Current Research

Apomixis and Cell Cycle Laboratory - Dr Peter John

Dr Peter John and Dr Enrico Perotti are investigating the developmental progressions that influence plant growth and are integral with the development of embryos. We are investigating ways in which apomictic embryos can be generated to capture increased plant vigour and other traits that are of benefit in agricultural biotechnology.

Cell Wall Laboratory - Professor Richard Williamson

Plant cell walls are central to growth and development and important for many other facets of plant biology. We use Arabidopsis mutants and chemical analyses to study how plants make cellulose and other polysaccharides for their walls. These studies are important for understanding plant development and are relevant to industry because of the value of cellulosic materials such as cotton and wood fibres.

Cytoskeleton Laboratory - Dr David Collings

The cytoskeleton coordinates all aspects of growth in plant cells. We combine molecular-genetic approaches with state-of-the-art microscopy to discover how associated proteins regulate the organisation of microtubules and microfilaments at the cell periphery. We are also using mutants defective in cytoskeletal organisation to test how the cytoskeleton controls mechanical properties of the cell wall.

Disease Resistance Laboratory - Dr David Jones

Plants are capable of resisting pathogen infection by recognising molecules produced by the attacking pathogen and mounting an effective defence response. We use the interactions between tomato and two pathogenic fungi, the leaf mould fungus, Cladosporium fulvum, and the vascular wilt fungus, Fusarium oxysporum, as model systems to investigate the molecular basis of this recognition. Improved plant disease resistance will provide major economic and social benefits.

Phytophthora Laboratory - Professor Adrienne Hardham

Research in the group investigates the cell and molecular biology of Oomycete and fungal plant pathogens. We focus in particular on species of Phytophthora. The aim of much of our research is to elucidate the molecular and cellular basis of the infection of host plants by Phytophthora species, including the identification and characterisation of Phytophthora pathogenicity genes. We also investigate the cell biology of the plant response to Oomycete infections using GFP-tagged Arabidopsis plants.

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People and Contacts

Name	Role	Phone	Email
Armstrong, Jessica	PhD Student	+61 2 6125 9162
Baillie, Brett	Postdoctoral Fellow	+61 2 6125 9783
Chakraborty, Soma		+61 2 6125 9782
Elliott, Jan	Research Assistant	+61 2 6125 2672
Gunning, Brian	Emeritus Professor	+61 2 6125 2372
Koeck, Markus	PhD Student	+61 2 6125 5561
Lim, Ginny	PhD Student	+61 2 6125 4525
Ludowici, Victoria	PhD Student	+61 2 6125 4740
Mergner, Julia
Payne, Thomas	Postdoctoral Fellow	+61 2 6125 4072
Rafiqi, Maryam		+61 2 6125 4026

Cell Cycle/Apomixis Laboratory

Name	Role	Phone	Email
Lohe, Allan	Postdoctoral Fellow	4584
McKinlay, Mitchell	Laboratory Technician	+61 2 6125 4584
Perotti, Enrico	Fellow	+61 2 6125 3950
Rouse, Dean	Postdoctoral Fellow	+61 2 6125 4584
Sek, Frank	Senior Technical Officer	+61 2 6125 4584

Cell Wall Laboratory

Name	Role	Phone	Email
Birch, Rosemary	Technical Officer	+61 2 6125 4446
Cork, Ann	Technical Officer	+61 2 6125 4446
Howles, Paul	Research Fellow	+61 2 6125 4539
Kha, Hung	Postdoctoral Fellow	+61 2 6125 8536
Williamson, Richard	Professor	+61 2 6125 5087

Disease Resistance Laboratory

Name	Role	Phone	Email
Chakrabarti, Apratim	Visiting Fellow	+61 2 6125 9783
Chakrabarti, Apratim	Fellow	+61 2 6125 9783
Hurley, Ursula	Senior Technical Officer	+61 2 6125 9783
Jones, David	Fellow	+61 2 6125 4192
Prihatna, Cahya	Masters Student	+61 2 6125 4525

Phytophthora Laboratory

Name	Role	Phone	Email
Blackman, Leila	Research Fellow	+61 2 6125 4051
Boyce, Patricia	Technical Officer	+61 2 6125 4740
Gan, Pamela	PhD Student	+61 2 6125 5561
Hardham, Adrienne	Professor (Group Leader)	+61 2 6125 4168
Narayan, Reena	Postdoctoral Fellow	+61 2 6125 4201

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Student Opportunities

• Available Student Opportunities
• Graduate Projects
• Honours Projects
• Summer Research Scholarship Projects

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Key Publications

Arioli T, Peng L, Betzner A, Burn J, Wittke W, Herth W, Camilleri C, Höfte H, Plazinski J, Birch R, Cork A, Glover J, Redmond J, Williamson RE. Molecular analysis of cellulose biosynthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana. Science 179, 717-720 (1998)

Barker CL, Baillie BK, Hammond-Kosack KE, Jones JDG, Jones DA (2006) Dominant-negative interference with defence signalling by truncation mutations of the tomato Cf-9 disease resistance gene. the Plant Journal 46, 385-389.

Barker CL, Talbot SJ, Jones JDG, Jones DA (2006) A tomato mutant that shows stunting, wilting, progressive necrosis and constitutive expression of defence genes contains a recombinant Hcr9 gene encoding an auto-active protein. The Plant Journal 46, 369-384.

Collings DA, Lill AW, Himmelspach R, Wasteneys GO (2006) Sensitisation to cytoskeletal antagonists demonstrates microtubule/microfilament interactions in the control of anisotropic cell expansion in roots of Arabidopsis thaliana. New Phytologist 170, 275-290.

Collings DA, Vaughn KC, Harper JDI (2003) The association of peroxisomes with the developing cell plate in dividing onion root cells depends on actin microfilaments and myosin. Planta 218, 204-216.

John PCL (2007) Hormonal regulation of cell cycle progression and its role in development. In: Cell Cycle Control and Plant Development (ed. D Inzé) Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK. in press

Robold AV, Hardham AR (2005) During attachment of Phytophthora spores secrete proteins containing thrombospondin type 1 repeats. Current Genetics 47, 307-315.

Shan W, Liu J, Hardham AR (2006) Phytophthora nicotianae PnPMA1 encodes an atypical plasma membrane H+-ATPase that is functional in yeast and developmentally regulated. Fungal Genetics and biology 43, 583-592.

Takemoto D, Jones DA, Hardham AR (2003) GFP-tagging of cell components reveals the dynamics of subcellular re-organization in response to infection of Arabidopsis by oomycete pathogens. The Plant Journal 33, 775-792.

Whittington AT, Vugrek O, Wei KJ, Hasenbein NG, Sugimoto K, Rashbrooke MC, Wasteneys GO (2001) MOR1 is essential for organizing cortical microtubules in plants. Nature 411:610-613

Williamson RE, Burn JE, Hocart CH. (2002) Towards the mechanism of cellulose synthesis. Trends in Plant Science 7, 461-467

Zhang K, Letham DS, John PCL (1996) Cytokinin controls the cell cycle at mitosis by stimulating tyrosine dephosphorylation and activation of p34 cdc2 -like H1 histone kinase. Planta 200, 2-12.

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