PLANT NUTRITION TRUST REPORT

by

Chandnee Ramkissoon

My name is Chandnee Ramkissoon and I am a 2^ndyear PhD student in soil sciences at the University of Adelaide. I am currently working on a selenium biofortification project, which looks at the optimisation of commercial fertiliser formulations to improve selenium levels in wheat. Last year, I was lucky enough to have been awarded a travel grant from the Plant Nutrition Trust, to attend the 5^thInternational Conference on Selenium in the Environment and Human Health, held in August at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

The conference was officially composed of two serial symposia; for the first time held in parallel at the same site and having overlapping plenary sessions, poster sessions and social events. The two symposia were The 11^th International Symposium on Selenium in Biology and Medicine and the 5^thInternational Conference on Selenium in the Environment and Human Health. I was one among 330 delegates from 41 countries to attend this conference and it was one of the most rewarding experiences ever.

With my current research interest in mind, I opted to attend most lectures about selenium biofortification studies from researchers from all around the world, while sneaking to a few of the most fascinating inter-disciplinary ones running in parallel sessions. Before attending the conference, I was looking forward to meet a few researchers whose work have inspired me personally. For example, some excellent work about selenium biofortification has been ongoing in Malawi since the 2000’s to help residents overcome or prevent selenium deficiency in an affordable manner. Dr Chilimba and Dr Martin Broadley, pioneers of such projects, passionately explained their journey to making such agronomic practices a reality in Malawi and briefly touched on what the next steps to ensure continuity would be. Those lectures, coupled with subsequent Q&A sessions were highly insightful. I was also very pleased to be given the chance to showcase my work in the form of a poster during the poster sessions over the 3 days at the conference. This gave me the opportunity to be critically appraised for my work and be given advice for follow-up steps. This whole experience was therefore very motivating and certainly very rewarding.

The networking and social activities were an important aspect of the conference as well. On the last day of the conference, all delegates were invited to attend a scrumptious reception at the Stockholm City Hall, which is incidentally the venue of the Nobel Prize ceremony every year. It was therefore an absolute honour to be amongst such an elite crowd at such an impressive venue and be addressed by the Mayor of Stockholm on that day. She highlighted how the collective work of scientists and policy makers around the world are helping to address world challenges sustainably and it was a moment of pride to be standing there at that time then. My personal favourite social activity during that trip remains an outing to the Berzelius Laboratory, found on a small nearby island to Stockholm. That laboratory was in fact the exact same location where selenium was accidentally’ discovered by Berzelius, famous Swedish chemist, about 200 years ago! The whole trip on that day ended with a fabulous cruise dinner while we made our way back to Stockholm.

Overall, this conference was overwhelmingly enriching in a sense that I came back more inspired than I have ever been to maintain my research into selenium biofortification and expand upon a bigger picture regarding its impact on the scientific community and greater world. I sincerely thank the Plant Nutrition Trust for giving me the financial opportunity to attend my first international conference in Stockholm to celebrate the 200 years of Selenium discovery.

Contract: chandnee.ramkissoon@adelaide.edu.au

Submitted by: Arjun Pandey

PhD Candidate , School of Agriculture and Food 

The University of Melbourne

1. Tri-society conference in Tampa, Florida

The American tri-society conference, “Managing Global Resources For A Secure Future”, jointly organised by Soil Science Society of America, American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America was held in Tampa in Florida, USA, from 22-25 October 2017. Around 4000 scientists from around the world attended the conference.

I gave an oral presentation titled, Microbially mediated nitrogen loss and retention pathways in Australian rice paddies. The 15 minutes oral presentation was based on my experimental work during my PhD candidature. The presentation included my findings on the nitrogen loss and retention pathways in Australian rice paddies. Presenting my work in front of experienced scientists from around the world wasa unique experience for me. I also got some important questions and feedback during the discussion session after my presentation which helped me to think about my research findings in a broader perspective. 

I met several scientists from around the world those who are working in my field of research. This provided me with the opportunity to build networks and to know the research activities being carried out in other research institutions. Lastly, I attended presentations from several scientist during the conference. This gave me an opportunity to learn about novel findings in the soil and crop sciences.

2. Visit to the Virginia Institute of Marine science (VIMS), Virginia, USA 

I visited Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS; see photo) and stayed in the institute for two days during 19-20 October. Scientists in the VIMS are mainly focused on costal and estuarine sciences and also in grassland ecosystems. There are experts working in nitrogen (N) transformation in anaerobic soils and sediments using 15N isotopic tracing technique in the institution. I visited the institute to meet Associate Professor Bongkeun Song and his research team who are studying N transformation using 15N isotope tracing technique. This is one of the techniques I have been using in my PhD research work.

I had an excellent meeting with Associate professor Bongkeun Song, whom is working on nitrogen transformation pathways in various ecosystems including agroecosystem. He is an expert on using 15N tracer to quantify nitrogen transformation pathways. I was in contact with Bongkeun for the last two years through emails and I had frequent discussion on my research methodology with him. I met with Bongkeun Song on the 20th of October, 2017. We had a discussion on my research, in particular on the research methodology and outcome of my experiments. I got some valuable inputs from him on my research work. A/Professor Bongkeun took me around his laboratory and explained on the use of some recent Isotopic Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) instruments and their use in our research. We also discussed about possible collaboration in the future. I also met with few other researchers in the VIMS that are working in my research area. We had a discussion on the methods and instrumental application in our search. 

