Defining New Building Blocks for the Construction of Artificial Genetic Circuits. By characterising the components of a natural genetic switch, we will make available a set of well defined genetic building blocks for construction of rationally designed biological circuits. The ability to build such circuits would have significant economic benefit in areas such as metabolic engineering, to improve the efficiency of production of natural compounds from micro-organisms, and in biomedicine, for the ....Defining New Building Blocks for the Construction of Artificial Genetic Circuits. By characterising the components of a natural genetic switch, we will make available a set of well defined genetic building blocks for construction of rationally designed biological circuits. The ability to build such circuits would have significant economic benefit in areas such as metabolic engineering, to improve the efficiency of production of natural compounds from micro-organisms, and in biomedicine, for the controlled release of therapeutic compounds. The involvement of Honours and Ph.D students in this project will expose the next generation of Australian scientists to this emerging discipline. International collaboration leading to publications in high impact scientific journals will enhance Australia's scientific reputation.Read moreRead less
IMPROVING NITROGEN USE EFFICIENCY IN CROP PLANTS: ROLE OF THE AMMONIUM TRANSPORT FAMILY AMT. Improving nitrogen use efficiency in crop plants will reduce the use of environmentally damaging nitrogen fertilisers that threaten through leaching the sustainability of Australia's agricultural sector and local water ecosystems. Plants contain genes that encode transport proteins required for the uptake of nitrogen (ammonium and nitrate) from the soil. We will identify the in planta activity of the A ....IMPROVING NITROGEN USE EFFICIENCY IN CROP PLANTS: ROLE OF THE AMMONIUM TRANSPORT FAMILY AMT. Improving nitrogen use efficiency in crop plants will reduce the use of environmentally damaging nitrogen fertilisers that threaten through leaching the sustainability of Australia's agricultural sector and local water ecosystems. Plants contain genes that encode transport proteins required for the uptake of nitrogen (ammonium and nitrate) from the soil. We will identify the in planta activity of the AMT family of ammonium transporters and associated signalling pathways which control the uptake and assimilation of ammonium in plants. This project will confirm the mechanisms involved in ammonium uptake from the soil and lead to the development of ammonium-nitrogen efficient crop plants.Read moreRead less
A genomic approach to the mechanism of meiotic recombination in Neurospora. Recombination shuffles DNA sequences between homologous chromosomes during the reduction division in the life cycle of higher organisms. Along with mutation, it is a key process in evolution. Understanding of the molecular processes involved in recombination is largely based on yeast, which is intolerant of significant levels of sequence mismatch, limiting the resolution of analyses of normal recombination events. We hav ....A genomic approach to the mechanism of meiotic recombination in Neurospora. Recombination shuffles DNA sequences between homologous chromosomes during the reduction division in the life cycle of higher organisms. Along with mutation, it is a key process in evolution. Understanding of the molecular processes involved in recombination is largely based on yeast, which is intolerant of significant levels of sequence mismatch, limiting the resolution of analyses of normal recombination events. We have shown that Neurospora, like other less tractable multicellular eukaryotes, is tolerant of sequence mismatch, allowing high resolution analysis of individual recombination events. This project will build on fundamental advances we have already made in understanding how recombination occurs.Read moreRead less
The Role Of UPF3B And Nonsense Mediated MRNA Decay Surveillance In The Pathology Of Intellectual Disability.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$789,954.00
Summary
Proper functioning of the nonsense mediated mRNA decay (NMD or 'mRNA police') is crucial for any cell to ensure normal development and function. When NMD is compromised the outcome is learning and memory problems, autism or schizophrenia. Under this project we study malfunctioning NMD using stem and neuronal cells derived from patients' skin cells. Some of the affected genes might be considered for therapeutic interventions. NMD is relevant to 1000s of human disorders and as such it is of fundam ....Proper functioning of the nonsense mediated mRNA decay (NMD or 'mRNA police') is crucial for any cell to ensure normal development and function. When NMD is compromised the outcome is learning and memory problems, autism or schizophrenia. Under this project we study malfunctioning NMD using stem and neuronal cells derived from patients' skin cells. Some of the affected genes might be considered for therapeutic interventions. NMD is relevant to 1000s of human disorders and as such it is of fundamental importance.Read moreRead less
Genetic dissection of a regulatory deubiquitlyation network. The potential impact of this work is widespread, because although it is known that ubiquitlyation has regulatory consequences in multicellular eukaryotes, individual networks have not been completely described in higher eukaryotes. Knowledge gained about fundamental processes in the A. nidulans model system is directly applicable to fungi used in biotechnology in the food, beverage, enzyme and pharmaceutical production industries, and ....Genetic dissection of a regulatory deubiquitlyation network. The potential impact of this work is widespread, because although it is known that ubiquitlyation has regulatory consequences in multicellular eukaryotes, individual networks have not been completely described in higher eukaryotes. Knowledge gained about fundamental processes in the A. nidulans model system is directly applicable to fungi used in biotechnology in the food, beverage, enzyme and pharmaceutical production industries, and to fungal pathogens. Since the fungal genes that form the basis of this project are conserved in higher eukaryotes including humans, the knowledge will be transferable to these systems. A further benefit that cannot be overstated is the research education and training opportunities provided.
