Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100908
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$461,815.00
Summary
Maximising the beneficial impacts of mycorrhizal fungi on grain nutrition. This project aims to determine the effects of beneficial soil fungi on wheat and rice grain quality for human nutrition using an innovative combination of physiological, molecular and agronomic techniques. The project expects to generate fundamental knowledge in sustainable agriculture, to improve grain quality and value. Expected outcomes of this project include enhanced understanding of the mechanisms underlying improve ....Maximising the beneficial impacts of mycorrhizal fungi on grain nutrition. This project aims to determine the effects of beneficial soil fungi on wheat and rice grain quality for human nutrition using an innovative combination of physiological, molecular and agronomic techniques. The project expects to generate fundamental knowledge in sustainable agriculture, to improve grain quality and value. Expected outcomes of this project include enhanced understanding of the mechanisms underlying improved grain quality, and the capacity to use soil fungi to increase grain micronutrient concentrations and bioavailability. This should provide significant environmental and societal benefits, such as promotion of the sustainable use of agricultural soils and more nutritious grain products for human consumption.Read moreRead less
Investigating a novel signalling pathway for crop improvement. This project will dissect a newly identified signalling pathway in plants that regulates plant water use and carbon gain. It will deploy multiple techniques, including novel biosensors, to understand the links between the metabolism of plants and their environmental responses. The project will build partnerships with scientists at leading international institutions for enhanced outcomes, including access to specialised equipment and ....Investigating a novel signalling pathway for crop improvement. This project will dissect a newly identified signalling pathway in plants that regulates plant water use and carbon gain. It will deploy multiple techniques, including novel biosensors, to understand the links between the metabolism of plants and their environmental responses. The project will build partnerships with scientists at leading international institutions for enhanced outcomes, including access to specialised equipment and upskilling of our scientists. The generation of barley with the latest gene editing techniques aims to produce a non-GM crop with the potential for enhanced root C sequestration, lower water use and improved yield, three key goals for agricultural sustainability in the face of a drying Australian climate.Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Training Centres - Grant ID: IC170100008
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$4,459,672.00
Summary
ARC Training Centre for Innovative Wine Production. The ARC Training Centre for Innovative Wine Production aims to tackle challenges to wine production through innovative, multi-disciplinary research. Australia’s grape and wine industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, yet in some areas profitability is low. Reasons include extreme weather events, soil salinity and diseases, inefficient practices, a low level of technological innovation and high input costs. New technologies and process effic ....ARC Training Centre for Innovative Wine Production. The ARC Training Centre for Innovative Wine Production aims to tackle challenges to wine production through innovative, multi-disciplinary research. Australia’s grape and wine industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, yet in some areas profitability is low. Reasons include extreme weather events, soil salinity and diseases, inefficient practices, a low level of technological innovation and high input costs. New technologies and process efficiencies developed as part of this project will reduce environmental impact, drive production costs down and profits and employment up. The project will mount a suite of industry-led projects to deliver outcomes to boost Australia’s competitiveness as a supplier of sustainably-produced premium branded wine to the world.Read moreRead less
Developing biotechnology solutions for improving phosphate acquisition in plants using functional genomics in rice. Global supplies of the most currently used phosphate fertilisers are predicted to be exhausted in less than a century. These fertilisers are non-renewable resources based on phosphate rock deposits and their use are key drivers of both plant production costs and environmental damage in Australia and internationally. Using the power of genetic and functional genomics analyses in ric ....Developing biotechnology solutions for improving phosphate acquisition in plants using functional genomics in rice. Global supplies of the most currently used phosphate fertilisers are predicted to be exhausted in less than a century. These fertilisers are non-renewable resources based on phosphate rock deposits and their use are key drivers of both plant production costs and environmental damage in Australia and internationally. Using the power of genetic and functional genomics analyses in rice, this project will reveal key controllers of phosphate acquisition in plants. Hence, novel biotechnology based solutions can be implemented in a variety of cereal crops to aid reduced use of phosphate fertiliser in agriculture and unlock the large phosphate pool not used by plants in soil.Read moreRead less
Root aquaporins as sensors and regulators of plant water transport. The knowledge we will gain will benefit Australia by allowing better management of plant water use. Because such large quantities of water move through aquaporins in membranes, our understanding of the pores could enable us to manipulate plants to conserve or use water depending on predicted climatic conditions. Molecular aspects of the project will reveal potential novel ways of controlling root water uptake by shoot and root m ....Root aquaporins as sensors and regulators of plant water transport. The knowledge we will gain will benefit Australia by allowing better management of plant water use. Because such large quantities of water move through aquaporins in membranes, our understanding of the pores could enable us to manipulate plants to conserve or use water depending on predicted climatic conditions. Molecular aspects of the project will reveal potential novel ways of controlling root water uptake by shoot and root manipulation. High calibre PhD and Honours students will also be educated to maintain the momentum of international excellence within Australia in the field of plant water relations.Read moreRead less
