Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100066
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$362,000.00
Summary
Uncovering how rust fungi cause devastating plant diseases. This project aims to generate a new understanding of how rust fungi infect plant cells using single-cell sequencing technologies and data-driven investigations. This project expects to discover conserved rust infection strategies and the first characterisations of mechanisms that transfer virulence proteins from the fungus to the plant. Innovations and new knowledge from this project will be of high-impact and of benefit to the Australi ....Uncovering how rust fungi cause devastating plant diseases. This project aims to generate a new understanding of how rust fungi infect plant cells using single-cell sequencing technologies and data-driven investigations. This project expects to discover conserved rust infection strategies and the first characterisations of mechanisms that transfer virulence proteins from the fungus to the plant. Innovations and new knowledge from this project will be of high-impact and of benefit to the Australian and international community through knowledge discovery about conserved rust infection mechanisms. This project expects to deliver strategies for effective rust disease management that will in the future lessen the impact of rust diseases on agriculture and natural ecosystems in Australia.Read moreRead less
Factors causing wheat stripe rust epidemics. This project aims to tackle wheat stripe rust, one of the most important fungal diseases of wheat in Australia, causing losses of up to $125 million a year. This project expects to gain insights into the fungal evolution and the molecular mechanism that causes hyper-virulent pathogen isolates. The expected outcome is to identify and characterise multiple genetic factors in the pathogen that contribute to wheat stripe rust epidemics in Australia. This ....Factors causing wheat stripe rust epidemics. This project aims to tackle wheat stripe rust, one of the most important fungal diseases of wheat in Australia, causing losses of up to $125 million a year. This project expects to gain insights into the fungal evolution and the molecular mechanism that causes hyper-virulent pathogen isolates. The expected outcome is to identify and characterise multiple genetic factors in the pathogen that contribute to wheat stripe rust epidemics in Australia. This project will contribute to improved disease management strategies to contain wheat stripe rust, resulting in higher wheat yields, reduced application of fungicides and increased revenue for Australian wheat farmers.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101897
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$341,000.00
Summary
The Evolution of stripe rust virulence. Fungal crop pathogen epidemics lead to severe yield losses worldwide, impact national economies and individual human lives. Wheat stripe rust fungal epidemics caused by new virulent races can lead to 80 per cent reduction in yield. This project aims to investigate the molecular mechanisms leading to newly virulent races by whole genome, epigenome and transcriptome comparison of several wheat stripe rust races. This project aims to fundamentally advance our ....The Evolution of stripe rust virulence. Fungal crop pathogen epidemics lead to severe yield losses worldwide, impact national economies and individual human lives. Wheat stripe rust fungal epidemics caused by new virulent races can lead to 80 per cent reduction in yield. This project aims to investigate the molecular mechanisms leading to newly virulent races by whole genome, epigenome and transcriptome comparison of several wheat stripe rust races. This project aims to fundamentally advance our understanding of evolutionary forces driving virulence and specification at the whole (epi-)genome level in important fungal crop pathogens. This will promote new crop protection strategies important for local and global food security in an ever-changing environment.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100151
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
Enhancing resistance to wheat stripe rust disease. This project aims to investigate why wheat succumbs to stripe rust fungus, a grave threat to global wheat production. Wheat is the primary agricultural and revenue crop of Australia, cultivated since early European settlement. Severe disease epidemics arise when the fast evolving rust pathogen breaks down host plant genetic resistance. This project will investigate the molecular mechanisms of host-pathogen recognition and the consequences of pat ....Enhancing resistance to wheat stripe rust disease. This project aims to investigate why wheat succumbs to stripe rust fungus, a grave threat to global wheat production. Wheat is the primary agricultural and revenue crop of Australia, cultivated since early European settlement. Severe disease epidemics arise when the fast evolving rust pathogen breaks down host plant genetic resistance. This project will investigate the molecular mechanisms of host-pathogen recognition and the consequences of pathogen variation to determine the causes of resistance breakdown. The expected outcome is robust rust-resistant wheat cultivars to maintain global food security.Read moreRead less
Protein trafficking pathways in fungal rust pathogens of plants. This project aims to investigate protein trafficking pathways in fungal rusts of plants. These are devastating diseases that cause major losses in agricultural crops including wheat. Little is known of how these fungi form long and intimate relationships with plants to extract their nutrients. Using both model and agriculturally important fungi, the project will try to identify proteins that are transferred within the fungus and to ....Protein trafficking pathways in fungal rust pathogens of plants. This project aims to investigate protein trafficking pathways in fungal rusts of plants. These are devastating diseases that cause major losses in agricultural crops including wheat. Little is known of how these fungi form long and intimate relationships with plants to extract their nutrients. Using both model and agriculturally important fungi, the project will try to identify proteins that are transferred within the fungus and to the plant host to modify the infection. It will also identify fungal proteins needed to deliver trafficked proteins to plants. These discoveries ultimately may be translated into control strategies for these costly diseases.Read moreRead less
Understanding the molecular basis of fungal rust diseases in plants. This project aims to utilise structural biology, biochemistry and molecular biology approaches to substantially deepen our understanding of rust fungi-plant interactions. Fungal rust pathogens cause disease and significant yield losses in our most important food crops. During colonisation, rust fungi utilise secreted effector proteins to cause plant disease. Effectors can also be recognised by plant immunity receptors, leading ....Understanding the molecular basis of fungal rust diseases in plants. This project aims to utilise structural biology, biochemistry and molecular biology approaches to substantially deepen our understanding of rust fungi-plant interactions. Fungal rust pathogens cause disease and significant yield losses in our most important food crops. During colonisation, rust fungi utilise secreted effector proteins to cause plant disease. Effectors can also be recognised by plant immunity receptors, leading to resistance. The intended outcome of this work is to generate knowledge that can be used for the development of disease management and engineering strategies to protect plants from rust fungi. This should provide significant benefits to agricultural productivity and global food security.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100323
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$431,000.00
Summary
Synthetic biology to engineer novel disease resistance in cereal crops. This project aims to engineer disease resistance in crops to dangerous fungal pathogens. The strategy is to exploit our knowledge of the plant immune system using structural biology and directed evolution of natural resistance genes, improving their ability to recognise and respond to fungal attack. Fungal pathogens cause some of the most harmful crop diseases in Australia and worldwide. The rapid evolution of fungi overcome ....Synthetic biology to engineer novel disease resistance in cereal crops. This project aims to engineer disease resistance in crops to dangerous fungal pathogens. The strategy is to exploit our knowledge of the plant immune system using structural biology and directed evolution of natural resistance genes, improving their ability to recognise and respond to fungal attack. Fungal pathogens cause some of the most harmful crop diseases in Australia and worldwide. The rapid evolution of fungi overcomes natural plant resistance and management of these diseases is a major challenge to agriculture. Expected outcomes of the project include engineered wheat plants with more effective disease resistance, reducing fungicide usage. This project intends to accelerate crop breeding and contribute to world food security.Read moreRead less