An international research team has found they can increase corn productivity by targeting the enzyme in charge of capturing CO2 from the atmosphere.
Scientists at ANU have engineered tiny carbon-capturing engines from blue-green algae into plants, in a breakthrough that promises to help boost the yields of important food crops such as wheat, cowpeas and cassava.
The ANU and CSIRO will set up a new farming innovation centre at ANU to advance research, education and technology in farming and global food production, thanks to more than $1 million in new funding commitments.
Simon Williams uses protein biochemistry and structural biology approaches to understand how plant pathogens cause disease and how the plant immune system prevents infection.
Fungal phytopathogens secrete a litany of molecules during their infection of a plant host, including virulence factors like effector proteins. Secreted virulence factors function in the apoplast of host tissues or are trafficked into host cells.
With half a million species and representing a billion years of evolution, a better understanding of the green plant tree of life is crucial for the survival of humankind.
Phloem is the vascular tissue in plants - responsible for transporting sugars from source to sink. It is well established that osmotic currents drive the flow of sap through phloem vessels.