Acknowledgements: The financial support from the Plant Nutrition Trust Award provided me with a great oppurtunity to attend one of the most important confreneces in the area of soil and crop sciences. I would like to sincerely thank the trust.

Contact: arjunp@student.unimelb.edu.au

Special Issue “The Regulatory Functions of Epigenetic Mechanisms in Plants”

Journal Link

Guest Editor:  Dr. Chris Cazzonelli

We have several employment opportunities posted on the ASPS job board here.

BY JONATHON PLETT

2017 GOLDACRE MEDAL WINNER

Growing up in the countryside of Ontario, Canada, Jonathan Plett was exposed to plants and planted environments from a very early age.  While a love for agriculture and ‘useful’ plants would come to fruition in his research career, Jonathan’s first induction into the world of plants was through flower gardening – a hobby introduced to him at the age of 10 by an English couple active within the local gardening club.  Over the years of working with plants, Jonathan became fascinated by the mechanics of how plants grew and flourished and how different environmental conditions affected these processes.

As early as the age of 12 Jonathan knew that he wanted to have a job working with plants in some form – his first science fair project was testing hydroponic systems for optimal plant growth.  Through his undergraduate work in college, this interest was further strengthened and led to a PhD in plant molecular biology.  This area of science has continued to fuel his imagination and to fascinate him to this day.  Jonathan did his PhD studies with Dr. Sharon Regan at Queen’s University in Canada where he studied the biological function of the plant hormone ethylene.  One aspect of this hormone was its huge role in plant:microbe interactions.  This led to a career shift in his post doctoral work and to his current position as a Lecturer in the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment at Western Sydney University where he considers the molecular mechanics of how plants interact with soil-borne microbes.

The goal of Jonathan’s research is to foster the relationship between symbiotic soil-borne micro-organisms and plants. These organisms increase plant productivity through improved nutrient availability and plant disease resistance. As intensified agricultural and forestry production is resulting in soils with reduced nutritional value and as plant diseases are becoming more virulent, growers and foresters are becoming more reliant on these symbiotic relationships to support the health and productivity of their plants.  Therefore, we need to select plants that will be able to gain the most from relationships with symbiotic micro-organisms. Currently we only have a rudimentary idea of the plant genetics that enable these symbiotic relationships to occur, let alone how we could select plants that foster these symbiotic relationships.  Jonathan’s research is addressing this critical lack of knowledge by studying the plant pathways targeted by symbiotic ‘effector’ proteins during the initial stages of the interaction between plants and micro-organisms.  Jonathan’s research has shown that these effectors, which are small-secreted microbial proteins, are used by mycorrhizal fungi to manipulate the plant immune response, thereby fostering symbiosis.  This means that the tactics used by mycorrhizal fungi to gain access to their host tissues mirror those of pathogenic organisms, with the production of proteins used to overcome host defences (Plett et al., 2014a). Thus, in response, the plant has evolved mechanisms to defend itself from excessive ingrowth of mycorrhizal hyphae, while still enjoying the beneficial aspects of the relationship.

Jonathan’s work has shown that the plant uses two classic plant hormone pathways: jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene, to limit fungal growth within plant tissues (Plett et al., 2014b).  His work in the metabolic regulation during mycorrhizal colonization of plants has also shown that plants produce toxic secondary compounds to slow fungal growth and that only certain mycorrhizal fungi are able to overcome these defences by either metabolising the defence compound (Tschaplinski et al., 2014) or by inducing the expression of proteases and xenobiotic efflux pumps to weather the onslaught raised by the plant (Plett et al., 2015).  Altogether, the results of Jonathan’s work have led to a paradigm shift in how we understand the core relationship between plants and their associated mycorrhizal fungi. His data are now being used to screen new tree and, more recently, crop lines (Plett et al., 2016), to find the ‘sweet spot’ in immune defence that enables plants to maximise the benefits from mycorrhizal fungi without compromising disease resistance. The application of these findings will result in more productive tree plantations and better food security in crops.

Contact Information:

Email: j.plett@westernsydney.edu.au

Twitter: @FungiDownUnder

Website: https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/hie/people/researchers/doctor_jonathan_plett

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Pg1MvmEAAAAJ&hl=en

Key References:

Plett JM, Daguerre Y, Wittulsky S, Deveau A, Melton SJ, Kohler A, Morrell-Falvey J, Brun A, Veneault-Fourrey C, Martin F. (2014a) The effector protein MiSSP7 of the mutualistic ectomycorrhizal fungus Laccaria bicolorinteracts with PopulusJAZ proteins.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA. 111:8299-8304.

Plett JM, Khachane A, Ouassou M, Sundberg B, Kohler A, Martin F. (2014b)  Ethylene and jasmonic acid act as negative modulators during mutualistic symbiosis between Laccaria bicolor and Populus roots.  New Phytologist 202:270-286.

