Nuclear structure and function in the nucleated planctomycete bacterium Gemmata obscuriglobus: a third cell plan for living organisms? The project will contribute knowledge of how cells such as those of animals and plants evolved from bacterial components. Origins of cell nuclei and pores in nuclear membranes will be studied via the simple eukaryote-like nucleus of the planctomycete Gemmata obscuriglobus, from Australian freshwater. Simple nuclear pore-like structures of G. obscuriglobus will he ....Nuclear structure and function in the nucleated planctomycete bacterium Gemmata obscuriglobus: a third cell plan for living organisms? The project will contribute knowledge of how cells such as those of animals and plants evolved from bacterial components. Origins of cell nuclei and pores in nuclear membranes will be studied via the simple eukaryote-like nucleus of the planctomycete Gemmata obscuriglobus, from Australian freshwater. Simple nuclear pore-like structures of G. obscuriglobus will help understanding nucleus function in animal cells, and such pores will give insight into 'minimal' composition needed for cell nuclei, and allow design of biological nanopores. The origin of the nucleus is a major problem in biology, and an Australian contribution to its solution will achieve international recognition. Read moreRead less
The Origin and Evolution of the Animal Phyla inferred from Analysis of Multiple-Gene Data. Australia has recently begun an extensive research programme in the genomics of our flora and fauna. The enormous amounts of data that emerge from such research are highly complex, but they hold the key to understanding how biological organisms change over time. Our research will untangle that data to answer fundamental, unanswered questions in modern science: How did the animal groups originate? How are ....The Origin and Evolution of the Animal Phyla inferred from Analysis of Multiple-Gene Data. Australia has recently begun an extensive research programme in the genomics of our flora and fauna. The enormous amounts of data that emerge from such research are highly complex, but they hold the key to understanding how biological organisms change over time. Our research will untangle that data to answer fundamental, unanswered questions in modern science: How did the animal groups originate? How are they related to each other? How is biodiversity changing? The answers to these questions and the new analytical tools we will develop will put Australia firmly on the international "map" of Bioinformatics.Read moreRead less
Structural reorganization of the hymenopteran mitochondrial genome. This study will be the first detailed investigation of the evolution of mt genome reorganization, and as such it will identify the processes that shape the evolution of a molecule widely used to interpret phylogeny. A description of the processes that lead to mt genome reorganization will have a substantial impact on our understanding in two areas of mt biology; (1) the discovery of new molecular phenomena that impact on the or ....Structural reorganization of the hymenopteran mitochondrial genome. This study will be the first detailed investigation of the evolution of mt genome reorganization, and as such it will identify the processes that shape the evolution of a molecule widely used to interpret phylogeny. A description of the processes that lead to mt genome reorganization will have a substantial impact on our understanding in two areas of mt biology; (1) the discovery of new molecular phenomena that impact on the organization and evolution of this genome, and (2) the interpretation of its phylogenetic content. It will establish our research group as a leader in the field of evolutionary genetics. Training of high quality students, with exposure to international researchers, will be a significant component of this program.Read moreRead less
Cultivating numerically significant soil bacteria. The vast majority of soil bacteria have not been able to be studied in the laboratory because they cannot be grown outside the soil. They are therefore termed unculturable. Most of these belong to groups that are completely unstudied. Advances made in the Janssen lab have overcome this impediment to laboratory cultivation of numerically abundant and globally distributed soil bacteria. This project will develop these advances to generate simple a ....Cultivating numerically significant soil bacteria. The vast majority of soil bacteria have not been able to be studied in the laboratory because they cannot be grown outside the soil. They are therefore termed unculturable. Most of these belong to groups that are completely unstudied. Advances made in the Janssen lab have overcome this impediment to laboratory cultivation of numerically abundant and globally distributed soil bacteria. This project will develop these advances to generate simple and widely applicable methods to enable many of the previously unculturable soil bacteria to be studied. This will allow assessments of their ecological roles and biotechnological potentials to be made.Read moreRead less
Efficient phylogenetic methods that manage the curse of genomic complexity. This project aims to develop new methods and software to infer the evolutionary history of organisms using genomic data. These new phylogenomic methods need to take account of the complexity of evolutionary processes and/or patterns in time (along the evolutionary tree) and space (along the genome). This project is significant because these methods must merge mathematics and statistics with High-Performance Computing to ....Efficient phylogenetic methods that manage the curse of genomic complexity. This project aims to develop new methods and software to infer the evolutionary history of organisms using genomic data. These new phylogenomic methods need to take account of the complexity of evolutionary processes and/or patterns in time (along the evolutionary tree) and space (along the genome). This project is significant because these methods must merge mathematics and statistics with High-Performance Computing to handle the huge quantities of genetic data and the complexity of evolution itself. An important expected outcome of this project will be the development and release of freely-available software that incorporates these new methods. This project expects to benefit scientists who need to infer phylogenies from genomic data. Read moreRead less
