Regulation of Plant Development by Small RNAs. Understanding the roles of small RNAs and their pathways is a new field of research that is giving, and will continue to give profound insights into how multicellular organisms regulate gene expression at a genomic level. Research in this area has already led to RNA interference technology, by which almost any gene can be switched off, and there is considerable potential for other gene silencing and trait modification technologies to emerge. The pro ....Regulation of Plant Development by Small RNAs. Understanding the roles of small RNAs and their pathways is a new field of research that is giving, and will continue to give profound insights into how multicellular organisms regulate gene expression at a genomic level. Research in this area has already led to RNA interference technology, by which almost any gene can be switched off, and there is considerable potential for other gene silencing and trait modification technologies to emerge. The project will yield insights into fundamental biological processes which are expected to engender applications in agriculture and biotechnology. It will maintain and enhance Australia's position in this area.Read moreRead less
Plant transformation: exploiting anti-apoptosis genes for very high efficiency transformation. Crop improvement through genetic modification depends on the ability to transform target species. The most desirable method is Agrobacterium mediated transformation. However, plant species and cultivars differ significantly in their ability to be efficiently transformed by Agrobacterium. This is particularly true for the economically important cereals. We have discovered that anti-apoptosis genes, whic ....Plant transformation: exploiting anti-apoptosis genes for very high efficiency transformation. Crop improvement through genetic modification depends on the ability to transform target species. The most desirable method is Agrobacterium mediated transformation. However, plant species and cultivars differ significantly in their ability to be efficiently transformed by Agrobacterium. This is particularly true for the economically important cereals. We have discovered that anti-apoptosis genes, which inhibit programmed cell death, dramatically increase the Agrobacterium transformation efficiency in bananas and sugarcane. We will utilise this information and develop the use of these genes to increase the efficiency of transformation in those crops and cultivars that are difficult to transform using Agrobacterium.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