Host-microbe biology

Several groups in RSB, spanning all three Divisions, work on topics at the interface between microbes and their host. The School has expertise in both plant and animal hosts, pathogenic, parasitic and symbiotic microbes and projects investigating host-microbe interactions at the genomic, cellular, organismal and ecological level. Fundamental knowledge about the interactions between microbes and their hosts is critical for understanding natural ecosystems and their evolution, improving plant biomass for food production and development of vaccines and drugs for the treatment of infectious diseases.

 

Project Groups
ANU team for Australasian Synthetic Biology Challenge 2021
ANU International applicants for PhDs in Biomedical Science and Biochemistry
Ascochyta blight of chickpea
Australian native truffle diversity
BeePocalypse Now: How the arrival of parasitic bee mites will change Australia's ecosystem and agriculture
Bioinformatics and gene discovery in wheat rust pathogens
Caenorhabditis elegans as a potential animal model to study host-pathogen interactions
Cell specific activation of plant hormones
Cellular adaptations that allow the transmission and survival of Plasmodium falciparum when taken up by the mosquito
Delivery of virulence proteins by fungal rust pathogens
Dissecting the defence responses activated by tomato receptors able to detect Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici infection
Effector delivery by fungal rust pathogens
Engineering microRNA pathways for broad-spectrum plant disease resistance.
Environmental risk assessment of genetically modified Alfalfa mosaic virus resistant white clover (Trifolium repens L.)
Erythrocyte membrane modifications during malaria infection
Evolution of scald and net form of net blotch
Factors affecting Perigord truffle production in Australia
Flavonoid functions in nitrogen-fixing symbioses
Function of molecular chaperones in the export and display of parasite proteins
Functional characterisation of the flax rust fungus AvrP and AvrL2 effector proteins
Fungal bioinformatics
How do effector proteins from necrotrophic fungi cause disease in wheat
How does pfCRT confer drug resistance to malaria?
Identification and functional characterisation of flax rust effectors
Identification and functional characterisation of the Fusarium oxysporum Avr7 effector gene.
Identification of signal transduction and accessory protein requirements for resistance responses mediated by the tomato I gene for Fusarium wilt resistance.
Ion homeostasis in the malaria parasite
Laboratory overview
Microbial control of root developmental plasticity
Molecular tools to reveal protein function and identify drug targets
New molecular targets for drugs to treat human and animal nematode parasites
Novel nutrient/metabolite transporters in apicomplexan parasites
Nutrient acquisition in apicomplexan parasites
Phytophthora cell wall degrading enzymes
Phytophthora pathogenicity
Phytophthora zoospore adhesion
Phytophthora zoospore motility
Protein function in plant immunity
Quorum sensing signalling in root symbioses
Rust resistance in Australian Myrtaceae
Serotype-converting bacteriophages and O-antigen modification in Shigella flexneri
Shigella virulence and vaccine development
Speciation in co-evolved taxa: sexually-deceptive orchids and their mycorrhizal symbionts
Structural basis of drug resistance in the Malaria parasite
SynBio enabled biosensors
Synthetic biology to engineer novel disease resistance in cereal crops
Targeting ion transport in apicomplexan parasites with new generation antimalarials
The biology of the mitochondrion of apicomplexan parasites
The molecular basis for plant susceptibility and immunity to Fusarium wilt disease
Uncovering the hare microbiome
Use of a tobacco Pathogenesis-related Protein-5 (PR-5) promoter: β glucuronidase (GUS) reporter system to study plant defence activation in response to phytohormones, abiotic stresses and biotic inducers.
Vitamin utilisation by malaria parasites
Wheat immunity and applied synthetic biology