ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space. ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space. This Centre aims to create on-demand, zero-waste, high-efficiency plants and plant products to address grand challenges in sustainability for Space and on Earth. Significant advances in plant, food, and sensory science; process and systems engineering; law and policy; and psychology are expected to deliver transformative solutions for Space habitation – and create enhanced plant-derived food and bioresour ....ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space. ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space. This Centre aims to create on-demand, zero-waste, high-efficiency plants and plant products to address grand challenges in sustainability for Space and on Earth. Significant advances in plant, food, and sensory science; process and systems engineering; law and policy; and psychology are expected to deliver transformative solutions for Space habitation – and create enhanced plant-derived food and bioresources to capitalise upon emergent and rapidly expanding domestic and global markets. Anticipated outcomes include industry uptake of innovative plant forms, foods, technologies, and commodities; and an ambitious education and international co-ordination agenda to position Australia as a global leader in research supporting Space habitation.Read moreRead less
The use of molecular sponges to inhibit small Ribonucleic acid activity in plants. The deletion of gene activity is the most powerful way to understand gene function; however for genes encoding small Ribonucleic acids (RNAs) no current methodology can efficiently achieve this. Here, we aim to develop a gene silencing technology for small RNA encoding genes, which can be utilised to determine their function and used for biotechnological applications.
ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis. The ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis seeks to develop and harness advances in photosynthesis research, crop bioengineering, plant phenomics and computational tools to realise increased and sustainable crop yields, opening new routes to achieving the next revolution in plant productivity. It will deliver improved yield by undertaking a continuum of fundamental and applied photosynthesis research and targeting proj ....ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis. The ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis seeks to develop and harness advances in photosynthesis research, crop bioengineering, plant phenomics and computational tools to realise increased and sustainable crop yields, opening new routes to achieving the next revolution in plant productivity. It will deliver improved yield by undertaking a continuum of fundamental and applied photosynthesis research and targeting projects with a high probability of producing increased yield. Links with national and international institutions, consortia and breeding companies will enhance the prospects of translating genetic improvements into crops such as wheat, rice and sorghum for improved yield.Read moreRead less
A systems approach to dissect the pathogenicity and host specificity of the Fusarium wilt pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum. The pathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum causes wilt disease in many plant species, including many that are important for Australian agriculture. Developing environmentally friendly disease protection strategies against this pathogen requires a clear understanding of infection strategies used by the fungus to invade its host. This project, along with a parallel project in host ....A systems approach to dissect the pathogenicity and host specificity of the Fusarium wilt pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum. The pathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum causes wilt disease in many plant species, including many that are important for Australian agriculture. Developing environmentally friendly disease protection strategies against this pathogen requires a clear understanding of infection strategies used by the fungus to invade its host. This project, along with a parallel project in host resistance mechanisms, will provide the basis for development of a world leading platform in mechanisms of fungal pathogenicity and virulence and plant disease resistance/susceptibility. Application of the knowledge gained in this project to other host-pathogen interactions will thereby provide opportunities for improved crop protection and biosecurity.Read moreRead less
Mediator: a new concept for controlled gene expression in plant biotechnology. The Mediator protein complex is a new control point for the activation of all genes in higher organisms and the purpose of this project is to understand how three Mediator subunits regulate disease resistance in plants. The outcomes provide a new concept to direct natural gene expression towards robust crop plants able to cope with climatic variations.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100151
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
