Dr Megan Shelden from The University of Adelaide, together with Professor Stan Miklavcic from the University of South Australia has been successful in securing funding for the project Root-To-Shoot: Modeling the Salt Stress Response of a Plant Vascular System. They aim to answer questions of how salt moves across the different tissues and major organs of plants, how salt accumulates in root, leaf and shoot cells, and how movement and accumulation is controlled by the diversity of transport mechanisms operating in plants.
Professor Jim Whelan from La Trobe University has been awarded funding for an Alternative Oxidase to Optimise Plant Growth and Stress Tolerance study. Plants possess energy conserving and non-conserving respiratory pathways. The research will dissect the mechanisms of how the alternative non-conserving respiratory pathway stimulates growth, from a molecular level to whole plant physiology, answering a long-standing question of the role of the alternative respiratory pathway in plant cell biology.
Professor Justin Borevitz, together with a research team from the Australian National University have been awarded funding for a project Examining drivers of phenotypic evolution in a vulnerable alpine ecosystem. The project aims to deliver a comprehensive, integrated understanding of the capacity for resilience and drivers of response of highly vulnerable alpine species and communities to climate change.
Dr Monika Murcha, from the University of Western Australian and an affiliated researcher to the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, led a successful application for funds for Deciphering organelle transport mechanisms in plants. Their investigation of proteins involved in organelle biogenesis regulation will allow modulation of plant energy production for optimal growth and withstanding of abiotic stress, which will have agriculturally beneficial consequences.
Prof. Ian Small, together with Prof. Charles Bond from the University of Western Australia will be receive funding to examine Mastering pyrimidine editing in RNA. Their project aims to understand two RNA editing pathways in plants, one of which is found nowhere else and likely to involve a novel enzymatic mechanism. The understanding gained will be used to develop novel RNA processing tools usable in any living organism.
Minister for Education Dan Tehan said of the 2020 funding round "The research done by our universities can lead to the development of new products and innovations that drive job growth, business opportunities and productivity gains.”
"This investment will help develop solutions to problems in areas such as health, infrastructure, economics and the environment".