Root-to-shoot: modeling the salt stress response of a plant vascular system. Salt and drought are the two major abiotic stresses affecting crop plant health, growth and development. We aim to understand salt and water transport in plants and the physiological effects of soil salinity. Using biophysical models, we will quantify the movement of salt through plant organs, tissues and cells, from root to leaf. We aim to answer the question of how salt moves across the different tissues and major org ....Root-to-shoot: modeling the salt stress response of a plant vascular system. Salt and drought are the two major abiotic stresses affecting crop plant health, growth and development. We aim to understand salt and water transport in plants and the physiological effects of soil salinity. Using biophysical models, we will quantify the movement of salt through plant organs, tissues and cells, from root to leaf. We aim to answer the question of how salt moves across the different tissues and major organs, how salt accumulates in root, leaf and shoot cells, and how movement and accumulation is controlled by the diversity of transport mechanisms operating in plants. We aim to quantify tissue tolerance, osmotic tolerance and ionic tolerance and discover new mechanisms by which plants can stave off the effect of salt stress.Read moreRead less
Global differentiation of the conifer flora. Conifers are among the most widely recognised and well-loved group of plants. This project will place a global perspective on the evolutionary significance of the southern conifers. Furthermore conifers such as the Wollemi Pine, bunyas, kauris and huon pine are of considerable ecotourism value, and this project will provide a basis for interpretation of these important plants.
The role of atmospheric carbon dioxide in fostering hyperdiversity in Australian conifer palaeofloras. Human intervention into atmospheric processes appears to have triggered an excursion in atmospheric CO2 to levels unknown for millennia. Our ability to predict the environmental implications of such a change will play a major role in ameliorating the social and financial impact upon Australia. This project examines the ecology and function of forests that grew under CO2 levels considerably high ....The role of atmospheric carbon dioxide in fostering hyperdiversity in Australian conifer palaeofloras. Human intervention into atmospheric processes appears to have triggered an excursion in atmospheric CO2 to levels unknown for millennia. Our ability to predict the environmental implications of such a change will play a major role in ameliorating the social and financial impact upon Australia. This project examines the ecology and function of forests that grew under CO2 levels considerably higher than present, and will provide an invaluable insight into how future biological systems will function. The evidence produced by this project has potential economic flow-ons, particularly for long-term planning of softwood versus hardwood plantation forestry.Read moreRead less
Development and regulation of thermogenesis in thermoregulating flowers. Flowers of certain primitive plants produce enough heat to raise their temperatures up to 40 C above the air, and regulate it at a nearly constant level. Like warm-blooded mammals, the flowers increase heat production as environmental temperature falls. However, they thermoregulate on a cellular level, unlike mammals with their complex nervous system. We aim to elucidate the mechanisms involved in regulation of heat-prod ....Development and regulation of thermogenesis in thermoregulating flowers. Flowers of certain primitive plants produce enough heat to raise their temperatures up to 40 C above the air, and regulate it at a nearly constant level. Like warm-blooded mammals, the flowers increase heat production as environmental temperature falls. However, they thermoregulate on a cellular level, unlike mammals with their complex nervous system. We aim to elucidate the mechanisms involved in regulation of heat-production, with molecular, biochemical and stable isotope techniques. We will investigate spatial and temporal patterns of gene expression and activity of putative regulatory enzymes. The results will have implications for human physiology and agriculture.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0347746
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$199,000.00
Summary
Circular-dichroism stopped-flow spectrometer for rapid molecular interactions and membrane transport. A stopped-flow spectroscope is requested that can capture the rapid kinetics of changes in conformation of biopolymers, macromolecules and chiral catalysts as they interact with other molecules. This includes measurement of rapid transport of solutes through membrane proteins in lipid membranes. The versatile instrument can also determine circular dichroism spectra of peptides, proteins, tannins ....Circular-dichroism stopped-flow spectrometer for rapid molecular interactions and membrane transport. A stopped-flow spectroscope is requested that can capture the rapid kinetics of changes in conformation of biopolymers, macromolecules and chiral catalysts as they interact with other molecules. This includes measurement of rapid transport of solutes through membrane proteins in lipid membranes. The versatile instrument can also determine circular dichroism spectra of peptides, proteins, tannins, pigment complexes and chiral catalysts that is required within several existing collaborations to understand the tertiary structures, stability and interactions between the complex molecules. The instrument will significantly strengthen research on macromolecules and polymers that have applications in the wine industry, nanotechnology, and biotechnology.Read moreRead less