Folding and dynamics of bioengineered cyclic cystine knot proteins. This project will increase knowledge of the structure and function of an important family of proteins, namely the conotoxins. Conotoxins are of particular interest in Australia as nearly 300 species of cone snails occur in Australian waters and they represent a rich source of novel peptides for drug discovery. This project will enhance their stability by altering their structures and will have a direct impact on peptide-drug ba ....Folding and dynamics of bioengineered cyclic cystine knot proteins. This project will increase knowledge of the structure and function of an important family of proteins, namely the conotoxins. Conotoxins are of particular interest in Australia as nearly 300 species of cone snails occur in Australian waters and they represent a rich source of novel peptides for drug discovery. This project will enhance their stability by altering their structures and will have a direct impact on peptide-drug based therapies, resulting in economic and social benefits for Australian society. Additionally, some peptides under study have agricultural significance for crop protection and this too, has the potential to provide significant economic benefits. Read moreRead less
Promoting Plant Innovation in Australia: maximising the benefits of intellectual property for Australian agriculture. The development of new plant varieties is crucial to the ongoing competitiveness and sustainability of Australian agriculture. It also has wider social, cultural and economic consequences. Intellectual property laws have the potential to promote and hinder the developments of new plant varieties. In recent years there has been a shift towards the use of patents to protect plant i ....Promoting Plant Innovation in Australia: maximising the benefits of intellectual property for Australian agriculture. The development of new plant varieties is crucial to the ongoing competitiveness and sustainability of Australian agriculture. It also has wider social, cultural and economic consequences. Intellectual property laws have the potential to promote and hinder the developments of new plant varieties. In recent years there has been a shift towards the use of patents to protect plant innovations: a trend which has the potential to transform existing research and development arrangements and industry practices in Australia. By providing policy-makers and stakeholders with recommendations on how to respond to and manage these changes, the project will promote plant breeding in Australia and also enhance the sustainability and competitiveness of Australian agriculture.Read moreRead less
Spatio-temporal analysis of molecular changes during leaf senescence in arabidopsis and wheat and their response to the environment. Innovative agricultural solutions in Australia can be gained by changing the abundance of proteins and metabolites to influence plant performance and provide more robust plants and plant products. The aging and dying of leaves (leaf senescence) is a key factor in our understanding of plant development and the recovery of nutrients from dying tissues. Leaf senescenc ....Spatio-temporal analysis of molecular changes during leaf senescence in arabidopsis and wheat and their response to the environment. Innovative agricultural solutions in Australia can be gained by changing the abundance of proteins and metabolites to influence plant performance and provide more robust plants and plant products. The aging and dying of leaves (leaf senescence) is a key factor in our understanding of plant development and the recovery of nutrients from dying tissues. Leaf senescence is also important for pre-harvest impacts on seed and grain quality as leaves represent the major nitrogen store remobilised to feed these plant products. This work will support the generation of intellectual property to be applied within Australia's plant-based industries and at the same time provides a strong environment for the training of students and researchers.Read moreRead less
Engineering plants via modified microtubule dynamics. The plant microtubule cytoskeleton is involved in many economically important functions such as controlling growth and development, cellulose deposition, and responses to pathogens and salinity. This project will increase our understanding of how the regulation of the microtubule cytoskeleton affects these processes and move us nearer to achieving economically important goals, such as the development of crop plants with improved traits. Thi ....Engineering plants via modified microtubule dynamics. The plant microtubule cytoskeleton is involved in many economically important functions such as controlling growth and development, cellulose deposition, and responses to pathogens and salinity. This project will increase our understanding of how the regulation of the microtubule cytoskeleton affects these processes and move us nearer to achieving economically important goals, such as the development of crop plants with improved traits. This project will also help maintain Australia's position at the forefront of plant cell and molecular biology.Read moreRead less
Comparative Biophysical Studies on Photosystem II of Higher Plants and Cyanobacteria. Photosystem II (PS-II) is one of two light trapping protein assemblies involved in the conversion of light into metabolic energy in all plants and algae. The manganese containing active site of PS-II is responsible for oxygen formation from water. The organisation and functioning of this centre and the detailed mechanism of photochemical energy conversion are not understood. This project will employ a combinati ....Comparative Biophysical Studies on Photosystem II of Higher Plants and Cyanobacteria. Photosystem II (PS-II) is one of two light trapping protein assemblies involved in the conversion of light into metabolic energy in all plants and algae. The manganese containing active site of PS-II is responsible for oxygen formation from water. The organisation and functioning of this centre and the detailed mechanism of photochemical energy conversion are not understood. This project will employ a combination of powerful biophysical techniques to probe the structure and mechanism of PS-II as a knowledge base for eventual genetic manipulation of plants and stategies for artificial photosynthesis.Read moreRead less
