Comparative toxicology of a fumigant and gasotransmitters: Testing a new model of fumigant toxicity in Caenorhabditis elegans. Fumigants share physical, chemical and functional properties with a medically important class of signalling molecules called gasotransmitters. This project proposes that the toxicity of fumigants is directly caused by their ability to mimic and disrupt gasotransmitter signalling. This project will test this hypothesis using the fumigant phosphine, a chemical that protect ....Comparative toxicology of a fumigant and gasotransmitters: Testing a new model of fumigant toxicity in Caenorhabditis elegans. Fumigants share physical, chemical and functional properties with a medically important class of signalling molecules called gasotransmitters. This project proposes that the toxicity of fumigants is directly caused by their ability to mimic and disrupt gasotransmitter signalling. This project will test this hypothesis using the fumigant phosphine, a chemical that protects the vast majority of the world grain supply from insect pests. This work will show us what makes a fumigant toxic. This knowledge will facilitate the discovery and effective deployment of new fumigants.Read moreRead less
Buried treasure: bioactive plant seed proteins evolving inside hosts. This project aims to examine how evolution in plants shortcuts the creation of new proteins by burying one within another. Scientists now realise that new genes and proteins appear frequently. A recent discovery in plant seeds involves DNA sequence insertions in a gene that makes two proteins instead of one. This project will reveal a new family of buried seed proteins, determine the rules for burying them and search plants fo ....Buried treasure: bioactive plant seed proteins evolving inside hosts. This project aims to examine how evolution in plants shortcuts the creation of new proteins by burying one within another. Scientists now realise that new genes and proteins appear frequently. A recent discovery in plant seeds involves DNA sequence insertions in a gene that makes two proteins instead of one. This project will reveal a new family of buried seed proteins, determine the rules for burying them and search plants for new examples. The first examples from plants create strongly bioactive products so the ability to dig for similar plant events will reveal new and bioactive natural products with biomedical and biotechnology applications.Read moreRead less
A new signalling component in shoot architecture: trehalose 6-phosphate. This project aims to investigate the role of a new signalling pathway involved in shoot branching. New knowledge is expected on how plants regulate shoot branching via sugar or hormone levels and/or signalling. The aims to build on recent finding that trehalose 6-phosphate (Tre6P) promotes shoot branching and to investigate whether sucrose acts via Tre6P and what role sucrose and Tre6P have compared with plant hormones. S ....A new signalling component in shoot architecture: trehalose 6-phosphate. This project aims to investigate the role of a new signalling pathway involved in shoot branching. New knowledge is expected on how plants regulate shoot branching via sugar or hormone levels and/or signalling. The aims to build on recent finding that trehalose 6-phosphate (Tre6P) promotes shoot branching and to investigate whether sucrose acts via Tre6P and what role sucrose and Tre6P have compared with plant hormones. Significant benefits may include new genetic or management strategies to modify shoot architecture.Read moreRead less
How do sunflowers make protein drugs in their seeds? We recently discovered in sunflower the origin of a small protein ring that chemists have used for a decade to base designed drugs upon. This project aims to know how sunflowers make it so we may manipulate other plants to manufacture ring-based drugs.
A new and rapidly evolving class of plant peptides. The project will study a diverse class of drug-like mini-proteins that are thought to have emerged genetically over 12 million years ago. This project will explore why plants have kept making these mini-proteins for so long and whether it is the same reason the founding member of this mini-protein class is such a good drug.