Enhancing resistance to wheat stripe rust disease. This project aims to investigate why wheat succumbs to stripe rust fungus, a grave threat to global wheat production. Wheat is the primary agricultural and revenue crop of Australia, cultivated since early European settlement. Severe disease epidemics arise when the fast evolving rust pathogen breaks down host plant genetic resistance. This project will investigate the molecular mechanisms of host-pathogen recognition and the consequences of pat ....Enhancing resistance to wheat stripe rust disease. This project aims to investigate why wheat succumbs to stripe rust fungus, a grave threat to global wheat production. Wheat is the primary agricultural and revenue crop of Australia, cultivated since early European settlement. Severe disease epidemics arise when the fast evolving rust pathogen breaks down host plant genetic resistance. This project will investigate the molecular mechanisms of host-pathogen recognition and the consequences of pathogen variation to determine the causes of resistance breakdown. The expected outcome is robust rust-resistant wheat cultivars to maintain global food security.Read moreRead less
Systemic gene silencing in Arabidopsis, and relevance to plant biology. Gene silencing is a highly conserved process in plants and animals. It is of fundamental importance to gene regulation, virus defence, genome response to environment, and genome evolution. Remarkably, when gene silencing is triggered in plants it can spread throughout the organism. The aim of this project is to define the mechanism of intercellular movement of gene silencing in plants, and its relevance to plant growth and d ....Systemic gene silencing in Arabidopsis, and relevance to plant biology. Gene silencing is a highly conserved process in plants and animals. It is of fundamental importance to gene regulation, virus defence, genome response to environment, and genome evolution. Remarkably, when gene silencing is triggered in plants it can spread throughout the organism. The aim of this project is to define the mechanism of intercellular movement of gene silencing in plants, and its relevance to plant growth and defence against pathogens. Expected outcomes include increased understanding of intercellular genetic signalling in plants and its role in plant growth and disease resistance. The findings may also shed new light on mechanisms of gene silencing in animals.Read moreRead less
Unsaturation of vapour pressure inside leaves: fundamental, but unknown. This project aims to determine when and to what extent the air inside leaves becomes unsaturated with water vapour. All current interpretation and modelling of leaf gas exchange assumes saturation under all circumstances. Compelling evidence has been obtained that suggests this is not true under moderate air vapour pressure deficits. A novel technique will be employed to assess the water vapour concentration of the air insi ....Unsaturation of vapour pressure inside leaves: fundamental, but unknown. This project aims to determine when and to what extent the air inside leaves becomes unsaturated with water vapour. All current interpretation and modelling of leaf gas exchange assumes saturation under all circumstances. Compelling evidence has been obtained that suggests this is not true under moderate air vapour pressure deficits. A novel technique will be employed to assess the water vapour concentration of the air inside leaves based on stable isotope analysis of carbon dioxide and water vapour exchanged between leaves and air. The project is expected to provide fundamental knowledge about how stomata regulate photosynthesis and water use, with significant implications for modelling vegetation function and for improving the performance of crop plants.Read moreRead less
On the physiology of plant transpiration. This project aims to better understand plant transpiration. It is significant from both a basic and a practical perspective. It intends to solve a conundrum of the biophysics of the evaporative sites within leaves. That is, in dry air, the relative humidity of intercellular air spaces suggests much lower liquid water potentials than those typically measured. At a practical level, the failure to sustain transpiration in dry conditions leads to desiccation ....On the physiology of plant transpiration. This project aims to better understand plant transpiration. It is significant from both a basic and a practical perspective. It intends to solve a conundrum of the biophysics of the evaporative sites within leaves. That is, in dry air, the relative humidity of intercellular air spaces suggests much lower liquid water potentials than those typically measured. At a practical level, the failure to sustain transpiration in dry conditions leads to desiccation and tissue death, and plants differ in this vulnerability. The aim is to apply a novel nanoparticle technique to measure the water potential distribution within the leaf, identify hydraulic resilience attributes, and develop a modern theory of optimal transpiration under varying conditions.Read moreRead less
Top-down rehydration: role of multiple water sources in mangrove function. This project aims to combine cutting-edge analytical and imaging techniques to assess contributions of atmospheric water sources to shoot-water balances, identify leaf traits associated with top-down rehydration, and determine the relative importance of different sources of water used by mangroves in maintenance of photosynthetic carbon assimilation along natural gradients in salinity and aridity. The capacity of shoots ....Top-down rehydration: role of multiple water sources in mangrove function. This project aims to combine cutting-edge analytical and imaging techniques to assess contributions of atmospheric water sources to shoot-water balances, identify leaf traits associated with top-down rehydration, and determine the relative importance of different sources of water used by mangroves in maintenance of photosynthetic carbon assimilation along natural gradients in salinity and aridity. The capacity of shoots to absorb atmospheric water could profoundly affect the diversity, survival and productivity of mangroves where high soil salinity limits water uptake by roots, particularly during hot, dry conditions.Read moreRead less