Molecular and genetic analysis of epigenetic components in a model plant. Australia is a major exporter of agricultural food crops thus producers must maintain their competitive advantage in order to compete on the world stage. Food crops unfortunately have large, complex genomes that are not sequenced and a generation time of months that makes research outcomes slow to achieve. This project proposes to utilise a model plant that has a small completely sequenced genome and a short generation tim ....Molecular and genetic analysis of epigenetic components in a model plant. Australia is a major exporter of agricultural food crops thus producers must maintain their competitive advantage in order to compete on the world stage. Food crops unfortunately have large, complex genomes that are not sequenced and a generation time of months that makes research outcomes slow to achieve. This project proposes to utilise a model plant that has a small completely sequenced genome and a short generation time making it ideal to study the fundamental biological process of RNA silencing. Discoveries and outcomes from this project may have the potential to benefit Australian crops, ecosystems and human health.Read moreRead less
Teaching reading in Australia: An historical investigation of early reading pedagogy, the figure of the teacher and literacy education. This project will make a distinctive national and international contribution to reading pedagogy and literacy research by reconceptualising debates about the teacher of reading and establishing an historical foundation for the study of reading pedagogy in teacher education and professional development practices. Teacher education, already a site of national conc ....Teaching reading in Australia: An historical investigation of early reading pedagogy, the figure of the teacher and literacy education. This project will make a distinctive national and international contribution to reading pedagogy and literacy research by reconceptualising debates about the teacher of reading and establishing an historical foundation for the study of reading pedagogy in teacher education and professional development practices. Teacher education, already a site of national concern, will be reinvigorated by new insights and frameworks for training through access by teacher educators to the corpus of data on a website and through publications and conference presentations that will provide a new vision of the complex processes involved in teaching reading.Read moreRead less
Endosymbiotic DNA transfer. Interorganellar DNA movement is a major force in evolution. In higher organisms, the prokaryotic ancestors of mitochondria and chloroplasts donated many genes to the nucleus. Plants have unique potential in studies of the mechanisms that have driven genome evolution. We established experimentally that DNA moves from the chloroplast to the nucleus at high frequency and this provided us with a world lead in this scientifically new area. The relocated genes contribute to ....Endosymbiotic DNA transfer. Interorganellar DNA movement is a major force in evolution. In higher organisms, the prokaryotic ancestors of mitochondria and chloroplasts donated many genes to the nucleus. Plants have unique potential in studies of the mechanisms that have driven genome evolution. We established experimentally that DNA moves from the chloroplast to the nucleus at high frequency and this provided us with a world lead in this scientifically new area. The relocated genes contribute to the number and diversity of genes and gene function. Genetically manipulated (GM) crops use the chloroplast compartment to make high levels of protein, necessitating a full understanding of how transgenes behave within the cellular and the external environment.Read moreRead less
Trafficking of DNA between chloroplast and nucleus in higher plants. Reliably high levels of diverse proteins can be produced in plant chloroplasts. Environmental risks are considered low for chloroplast genes because they are not transmitted by pollen. However, we recently discovered that DNA escapes from the tobacco chloroplast to the nucleus with unexpectedly high frequency. The associated environmental risks require immediate investigation. This project will determine the fate of chloroplast ....Trafficking of DNA between chloroplast and nucleus in higher plants. Reliably high levels of diverse proteins can be produced in plant chloroplasts. Environmental risks are considered low for chloroplast genes because they are not transmitted by pollen. However, we recently discovered that DNA escapes from the tobacco chloroplast to the nucleus with unexpectedly high frequency. The associated environmental risks require immediate investigation. This project will determine the fate of chloroplast DNA that has moved to the nuclear genome and gain insight into the evolutionary and environmental consequences of chloroplast DNA escape. The ubiquity of DNA escape also will be studied in an edible crop with a small genome, tomato.Read moreRead less
Cyberkids and cyberworlds: new literacies, identities and communities in formation. Little is known of the online cyberworlds of young Australians. Yet they are the highest users of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). This project theorises that these cyberworlds are sites for the development of new forms of literacy, identity and community. This study will achieve a new perspective by utilising a multi-disciplinary approach to produce case studies that examine new literacies an ....Cyberkids and cyberworlds: new literacies, identities and communities in formation. Little is known of the online cyberworlds of young Australians. Yet they are the highest users of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). This project theorises that these cyberworlds are sites for the development of new forms of literacy, identity and community. This study will achieve a new perspective by utilising a multi-disciplinary approach to produce case studies that examine new literacies and communities generated online and their consequences for literacy and ICT education practice. Such information is vital in Australia and internationally if education is to produce the highly technologically literate citizens on whom future economic prosperity depends.Read moreRead less
