News & events
News
In a new paper published in Nature Plants, we report on a natural secret that could ultimately be used to help plants thrive while using less water.
How do you tell if your plants need water? Recently, I asked this question of a group of about 40 biologists at the Australian National University.
Researchers have discovered why malaria parasites are vulnerable to some drug therapies but resistant to others, offering scientists another piece of the puzzle in the global fight against the disease.
Making good food choices is necessary both for ourselves and for the planet, says plant scientist Professor Justin Borevitz.
While Angus Rae focuses intently on a captivating microscopic world, he is actually working towards a solution for an environmental catastrophe occurring on a global scale.
A new research centre based at ANU will train the next generation of scientists to develop more resilient crops and significantly grow Australia's agricultural sector.
Events
Photosynthesis and leaf respiration are key metabolic processes for plant growth and their carbon exchange with the atmosphere are the largest within the global carbon cycle.
Fungal pathogens are the main causative agents of disease in plants. Fusarium oxysporum is a diverse fungal pathogen able to infect a wide plant host range.
The enzyme Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase (RuBisCO) is responsible for the entry of atmospheric carbon into the biosphere during photosynthesis. Despite this key role, RuBisCO maintains several biochemical shortcomings, making it an attractive target for laboratory protein engineering.
Site-specific C-to-U RNA editing is a hallmark of plant organelle transcript maturation. Up to thousands of specific cytidines are converted into uridines in plant chloroplasts and mitochondria, with no evidence of editing activity in the cytosol.
Photorespiration (PR) is the pathway that detoxifies the product of the oxygenation reaction of Rubisco. It has been hypothesized that in dynamic light environments, PR provides a photoprotective function by serving as a sink for excess ATP and/or reducing equivalents.
The tiny, self-contained genetic system of the chloroplast (or plastid) in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is well suited for genetic engineering and has recently seen a surge in the deployment of synthetic biology approaches.