic effector proteins Tox1 and Tox3 from the wheat pathogen Stagonospora nodorum. Fungal pathogens cost the Australian agricultural industry over one billion dollars per year. This project will build upon recent key advances to provide a fundamental basis on how fungal pathogens cause disease. The results from this study will promote future advances in disease management with the aim of securing Australian wheat supplies.
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