The recent Otago Biochemistry Smart Ideas recipients enjoy the garden outside the department. From left, Associate Professor Lynette Brownfield, Dr Adam Middleton, Professor Peter Mace and Sam Jamieson.
A team of researchers from the Department of Biochemistry has been given a big boost for their inspiring plan to improve crop growth and productivity using detailed knowledge of how plant cells transmit signals.
Professor Peter Mace leads the team that have successfully secured NZ$1M over three years for their Smart Ideas proposal funded through the Endeavour Fund (Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment).
He has brought together two distinct areas of research from the department with a view to help advance crop science: protein engineering and plant biotechnology.
All aspects of plant growth are controlled by protein signalling within cells: how a plant responds to its environment, the stature of a plant as it develops, the size of seeds and fruit a plant produces, and everything in between.
Changing the amount of signalling proteins present in plant cells can change these characteristics in a plant, and change plant productivity. Therefore if you fine-tune how fast these proteins are broken down within cells, you can also alter plant productivity.
Mutations that change how fast signalling proteins break down have already had a big impact on agriculture. However, either these genetic variants occurred randomly and required decades or centuries of traditional plant breeding, or they were made using mutagenic screens with chemicals, laborious work carried out in whole plants.
Both traditional approaches are effectively looking for genetic needles in a haystack.
Peter’s team plans to accelerate the search for genetic variants that help crops grow better and produce more.
They will use molecular approaches in the laboratory to discover genetic variants that alter the turnover rate of signalling proteins, doing so faster and in a more cost-effective manner than traditional approaches.
The team will focus on target proteins that are pivotal regulators of plant growth, aiming to eventually enhance the growth traits and productivity of many different crop species.
Dr Adam Middleton and Sam Jamieson will help with the protein engineering, and Associate Professor Lynette Brownfield will contribute her plant biotechnology expertise. They also have the support of collaborators Dr Ruth Cookson and Dr Nick Roberts from AgResearch.
The team is very excited at the prospect of developing this technology together. Lynette says, “We hope that by merging our strengths in protein engineering and plant biotechnology we will be able to make an impact on crop development in New Zealand.”