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Introduction by Head of School
I hope you find this fifth issue of MAGO interesting. It features Bernie Carroll and his team's intriguing research on Genetic signaling between roots and shoots in plants. We also introduce Mark Turner, our newest member of academic staff, while Jacqueline Batley and Gary Dorr tell us what they achieved during their visit to China on the Chinese-Australian Young Scientist Exchange.
Regards |
In this issue
Introduction by Head of School Chinese-Australian Young Scientist Exchange To obtain a hard copy, use the print version which will print out on A4 paper in portrait mode. |
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Introducing Bernie Carroll, Associate Professor in Molecular Genetics and his team
Genetic signalling between roots and shoots in plants Until about ten years ago, the sole role of RNA was thought to be as a messenger in decoding the blueprint of genes into proteins and other structural components of cells and organisms. However, another fundamentally important role for RNA was then discovered, and the process is called RNA interference or RNAi. Plants and animals use the RNAi machinery to defend themselves against viruses, and also to switch their own genes on and off as they grow and develop.
Genes are not expressed equally in every part of our bodies, and they are only turned on where they are needed. Similarly, different sets of genes are required to build roots versus leaves versus flowers. Furthermore, some genes need to be turned on (or "expressed") at a high volume, whereas others need to be expressed at a low volume or not at all, depending on the tissue. In addition to providing protection against viruses, RNAi plays a fundamental role in orchestrating all plant and animal genes to be turned at the right time, in the right tissue and at the right volume.
Even more fascinating in at least plants and worms, RNAi signals can be transmitted from one tissue to another, where they switch off (silence) or regulate the volume of expression of genes. Researchers in Bernie Carroll's laboratory have been using a Green Florescence Protein from jellyfish to study the mechanism of long-distance transmission of RNAi signals in genetically-engineered plants. Chris Brosnan, a PhD student initially, and now a postdoctoral fellow in the Carroll laboratory, has been responsible for much of the research. Dr Neena Mitter and PhD student Michael Christie also made valuable contributions. As seen by the red tissue in the attached photograph, RNAi initiated in roots can be seen to move into newly formed tissues in shoots to silence the Green Florescence Protein. The research has shown that a mobile RNAi signal transmitted from roots is recognized in nuclei of the shoot apex to induce multiple forms of gene silencing. This discovery has just been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. The work was conceived and initiated at the University of Queensland but developed into a collaboration with Dr Peter Waterhouse, CSIRO Plant Industry, Canberra.
The newly-discovered signaling pathway may be of critical importance to how shoots and roots communicate to coordinate plant growth and development, and how plants defend themselves against viruses. Long-distance RNAi signaling has not yet been demonstrated in mammals (including humans and the major livestock species), but several of the key genes we discovered to be involved in plants, do have mammalian counterparts. |
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Mark's current research interests include fundamental structure and function studies of genes/proteins as well as applications of food and probiotic LAB. These include the cheese fermentation starter bacterium Lactococcus in which he is studying stress responses. He has developed a number of systems for the expression, secretion and surface display of interesting heterologous proteins including antimicrobial enzymes and vaccine antigens by LAB. These genetically engineered strains may have uses in infectious disease prevention and control of pathogens in foods. If he offers you some cheese or yoghurt perhaps you'd better think twice before accepting.
Outside of work Mark keeps busy by chasing around after his one year old son and struggling with a golf handicap of 12. Mark would like to thank the staff and students within LCAFS for giving him a very warm welcome to the school. |
Mark joined LCAFS in July 2007 as a Lecturer in Food Microbiology. He is a born and bred Queenslander and arrived on the planet at Chinchilla in 1974. He was awarded a PhD in 2000 down the river at the Queensland University of Technology for his studies on surface protein structure and function in the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus. Following this he undertook postdoctoral training at Cornell University in the area of gene regulation in the soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis. Returning to Brisbane involved a change in research direction towards the development of methods for the detection of human genetic diseases in the CRC for Diagnostics. During this time he secured a Dairy Australia postdoctoral fellowship to return to work on "friendly" lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and shortly afterwards obtained a new investigator NH&MRC project grant to continue this work. Mark has recently tinkered with antibiotic resistance development mechanisms in the hospital pathogen Klebsiella pneumoniae and has been lecturing clinical microbiology to nursing students. He is also a co-investigator on a current ARC discovery project grant examining anti-oxidant mechanisms of Lactobacillus.
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Chinese-Australian Young Scientist Exchange Last July two of LCAFS young scientists, Dr Jacqueline Batley and Mr Gary Dorr, had the opportunity to travel to China as part of the Chinese-Australian Young Scientist Exchange Scheme.
Jacqueline is a Research Fellow at the UQ Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG) node. She gained a BSc (Hons) from the University of Bristol (UK) and an MSc from University of Durham, before completing a PhD in insect molecular genetics at the University of Bristol. Following her PhD, Jacqueline continued to work as a postdoc at Long Ashton Research Station and the University of Bristol developing and applying molecular markers in a range of species from cyanobacteria to crop plants. Jacqueline moved to Australia as a Senior Research Scientist at the Department of Primary Industries Victoria in 2002 and joined the ACPFG in March of this year. In the last five years she has authored 34 peer reviewed papers and 11 book chapters.
Gary Dorr has been a Research Officer with the LCAFS Centre for Pesticide Application and Safety (CPAS) for the past 16 years and is currently completing PhD studies as part of an ARC linkage project "Minimising Environmental and Public Health Risk of Pesticide Application Through Understanding the Droplet-Canopy Interface".
The aim of the Chinese-Australian Young Scientist Exchange scheme is to promote the careers of young Scientists by facilitating collaboration between young Australian and Chinese scientists. There were eight Australian participants selected from a range of scientific disciplines. The first day in Beijing involved visits to three of China's principal science funding institutions: The Chinese Academy of Science, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Chinese Ministry of Science. These visits provided fascinating insights into the funding process in China, with the revelation that the National Natural Science Foundation receives 35,000 applications in the field of life sciences, which have to be reviewed within 2 weeks! The review process is obviously successful as 80% of work which results in Science and Nature papers in China is funded through the National Natural Science Foundation.
Following this introduction, each of the participants then went their separate ways, to visit institutes of their choice across China.
Jacqueline's first visit was to Wuhan to be hosted by Professor Jin Ling Meng at Huazhoung Agricultural University. Both Professor Meng and Jacqueline are members of the Multinational Brassica Genome Project steering committee and this visit was an ideal opportunity to establish more formal links between the two groups. This visit was particularly interesting and rewarding for her, with several collaborative opportunities identified. A tour of the laboratory for Crop Genetic Improvement and a seminar detailing Jacqueline's research and areas of interest were followed by discussions with key researchers in the group. In an ideal situation for scientific discussion, along with some sightseeing, Jacqueline spent the following two days at a mountain retreat with Professor Meng and 44 members of his group. Following a debrief session with Professor Meng several areas of collaboration and future exchanges are planned.
Following Wuhan, Jacqueline visited Professor Da Luo at the Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology in Shanghai. Professor Luo regularly publishes in high profile journals such as Nature and Cell, mostly in the area of legume research. Meeting with Professor Luo provided Jacqueline with an opportunity to enhance her knowledge of legume research, as well as gain inspiration from a such a high profile scientist. Between the scientific meetings there was a weekend of sightseeing around Shanghai, including trips to the Bund and a visit to a traditional Chinese village.
Overall, the visit provided Jacqueline with a great opportunity to gain insight into the science funding system in China and explore collaborative research projects with Chinese research groups.
Gary visited a range of research organisations involved in pesticide application, spray equipment manufacturers and Universities. The organizations visited as part of the exchange scheme included:
Gary found many similarities in china with pesticide application in Australia. For example both countries have an interest in maximising the effectiveness of pesticides and minimising environmental pollution and human health issues that can result from pesticide use. There is however also many differences with pesticide application between Australia and China due to factors such as the size of farms, size of equipment, different agricultural practices, costs and the different cultural and political situation.
This visit also enabled Gary to experience much of Chinese culture, food and customs. Over the two week exchange a number of local historical sited were also visited including the Great Wall of China, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Confucius temple, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum and Humble Administrators Garden.
It is planned that researchers from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Mechanization Sciences will visit CPAS next year to undertake research at the wind tunnel research facility. A return visit by researchers from CPAS could then follow to build on the research. There is also potential for exchange and collaboration with Jiangsu University and Nanjing Forestry University.
The Australia China Young Scientist Exchange Scheme has provided a very good opportunity to enhance collaboration between China and Australia and Gary would highly recommend it. |
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Ian Godwin, Shu fukai, Donald Stuart Loch, Timothy Albert Holton, Wayne William Hanna, $1,750,000, Eco-Turf: Water and nutrient use efficient turfgrasses from Australian biodiversity.
Dave Edwards and S M Grimmond, $840,000, Developing technology for the cost effective de novo sequencing and analysis of complex genomes.
Bob Gilbert, $240,387, Controlled nutrient release for more efficient agricultural water use and reduced environmental insult. |
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Congratulations to Bob Gilbert who has recently been awarded the Leighton Memorial Medal from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. It is the Institute's most prestigious medal and is awarded in recognition of eminent services to chemistry in Australia in the broadest sense.
Congratulations to Scott Dalzell who has recently been awarded a Meat & Livestock Australia Overseas Travel Award of $21,000 to enable him to work with Professor Brewbaker at the University of Hawaii for up to four months to investigate the importation of Leucaena plants from their germplasm collection with a view to establishment in Australia.
Emeritus Professor Ross Humphreys spent 3 to 7 September 2007 at the Australian National University, where he delivered a seminar entitled Crawford Munro and the Foundations of Australia's Water Policy. Crawford Munro, a father of the discipline of Hydrology in Australia, stimulated water research in the 1950s and 1960s. He was innovative in developing benefit/cost studies of water projects and advocated trading in water rights and commonwealth intervention on water issues which transcended State boundaries. He promoted social learning about water and the involvement of local communities in decision making.
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Spotlight on LCAFS Postgraduate Students Congratulations to the following students who have been awarded their doctorate:
S-Zahra Hosseini Cici The competitive ability of chickpea with sowthistle: A canopy architectural modeling study.
Allan Rodney Rattey Selection for sugar content at different times of the year in final stage trials in sugarcane breeding programs. and Master of Philosophy:
Vu Tuan Nguyen Improved yield and application of bacterial cellulose synthesized by Gluconacetobacter xylinus from Kombucha
Please contact Kaye Hunt on telephone 3365 3458, or email k.hunt@uq.edu.au if you would like to borrow these theses. Congratulations to the following students who received a 2006 Research Higher Degree Dean's Commendation for High Achievement:
Esnawan Budisantoso, Management strategies to improve forage biomass production of multi-purpose tree legumes under water limiting conditions, supervised by Max Shelton.
Md-Kamrul Hassan, Constitutive alk(en)ylreorcinols and resistance to postharvest disease in Mango (mangifers indicall), supervised by Don Irving.
Asalatha Manda, Physiological and biochemical factors associated with aflatoxin production in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L), supervised by Shu Fukai.
Suzanne Robertson, The association between endophytic N2-fixing bacteria and Australian sugar cane, supervised by Peter Dart. Congratulations to the following students who have received UQ grants:
Vivi Arief, Graduate School Research Travel Grant, and Endeavour IPRS.
Kurt Deifel, C.M. Pegler Scholarship.
Kim Fyfe, Australian Postgraduate Award Industry.
Md Haque, Australian Postgraduate Award Industry.
Brigid McKenna, Graduate School Research Travel Grant.
Jonathan Peate, UQ Postgraduate Research Scholarship. |
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Conferences [Click on title to go to Conference homepage]
IBCs 11th Annual Well Characterized Biologicals
IBC's 11th Annual Well Characterized Biologicals event is regarded by industry experts as the leading resource for the latest analytical technologies and approaches assisting companies of all sizes with their characterization efforts. For the past 10 years, IBC has partnered with forward-thinking industry leaders, world-renowned academics, and regulatory experts to develop and deliver programs that examine emerging applications that present solutions to the current challenges surrounding protein characterization. This event continues to evolve along with the regulations that govern biotech products and provides strategies to help companies, at various stages of development, successfully navigate the ever-changing regulatory landscape. Do not miss this unique opportunity to share perspectives and experiences with fellow scientists and regulatory officials to help you optimize product and process knowledge.
Second International Conference on Environmental, Industrial and Applied Microbiology
General Topics
Special Sessions
Molecular Farming - Plant Biologicals
Plant biotechnology offers an unprecedented opportunity to produce modern, recombinant pharmaceutical proteins at scale, quickly and at low cost. In essence, a "low-tech high technology", it has the potential to address many of the global health issues that cannot be solved using conventional technologies. This meeting follows on from the first Molecular Farming meeting in January 2006, and will visit the latest advances and enabling technologies, and review the progress that is being made towards the first commercial products.
Virginia Bioinformatics Institute Genome Annotation Workshop Series
The workshop series will include three workshops: Plant-Associated Microbe Gene Ontology (PAMGO) training workshop, and Oomycete Bioinformatics training workshop and the Hyaloperonspora parasitica Genome Annotation Jamboree. The PAMGO and Oomycete Bioinformatics workshops will run concurrently from the 8 -10 August, 2007. The first two days for both workshops will be dedicated to presentations on structural genomics and functional genomics including in-depth coverage of the Gene Ontology and the use of PAMGO terms in the annotation and analysis of gene products from microbes that associate with plant and animal hosts. Concurrent sessions will run on the third day. Session 1 will be devoted to hands-on exercises involving literature and sequence/structural similarity-based PAMGO annotations. Session 2 will cover resources and tools for annotation and analysis of oomycete genomic sequences. The Hyaloperonspora parasitica Annotation Jamboree will follow immediately on 12-17 August, 2007. This will include presentations on the biology of H. parasitica, genomic resources available to date, tools for sequence annotation and analysis. Participants will then break into groups reflecting relevant subject areas for several days of manual annotation.
II Internatiuonal Beekeeping Congress
Beekeeping plays a crucial role in the present context of commercialization of agriculture and liberalization of the economy. It covers the entire scope of honeybee resources, bee products, beekeeping practices, pollination services and their interface with business systems and environment integrity. There is a significant unknown diversity of scientific and practical knowledge available in different countries which need to be disseminated properly. Due to lack of coordination amongst different implementing agencies little information is available on the overall status of research, training and extension systems. The International Beekeeping Conference will provide a forum for reorienting the policies and programs for more productive and sustainable apiculture.
Horizons in Livestock Sciences; the Future of Agriculture - Value or Volume?
This conference, the 5th in the successful Horizons in Livestock Sciences series, will explore the drivers of change in livestock research and the livestock industries, including demands and constraints, cutting-edge science for future animal-based agriculture, and industry transformation using case studies from the meat, dairy and fibre sectors. The conference is jointly hosted by AgResearch New Zealand, and CSIRO livestock Industries, Australia. |
 For enquiries regarding material for MAGO, please contact:Anne Webber Tel: +61 7 3365 2165 | Fax: +61 7 3365 1177 Email: a.webber@uq.edu.au |