Dr Caitlin Byrt, at the University of Adelaide has received Future Fellowship funding to decipher how plants control water and salt co-transport.
Her project aims to increase understanding of how plant cells regulate solute transport.
Crop growth depends on water uptake and transport, and the rapid movement of water across plant cell membranes requires transporters such as aquaporins. Preliminary data suggests aquaporins switch between functioning as highly selective water channels and salt transport channels. The project aims to uncover the molecular pathways that regulate this, and could lead to crop plants with enhance productivity and yield in saline and water-limited environments.
Dr Michael Considine, also a recipient of an ARC Future Fellowship, will join PEB’s University of Western Australia node to study developmental functions of oxygen and redox cues in plants.
Meristems, being the growing tips of plants, are a fundamental unit of plant growth and productivity. Dr Considine’s project aims to transform understanding of the regulation of meristem functions and develop new knowledge of how plants integrate changes in the environment to regulate meristem activity. This knowledge will underpin the development of new strategies to optimise crop management and productivity, improve the efficiency of inputs, and reduce the risk of decision making in crop production.
2018 ARC major funding was announced today by Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham.