Latest News, outreach events, awards and scientific publications
News update
Read some of the Centre stories that made the news during 2015:
World unites to crack the cereals yield ceiling, Ground Cover, Issue 118, Sep, 2015
Freeing carbon dioxide traffic jams key to plant yields, June, 2015
There is room for photosynthesis improvement, but don’t forget your chaperone, April 2015.
Centre’s research on Scope, April, 2015
Outreach events
The Centre outreach and education program is up and running. From January to September 2015 the Centre has participated in several outreach events, including National Science Week, International Fascination of Plants, Hermitage Plant Science Schools Competition and University Open Days.
Awards
Robert Sharwood awarded a Science Exchange Grant from the CRDC
This year Rob Sharwood, a Centre’s Associate Investigator, was awarded a Science Exchange Grant from the Cotton Research Development Corporation (CRDC). This has built on Rob’s previous Science and Innovation award in 2013 while he was a Researcher at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University. The main goal of Rob’s program is to translate basic research associated with photosynthesis to improve; 1) water use efficiency and 2) ther-motolerance within Australia’s agronomically important fibre crop Cot-ton.
These two characteristics are particularly important to the industry as increasing climate variability impacts on cotton production within Australia.
Graham Farquhar awarded 2016 Macfarlane Burnet Medal
The Australian Academy of Science announced that Professor Graham Farquhar is to receive their most prestigious award for biological science. The Macfarlane Burnet Medal and Lecture recognises scientific research of the highest standing in the biological sciences. It commemorates the contributions to science by Sir Macfarlane Burnet, OM, KBE, MD, FAA, FRS, Nobel Laureate.
Professor Graham Farquhar is an outstanding plant scientist whose innovative work has had far reaching impact on our understanding of plant function in a changing world.
Latest Scientific Publications
Below are some of the Centre’s most recent scientific publications. See a full list of publications here.
Caemmerer S, Evans JR. (2015) Temperature responses of mesophyll conductance differ greatly between species 2015. Plant, Cell & Environment; 38 (4): 629–637. Read full article
Furbank RT, Quick WP and Sirault XRR (2015) Improving photosynthesis and yield potential in cereal crops by targeted genetic manipulation: Prospects, progress and challenges. Field Crops Research vol 182, pp 19-29. Read full article
Li Y, and Chen M (2015) Novel chlorophylls and new directions in photosynthesis research, Functional Plant Biology, 42(6)493-501. Read full article
Long, BM, Bahar, NHA, and Atkin, OK. Contributions of photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic cell types to leaf respiration in Vicia faba L. and their responses to growth temperature. Plant, Cell & Environment. Read full article
Messina CD, Sinclair TR, Hammer GL, Curan D, Thompson J, Oler Z, Gho C, Cooper M. (2015) Limited-transpiration trait may increase maize drought tolerance in the US Corn Belt. Agronomy Journal 2015; 107: 1978-1986. Read full article
Rolland V, Bergstrom DM, Lenné T, Bryant G, Chen H, Wolfe J, Holbrook NM, Stanton DE, Ball MC (2015). Easy come, easy go: capillary forces enable rapid refilling of embolized primary xylem vessels. Plant Physiol; 168(4):1636-47. Read full article
V Silva-Pérez, JR Evans, G Molero, T Condon, R Furbank, and M Reynolds. New temperature response parameters for wheat Rubisco. In: Reynolds M et al 2015 (Eds). Proceedings of the International TRIGO (Wheat) Yield Potential Workshop 2015. CENEB, CIMMYT, Cd Obregon, Sonora, Mexico 24-26th March 2015. Mexico DF: CIMMYT. Read full article.
Whitney SM, Birch R, Kelso C, Beck JL, Kapralov MV (2015) Improving recombinant Rubisco biogenesis, plant photosynthesis and growth by coexpressing its ancillary RAF1 chaperone. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A; 112(11):3564-9. Read full article