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Enzymatic synthesis, microencapsulation and biological evaluation of a new class of omega-3 derived functional food ingredients. Inflammatory mediated diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and Alzheimer's disease are major causes of death in Australia. Rates of these diseases are rising over time, partly due to poor diet including low consumption levels of healthy omega-3 fatty acids from fish. This project aims to develop healthy food ingredients from natu ....Enzymatic synthesis, microencapsulation and biological evaluation of a new class of omega-3 derived functional food ingredients. Inflammatory mediated diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and Alzheimer's disease are major causes of death in Australia. Rates of these diseases are rising over time, partly due to poor diet including low consumption levels of healthy omega-3 fatty acids from fish. This project aims to develop healthy food ingredients from naturally occurring omega-3 fatty acid derivatives that are more stable to oxidation and more biologically active than fish derived omega-3 fatty acids. The development of these omega-3 derivatives as functional food ingredients could provide an additional strategy for helping to prevent the rapid increase in inflammatory mediated diseases in the Australian population.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
Small is beautiful: Did gene-rich regions of mammal chromosomes evolve from microchromosomes? Most birds and reptile genomes feature many tiny microchromosomes. These are not junk, as previously thought, but contain most of the genes. Mammals lack microchromosomes, but contain gene-rich regions with similar attributes. We suggest that microchromosomes originated by genome duplication, and evolved into the gene-rich regions of mammalian chromosomes. We will test this hypothesis by comparing seque ....Small is beautiful: Did gene-rich regions of mammal chromosomes evolve from microchromosomes? Most birds and reptile genomes feature many tiny microchromosomes. These are not junk, as previously thought, but contain most of the genes. Mammals lack microchromosomes, but contain gene-rich regions with similar attributes. We suggest that microchromosomes originated by genome duplication, and evolved into the gene-rich regions of mammalian chromosomes. We will test this hypothesis by comparing sequences and genes in microchromosomes of birds, reptiles and monotremes. This will clarify the origin and evolution of the ?microgenome?, establish its suitability as a model for vertebrate genome organisation, and demonstrate whether microchromosomes are the ancestors of the gene-rich regions of mammalian chromosomes.Read moreRead less
Microgenomics - a tool to dissect effects of salinity on gene expression in specific cell types of Arabidopsis and rice. This project will provide novel, fundamental understanding of the cell type-specific processes involved in salinity tolerance in higher plants. As such, it will impact on our understanding of a range of processes relevant to salinity tolerance, an area of great importance to Australian agriculture and environmental sustainability. The increased understanding arising from this ....Microgenomics - a tool to dissect effects of salinity on gene expression in specific cell types of Arabidopsis and rice. This project will provide novel, fundamental understanding of the cell type-specific processes involved in salinity tolerance in higher plants. As such, it will impact on our understanding of a range of processes relevant to salinity tolerance, an area of great importance to Australian agriculture and environmental sustainability. The increased understanding arising from this project will underpin future work to increase agricultural productivity and the quality of life for all in the Australian and international communities.Read moreRead less
Exploiting novel yeast attributes to produce industrial strains with better fermentative and processing qualities. Food and beverage fermentations are problematic processes, largely due to limitations of the yeast being used. This laboratory has indentified in individual yeast strains highly desirable fermentative characteristics or else the ability to over-produce compounds that benefit product processing. Pursuing the commercial potential of these findings is the specific objective of this pro ....Exploiting novel yeast attributes to produce industrial strains with better fermentative and processing qualities. Food and beverage fermentations are problematic processes, largely due to limitations of the yeast being used. This laboratory has indentified in individual yeast strains highly desirable fermentative characteristics or else the ability to over-produce compounds that benefit product processing. Pursuing the commercial potential of these findings is the specific objective of this proposal. Thus we will extend our collaboration with Coopers Brewery through this new project area with the aims of a) producing optimised, hybrid (non-GMO) strains with combinations of desirable fermentation properties, b) develop novel processing or quality-enhancing treatments while c) generating a high caliber PhD graduate with extensive industry experience.Read moreRead less