News & events
News
Scientists at the Australian Research Council (ARC) ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis (CoETP) have found that some plants have ten times more communication channels inside their leaves than other plants, which they think is a crucial factor in determining photosynthetic efficiency.
ANU congratulates distinguished scientist and ANU Professor Graham Farquhar AO for being named the 2018 Senior Australian of the Year.
Photosynthesis is an essential biological process that depends on the activity of the enzyme Rubisco which catalyses carbon fixation. Rubisco is slow, inefficient and cannot accurately distinguish between CO2 and O2. ANU researchers have been trying to improve the efficiency of Rubisco in crop plants.
The investigations into carbon fixation and gas exchange by RSBS researchers were essential to the understanding of photosynthesis, and the development of new processes to increase the efficiency of the photosynthetic process in agriculture.
Legumes are an interesting plant to study due to their symbiotic relationship with nitrogen fixing bacteria called Rhizobia, which are housed within specialised root structures called nodules. The work of ANU researchers has been very important for our understanding of symbiosis, nodule formation and nitrogen fixation.
Carboxysomes are polyhedral protein micro-compartments in cyanobacteria which concentrate CO2 and increase the efficiency of carbon fixation. In 1993, RSBS researchers Dean Price, Murray Badger and Susan Howitt determined the genetic sequence encoding for the proteins that form the protein shell of a carboxysome.
Events
Genome structure and maintenance determine the evolvability of organisms. The genomes of fungal plant pathogens are often structured heterogeneously, harboring highly variable compartments and compartments of relative stability.
Eucalyptus trees are widespread across Australia, providing habitat to a rich biodiversity of marsupials, birds and insects, being key foundation species in natural ecosystems.
The efficient photosynthetic capability of marine phytoplankton is key to their significant contribution to global primary production.
Austropuccinia psidii is the fungal pathogen that causes myrtle rust on Myrtaceae hosts. First described on South American guava in 1884, the disease was noted on introduced eucalypt plantations in Brazil in 1912 before spreading globally.
The genebank of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) holds the 2nd largest collection of Barley (Hordeum) species, storing over thirty-two thousand accessions.
Seed germination is a most critical phase in a plant life cycle, particularly under abiotic stress conditions, such as drought or salinity, to which it is especially vulnerable, with severe consequences on productivity