Control of Wolbachia replication: maintaining a stable symbiosis. This project will use a comparative genomics approach to better understand how Wolbachia infections of insects are able to maintain themselves in insects without causing pathology. The results will allow us to better understand a distinguishing characteristic of an intracellular symbiont, namely replication control. The results also have the potential to lead to new approaches to insect pest control through a better understanding ....Control of Wolbachia replication: maintaining a stable symbiosis. This project will use a comparative genomics approach to better understand how Wolbachia infections of insects are able to maintain themselves in insects without causing pathology. The results will allow us to better understand a distinguishing characteristic of an intracellular symbiont, namely replication control. The results also have the potential to lead to new approaches to insect pest control through a better understanding of how Wolbachia might be used to skew insect population age structure.Read moreRead less
Ascorbate and glutathione integrate the control of grapevine development. This project aims to make a step-change in understanding how the growth of woody perennial crops is regulated. The study of herbaceous annual plants has established that the antioxidants, ascorbate and glutathione, are important in regulating every step of plant development. However, this cannot readily translate to perennial life cycles. This project will develop novel genetic tools in grapevine that enable functional stu ....Ascorbate and glutathione integrate the control of grapevine development. This project aims to make a step-change in understanding how the growth of woody perennial crops is regulated. The study of herbaceous annual plants has established that the antioxidants, ascorbate and glutathione, are important in regulating every step of plant development. However, this cannot readily translate to perennial life cycles. This project will develop novel genetic tools in grapevine that enable functional studies of these antioxidants in a perennial plant for the first time. It will investigate how ascorbate and glutathione regulate the development of grapevine, and how these functions integrate with hormone and energy metabolism. The outcomes will advance our ability to manage perennial crops in current and future climates.Read moreRead less
Systemic control of nodule proliferation. We aim to clone and characterize the functions of the supernodulation (NTS-1) locus of soybean using positional cloning and functional genomics approaches. Supernodulation fascinatingly results from a mutant Nts-1 gene functioning in the shoot, although the phenotype is expressed as excessive nodule proliferation in the root. The cloned gene will be used to monitor expression changes after inoculation with Bradyrhizobium, treatment with nitrate, nod-fac ....Systemic control of nodule proliferation. We aim to clone and characterize the functions of the supernodulation (NTS-1) locus of soybean using positional cloning and functional genomics approaches. Supernodulation fascinatingly results from a mutant Nts-1 gene functioning in the shoot, although the phenotype is expressed as excessive nodule proliferation in the root. The cloned gene will be used to monitor expression changes after inoculation with Bradyrhizobium, treatment with nitrate, nod-factor, xylem exudates and phytohormones. We will use RT-PCR, in situ hybridisation and reporter gene expression in transgenic plants. Microarray analysis of soybean ESTs (4200 arrayed) will analyse concurrent gene expression changes in both root and shoot.Read moreRead less
Functional characterisation of novel transport protein in plants. The products of plants provide the food we eat, the air we breath and it is recognised that they play an integral role in defining and protecting the environment. Thus it is essential to understand how plant work to allow their use in novel applications and to adapt to changing environments. Many aspects of plant metabolism are unique to plants and thus we cannot guess or estimate importance from studies in animals or fungi. Appro ....Functional characterisation of novel transport protein in plants. The products of plants provide the food we eat, the air we breath and it is recognised that they play an integral role in defining and protecting the environment. Thus it is essential to understand how plant work to allow their use in novel applications and to adapt to changing environments. Many aspects of plant metabolism are unique to plants and thus we cannot guess or estimate importance from studies in animals or fungi. Approximately 4,000 proteins are specific to plants, or contain domains that are unique to plants. This investigation proposes to elucidate the function of some of these novel proteins, transporters, that play a critical role in transport processes in cells.Read moreRead less
Molecular Genetic Analysis of Genes Regulating Metabolism in the Fungus Aspergillus nidulans. Filamentous fungi can use a wide variety of sources of carbon and nitrogen. In order to grow on these compounds metabolism is adjusted in response to changes in nutrient availability. Patterns of genome expression are altered by signalling to global regulatory genes which control the transcription of genes producing enzymes appropriate to the substrates available. This is of fundamental significance to ....Molecular Genetic Analysis of Genes Regulating Metabolism in the Fungus Aspergillus nidulans. Filamentous fungi can use a wide variety of sources of carbon and nitrogen. In order to grow on these compounds metabolism is adjusted in response to changes in nutrient availability. Patterns of genome expression are altered by signalling to global regulatory genes which control the transcription of genes producing enzymes appropriate to the substrates available. This is of fundamental significance to the physiology and development of fungi which include devastating pathogens and species used in industrial microbiology. This project aims to use the excellent molecular genetics of the model fungus Aspergillus nidulans to investigate the strategies employed and the mechanisms involved.Read moreRead less