New Molecular Approaches to Comparative Phylogeography. Funds are requested to gather data to test new molecular and analytical approaches in the field of molecular phylogeography. We will generate phylogeographic hypotheses from mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA for six species and evaluate the utility of microsatellite data for the reconstruction of phylogeographic history. We will borrow powerful analytical techniques from the field of evolutionary ecology and use them in a completely nove ....New Molecular Approaches to Comparative Phylogeography. Funds are requested to gather data to test new molecular and analytical approaches in the field of molecular phylogeography. We will generate phylogeographic hypotheses from mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA for six species and evaluate the utility of microsatellite data for the reconstruction of phylogeographic history. We will borrow powerful analytical techniques from the field of evolutionary ecology and use them in a completely novel way to test hypotheses of microsatellite diversity. Our research is inter-disciplinary in that we will bridge the gap between molecular phylogenetics and molecular evolution and in so doing make a major advancement in this emerging field.Read moreRead less
Evolutionary, macroecological and phylogenetic patterns in Australasian freshwater crayfish. This project connects Australian systematists to a worldwide project that involves all of the world's living experts on freshwater crayfish evolution in a coordinated effort to answer some very important evolutionary questions. It involves a group of invertebrate animals that are not only readily recognisable, but which in Australia includes the world's largest and the world's most terrestrial crayfish s ....Evolutionary, macroecological and phylogenetic patterns in Australasian freshwater crayfish. This project connects Australian systematists to a worldwide project that involves all of the world's living experts on freshwater crayfish evolution in a coordinated effort to answer some very important evolutionary questions. It involves a group of invertebrate animals that are not only readily recognisable, but which in Australia includes the world's largest and the world's most terrestrial crayfish species. Information gained from the project will contribute to the management of crayfish biodiversity, identification of threatened species and tools to identify these prominent and important members of Australian freshwater ecosystems.Read moreRead less
Developing biogeographic know-how: Improving species divergence and dispersal estimations to examine geological and climatic evolutionary drivers. Anthropogenic activity over the last 150 years is now dramatically changing our global climate and ecosystems. The impact on biodiversity is already evident, and large-scale floral and faunal extinctions are predicted. This study unites a cohort of international experts in an interdisciplinary team to develop new molecular and mathematical methods to ....Developing biogeographic know-how: Improving species divergence and dispersal estimations to examine geological and climatic evolutionary drivers. Anthropogenic activity over the last 150 years is now dramatically changing our global climate and ecosystems. The impact on biodiversity is already evident, and large-scale floral and faunal extinctions are predicted. This study unites a cohort of international experts in an interdisciplinary team to develop new molecular and mathematical methods to expand our fundamental knowledge on how geological and global climate change have affected our world's species components and ecosystems in the past. This research is of environmental significance and global importance as it will improve our ability to predict how species behave under future predicted climate scenarios.Read moreRead less
The evolution of bacterial pathogenesis: a genomic approach. The outcome of this research will be a better understanding of the genes involved with adaptation to particular pathogenic lifestyles. Specifically, genes that are rapidly evolving in selected bacterial pathogens of medical and veterinary importance will be identified using a bioinformatics approach that exploits the existence of multiple closely-related genome sequences. Such genes encode potential new targets for therapeutic interv ....The evolution of bacterial pathogenesis: a genomic approach. The outcome of this research will be a better understanding of the genes involved with adaptation to particular pathogenic lifestyles. Specifically, genes that are rapidly evolving in selected bacterial pathogens of medical and veterinary importance will be identified using a bioinformatics approach that exploits the existence of multiple closely-related genome sequences. Such genes encode potential new targets for therapeutic intervention that provide alternatives in the face of emerging antibiotic resistance. Importantly, the methodology developed in this project is broadly applicable to the study of evolution of bacterial pathogenesis in any background: medical, agricultural or horticultural.Read moreRead less
Was there an unusual environment with equally remarkable inhabitants in Early Cretaceous southeast Australia? After more than two decades of effort, there is strong evidence that Early Cretaceous southeastern Australia was inhabited by a remarkably diverse polar terrestrial vertebrate fauna adapted to the coldest environment known to have existed anywhere in the late Mesozoic. In this unusual terrestrial habitat for that time, temnospondyl amphibians and allosaurid dinosaurs survived long ....Was there an unusual environment with equally remarkable inhabitants in Early Cretaceous southeast Australia? After more than two decades of effort, there is strong evidence that Early Cretaceous southeastern Australia was inhabited by a remarkably diverse polar terrestrial vertebrate fauna adapted to the coldest environment known to have existed anywhere in the late Mesozoic. In this unusual terrestrial habitat for that time, temnospondyl amphibians and allosaurid dinosaurs survived long after becoming extinct elsewhere. Here, too, are found what may be the oldest known and yet remarkably advanced placental mammals, the group to which we belong. To further corroborate or refute these hypotheses, some of which are highly contentious, is the aim of this project.Read moreRead less