Professor Michael Jones

Room: Lon/2.023A

Research

Plant biotechnology and molecular biology: the application of cell and molecular techniques to analysis and improvement of crop plants.

The major research areas are:

Molecular plant pathology

• molecular plant virology,
• molecular plant-nematode interactions
• plant-fungal interactions and comparative gene expression

Molecular markers and gene mapping

• development and implementation of molecular markers for wheat, barley and lupins
• gene mapping in lupin
• new technologies of high throughput genetic analysis

Support and Collaborations

The research is supported by a range of grants from the GRDC, ARC and collaborative projects with CLIMA (Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture), the CRC for Molecular Plant Breeding and Industry. Most projects involve interaction with researchers from Agriculture WA, UWA, CSIRO and interstate. Postdoctoral (Dr Rob Potter, Dr Steve Wylie, Dr Geoff Dwyer, Dr Modika Perrera) and postgraduate staff currently involved in research are available to assist with supervision of Honours projects. Research work is carried out in the state-of-the-art laboratories of the WA State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre (SABC).

Sequencing and Manipulation Plant Virus Genomes

Three plant viruses are being studied in detail. These are cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), bean yellow mosaic virus (BYMV) and subterranean clover mottle virus (SCMoV). CMV and BYMV are economically important pathogens of lupins and pasture legumes. SCMoV is the major viral pathogen of subterranean clover in pastures. We have sequenced CMV, SCMoV and part of BYMV. This has enabled the production of a series of potential resistance-conferring constructs for CMV and BYMV based on expression of viral genes, and their transfer into plants for testing. Work on subterranean clover mottle virus (SCMoV) is on understanding control of expression of the viral genes. The isolation of a natural resistance gene to CMV is also in progress.

Projects

A number of potential Honours projects are available.

Molecular plant pathology

1(a) Plant virus research

• Transformation of lupins with new viral and fungal resistance constructs
• Sequencing WA isolates of BYMV and CMV to study sequence diversity
• Molecular analysis and analysis of virus resistance of transgenic tobacco/lupin plants
• Production of chimaeric viruses which contain the gene for the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP)
• Generation (PCR) and characterisation of natural resistance gene analogues
• Analysis of expression of trangenic proteins using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry These projects include infection of plants with viruses, virus isolation and a range of molecular techniques including DNA cloning, PCR , sequencing, and analysis of transgenic plants leading on to glasshouse and field testing.

1(b) Fungal pathogen research

In collaboration with the Centre for Bioinformatics and Biological Computing, work has been initiated to compare expression of genes in legumes in response to fungal pathogen infection. This work will involve establishment of microarrays and their use to look at patterns of gene expression on infection. A new centre for Fungal Pathology has been established and additional projects will be available with this centre.

1(c) Engineering Plant Resistance to Nematodes

Plant parasitic nematodes are widespread and important pathogens of horticultural and crop plants, and are endemic in the sandy soils of Australia. Research is in progress to study the function of the feeding cells induced in host plants by root-knot and cyst-nematodes, and to use this knowledge to understand how nematodes control plant cell development and to develop novel host resistance. This work involves gene cloning, production of subtractive libraries using PCR, sequencing, database searching for homologies, isolation of specific promoters from genomic libraries. We also have a series of transgenic Arabidopsis lines tagged with GFP expression. These are being used to study cell biological and structural aspects of the host-pathogen interaction.

Projects available include:

• Molecular analysis of cDNA clones specifically up- or down-regulated in nematode feeding cells
• Production of specific constructs with the Green Fluorescent Protein reporter gene, transformation and analysis of expression in relation to nematode feeding
• Use of fluorescent markers (e.g. carboxyfluorescein diacetate, a phloem mobile tracer), to study the function of nematode feeding cells in vivo. This project involves infection of Arabidopsis thaliana by nematodes in culture, loading tracers into the phloem of cotyledons, and study of their movement through the phloem to the root and uptake into nematode feeding cells by confocal scanning microscopy.
• Analysis of GFP expression in transgenic enhancer-tagged Arabidopsis lines after infection with root-knot or cyst-nematodes by confocal scanning laser microscopy.

Molecular markers and Gene Mapping

There have been rapid advances in the use of molecular techniques to map plant genomes, and to find molecular markers that are closely linked to characters of agronomic interest. The SABC is the major centre in for practical development and implementation of molecular markers to assist breeding of wheat, barley and lupins. Major successes include: development of a molecular marker for noodle starch quality in wheat, and generation of the first partial molecular map of the lupin genome. Honours projects are available in these areas, and will depend on progress in the research at the time of application. I n general, the work involves PCR/ AFLP/microsatellite procedures to look for specific sequences closely linked to desired traits, conversion of these to standard PCR markers, sub-cloning and sequencing, constructing linkage maps, etc.

Projects include

• Use of the MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer to develop single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) technology for crop variety identification and markers for plant breeding
• Development of molecular markers for barley and wheat
• Molecular mapping of lupins

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