Analysis of interorganellar transposition of DNA. The movement of DNA between organelles is a major driving force in the eukaryotic evolution. In yeast about 75% of all nuclear genes may derive from protomitochondria. Though DNA transfer per se continues in all higher cells, including mammals, in most species the functional transfer of genes has stopped. It continues at a high rate in plants, giving them unique potential in evolutionary studies of the genome. We established experimentally that D ....Analysis of interorganellar transposition of DNA. The movement of DNA between organelles is a major driving force in the eukaryotic evolution. In yeast about 75% of all nuclear genes may derive from protomitochondria. Though DNA transfer per se continues in all higher cells, including mammals, in most species the functional transfer of genes has stopped. It continues at a high rate in plants, giving them unique potential in evolutionary studies of the genome. We established experimentally that DNA moves frequently from the plastid (chloroplast) to the nucleus. We now aim to measure the frequency of DNA transposition from the plastid to the mitochondrion. If transposition is sufficiently frequent, the approach can be used to transformation the mitochondrial genome.Read moreRead less
Burnt out and worn out or engaged and energised? Exploring the antecedents and consequences of burnout and engagement in drug-treatment specialists. This project will have significant social benefits in regard to the health and well being of workers in the health and human services sector. The results and outcomes of this project will contribute to the National Research Priority of "Promoting and Maintaining Good Health" by (1) contributing to the design of workplace interventions to facilitate ....Burnt out and worn out or engaged and energised? Exploring the antecedents and consequences of burnout and engagement in drug-treatment specialists. This project will have significant social benefits in regard to the health and well being of workers in the health and human services sector. The results and outcomes of this project will contribute to the National Research Priority of "Promoting and Maintaining Good Health" by (1) contributing to the design of workplace interventions to facilitate health and wellbeing in the workplace, (2) contributing to the policies designed to address problems with worker retention in the AOD workforce, and (3) contributing to the development of strategies and interventions which are likely to benefit a key disadvantage group - individuals with alcohol or other drug problems.Read moreRead less
The molecular basis of endosymbiotic evolution. First: Timmis has a 20 year, pioneering reputation in this research area which has recently emerged as a major focus in evolutionary genetics, genomics and GM crop technology. Four years of recent ARC funding has enabled us to remain internationally competitive and significant papers and collaborative reviews in high-impact journals have resulted, to the benefit of Australia's reputation in biolological science. Second: our recent results have caus ....The molecular basis of endosymbiotic evolution. First: Timmis has a 20 year, pioneering reputation in this research area which has recently emerged as a major focus in evolutionary genetics, genomics and GM crop technology. Four years of recent ARC funding has enabled us to remain internationally competitive and significant papers and collaborative reviews in high-impact journals have resulted, to the benefit of Australia's reputation in biolological science. Second: our recent results have caused major debate about containment of GM crops. The knowledge gained from this research will provide essential information to ensure against environmental and human problems associated with transgene escape from GM crops into wild species.Read moreRead less
Understanding marine biodiversity across vast spatial scales. Large-scale studies of biodiversity are frequently recommended by ecologists, but their costs are prohibitive. More efficient, yet accurate, sampling and analytical procedures are needed. This proposal will provide new quantitative knowledge on patterns of diversity of marine species (fish & invertebrates) from local to regional scales across southern Australia and northern New Zealand. An innovative feature of this research is the c ....Understanding marine biodiversity across vast spatial scales. Large-scale studies of biodiversity are frequently recommended by ecologists, but their costs are prohibitive. More efficient, yet accurate, sampling and analytical procedures are needed. This proposal will provide new quantitative knowledge on patterns of diversity of marine species (fish & invertebrates) from local to regional scales across southern Australia and northern New Zealand. An innovative feature of this research is the contribution of new ecological information with novel analytical procedures to identify the consequences of using more cost-effective techniques on quantifying patterns of biodiversity. This understanding is fundamental to the on-going advancement of ecology and conservation biology.Read moreRead less
Cyclostome bryozoans: Their use as paleoceanographic, paleoclimatologic and paleoenvironmental proxies throughout the cenozoic of southern Australia. The unravelling of ocean evolution relies largely on data from fossils - geochemical proxies of ancient oceans. Southern Australia contains an inrivalled 45 million-year old record of cool-water carbonate sedimentation and thus global paleoceanography. Currently, the only proxies available in these extensive sediments are brachiopods and planktic f ....Cyclostome bryozoans: Their use as paleoceanographic, paleoclimatologic and paleoenvironmental proxies throughout the cenozoic of southern Australia. The unravelling of ocean evolution relies largely on data from fossils - geochemical proxies of ancient oceans. Southern Australia contains an inrivalled 45 million-year old record of cool-water carbonate sedimentation and thus global paleoceanography. Currently, the only proxies available in these extensive sediments are brachiopods and planktic foraminfers. However, these sediments contain prolific low-magnesium calcite bryozoans, particularly cyclostomes, that could be used instead. This research will assess such bryozoans and test their usefulness and reliability, utilising existing extensive modern marine and Tertiary samples, data bases and sections. Such potential proxies would be globally useful for limestones from the last 500My.Read moreRead less