Plant genetics and gene regulation

Genome content and the regulation of gene expression are crucial for plant development, form & function. At ANU we use molecular genetics to understand gene regulation, epigenetic control processes, evolution and gene/protein function. These approaches are used to study such problems as organ development, plant-pathogen interactions & plant energy biology.

Project Groups
Reading the history of mutations in individual plants Lanfear Group - Mutation, molecular evolution and phylogenetics
Abiotic stress signalling, developmental programming and plant adaptation Masle Group - Environmental sensing, systemic signalling and development: plant resilience to drought and changing climate
Agrochemical control of stress signalling pathways for enhanced stress tolerance Chan Group - Plant Organelle and Cellular Signalling
Bioinformatics and gene discovery in wheat rust pathogens Rathjen Group - Plant immunity
C4 Rice Project
  • Furbank Group – Improving photosynthesis and crop yield
  • von Caemmerer Group - CO2 fixation and water loss of leaves
  • Can seedling screens of energy use efficiency in wheat transfer to yield in the field?
  • Borevitz Group - Plant genomics for climate adaption
  • Pogson Group - Chloroplast to nuclear signalling: light, drought and carotenoids
  • Atkin Group - Plant respiration in a changing world
  • Carotenoid derivatives as chloroplast signals Pogson Group - Chloroplast to nuclear signalling: light, drought and carotenoids
    Characterizing the mRNA-protein “interactome” of plants Millar Group - Plant microRNA biology and disease resistance
    CO2 acquisition by cyanobacteria and plants, & Synthetic Biology strategies for transplanting cyanobacterial CO2 Concentrating mechanism parts in crop plants
  • Price Group - The cyanobacterial CO2 concentrating mechanism and the use of synthetic biology to transfer it to C3 crop plants
  • von Caemmerer Group - CO2 fixation and water loss of leaves
  • Control of meristem differentiation and plant architecture in legumes Djordjevic Group - Root architecture, root nodule formation, nitrogen fixation, regulatory peptides, plant development, Rhizobium
    Coordination of chloroplast signals with cellular secondary messengers during abiotic and biotic stresses Chan Group - Plant Organelle and Cellular Signalling
    Decrypting chloroplast signalling networks in C4 photosynthesis at cell type-resolution
  • Furbank Group – Improving photosynthesis and crop yield
  • Chan Group - Plant Organelle and Cellular Signalling
  • Developing molecular tools for functional analysis of microRNA-mediated gene silencing Millar Group - Plant microRNA biology and disease resistance
    Ecology, genetics and physiology of animal-plant interactions Foley Group - Animal-Plant interactions
    Energy use and the plant canopy - measuring local respiration trends.
  • Atkin Group - Plant respiration in a changing world
  • Borevitz Group - Plant genomics for climate adaption
  • Pogson Group - Chloroplast to nuclear signalling: light, drought and carotenoids
  • Engineering microRNA pathways for broad-spectrum plant disease resistance. Millar Group - Plant microRNA biology and disease resistance
    Enhancing carotenoid levels in cereals by esterification Pogson Group - Chloroplast to nuclear signalling: light, drought and carotenoids
    Expression of modified tobacco and foreign Rubiscos in tobacco chloroplasts Whitney Group - Synthetic Photosynthesis - bioengineering enzymes to adjust carbon fixation
    Factors impacting gene silencing efficacy in plants Millar Group - Plant microRNA biology and disease resistance
    Genetics and evolution of variation in chemical defence against herbivores Foley Group - Animal-Plant interactions
    Genetics to improve production of essential oils from Australian trees Foley Group - Animal-Plant interactions
    Genome wide association mapping Borevitz Group - Plant genomics for climate adaption
    How do effector proteins from necrotrophic fungi cause disease in plants Solomon Group - Wheat biosecurity
    Improving nitrogen use efficiency in cereals Atkin Group - Plant respiration in a changing world
    Investigating adaptive genomic variation underlying drought tolerance in Eucalyptus Borevitz Group - Plant genomics for climate adaption
    Investigating the genetic architecture of thermal acclimation of leaf energy metabolism using GWAS
  • Atkin Group - Plant respiration in a changing world
  • Borevitz Group - Plant genomics for climate adaption
  • Landscape genomics Borevitz Group - Plant genomics for climate adaption
    Manipulating CO2 transport with aquaporins to improve photosynthesis Evans Group - Physiology of photosynthesis; interactions with nitrogen
    Mapping the genetic mechanism of plasmodesmata formation and regulation to improve crops Danila Group – Plant cell structure and intercellular communication
    MicroRNA target recognition; the role of the target RNA secondary structure. Millar Group - Plant microRNA biology and disease resistance
    Novel small molecule regulators of animal development Djordjevic Group - Root architecture, root nodule formation, nitrogen fixation, regulatory peptides, plant development, Rhizobium
    Optimising energy use efficiency to increase wheat yield Pogson Group - Chloroplast to nuclear signalling: light, drought and carotenoids
    Overcoming limitations in engineering the Rubisco small subunits in higher plant chloroplasts. Whitney Group - Synthetic Photosynthesis - bioengineering enzymes to adjust carbon fixation
    Pest resistance and sustainable plantation management of eucalypts Foley Group - Animal-Plant interactions
    Protein function in plant immunity Rathjen Group - Plant immunity
    Regulation of chloroplast function via alternative splicing in the nucleus Chan Group - Plant Organelle and Cellular Signalling
    Rust resistance in Australian Myrtaceae Foley Group - Animal-Plant interactions
    Student opportunites in the phenomic analysis of CO2 acquisition by cyanobacteria Price Group - The cyanobacterial CO2 concentrating mechanism and the use of synthetic biology to transfer it to C3 crop plants
    Student opportunities in molecular analysis of CO2 acquisition by cyanobacteria Price Group - The cyanobacterial CO2 concentrating mechanism and the use of synthetic biology to transfer it to C3 crop plants
    Student projects - additional topics for the future Atkin Group - Plant respiration in a changing world
    The role of RNA binding proteins in post-transcriptional gene regulation and plant biology. Millar Group - Plant microRNA biology and disease resistance
    Understanding the role of peptide hormones in determining root architecture Djordjevic Group - Root architecture, root nodule formation, nitrogen fixation, regulatory peptides, plant development, Rhizobium
    What are novel mechanisms for regulating transcription, RNA turnover and protein translation Pogson Group - Chloroplast to nuclear signalling: light, drought and carotenoids
    Wheat immunity and applied synthetic biology Rathjen Group - Plant immunity