Plett JM, Tisserant E, Brun A, Morin E, Grigoriev IV, Kuo A, Martin F, Kohler A.  (2015)  The mutualist Laccaria bicolor expresses a core gene regulon during the colonization of diverse host plants and a variable regulon to counteract host-specific defenses. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions28:261-73.

Plett JM, Plett KL, Bithell SL, Mitchell C, Moore K, Powell JR, Anderson IC. (2016) Improved Phytophthoraresistance in commercial chickpea (Cicer arietinum) varieties negatively impacts symbiotic gene signaling and symbiotic potential in some varieties. Plant, Cell & Environment.39:1858–186.

Tschaplinski TJ, Plett JM, Engle NL, Deveau A, Cushman KC, Martin MZ, Doktycz MJ, Tuskan GA, Brun A, Kohler A, Martin F. (2014) Populus trichocarpa and Populus deltoidesexhibit different metabolomic responses to colonization by the symbiotic fungus Laccaria bicolor. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions27:546-556.

Hello ASPS members,

We have several new employment opportunities that have been posted on our job board.

Job Board

Plant researchers have developed an online application that predicts how crop growth is affected by photosynthetic changes at the molecular, cellular or leaf level of plants.

Food production depends on photosynthesis, the process by which plants capture sunlight and convert it into plant growth, biomass and grain. In the next decades, the world population is expected to reach 9.5 billion and food demand will increase significantly, so improving photosynthesis has become a global research priority.

“Enhancing photosynthesis has the potential to increase crop yields, but the link between photosynthesis and crop productivity is not straightforward because it crosses multiple scales of biological organisation. We created modelling tools that help us navigate through these complexities to identify targets that have the greatest impact on crop yield,” says Dr Alex Wu, a researcher with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis (CoETP) at the University of Queensland.

This online “crystal ball” of crop growth, a small part of the cross-scale model, is designed to show researchers what would happen to a crop canopy with changes in photosynthesis under variable environmental and canopy conditions such as radiation, temperature, levels of CO₂, canopy size and amount of nitrogen in leaves.

“Developing simulation tools like these, we are working towards connecting lab-based research and discoveries, at the leaf or molecular level, with crop productivity under variable environmental conditions,” Dr Wu said.

ARC CoETP Chief Investigator Professor Graeme Hammer says that researchers could now use the online application and see how their work is having an impact on crops in the field, which will radically accelerate the discovery process.

“They can also incorporate high temperature or high CO₂ conditions to test effects of climate change,” he said.

The Diurnal Canopy Photosynthesis Simulator (DCaPS) online application, calculates diurnal (period from sunrise to sunset) canopy CO₂ assimilation and daily biomass increment for a crop under well-watered conditions. DCaPS is now publicly available at www.dcaps.net.au.

This study was published recently in the journal Functional Plant Biology and was funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis and the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAFFI) at the University of Queensland. Article appeared in “Leaflet” Newsletter of the CoE.

Dear ASPS members,

We have a few new opportunities for you and the monthly GPC e-bulletin.

• There is an opportunity to nominate for the STA Executive Committee – NOTE applications are due today (see details below)
• The 2018 Peter Goldacre award is open. Nominations close 9 December 2017. Apply here.
• The 2018 ASPS teaching award  is open. Applications close 9 December 2017. Apply here.
• The RN Robertson Travelling Fellowship award is open. Applications close 19th January  2018. Apply here.
• A new employment opportunity has been posted. More details here.
• A conference added to our events page. more details here.

Dear ASPS members,

The STA Executive Committee closes on Monday 6 November. You will find details at https://scienceandtechnologyaustralia.org.au/search-begins-for-stem-leaders-to-join-sta-executive-committee/.

Voting will take place at the AGM on 23 November. Please consider applying.

Thank you in advance and best regards,

Shannon Wong

By

Viviana Rosati

Thanks to an ASPS Travel Award, I was able to attend the ComBio2017 conference this October in Adelaide, South Australia. It was personally and professionally fulfilling not only to be attending, but presenting, at my very first ComBio. The conference is the main forum for the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), the Australia and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology (ANZSCDB), and the Australian Society of Plant Scientists (ASPS), with the societies coming together for three days to promote the latest in research and education, as well as enable invaluable network opportunities.

For me, a highlight of the conference was the plenary Annals of Botany Lecture on the second day featuring Professor Cathie Martin from the John Innes Centre. Professor Martin works to increase polyphenol phytonutrients in fruits: compounds with therapeutic properties that could potentially mitigate artherosclerosis and other inflammatory conditions. She emphatically stated: ‘Medicine is not healthcare, food is healthcare. Medicine is sickcare’ – an appropriate reminder for us all.

Over the next two days I attended an array of symposia including: Plant Energy Use Efficiency, Next-generation Phenotyping, Plant Walls and Membranes, Abiotic Stress Tolerance, Microbe-Plant Interactions, and Plant Reproductive Biology. All talks gave me vital insight into the current plant biology research being undertaken worldwide, and offered me several new avenues for my own research – particularly techniques to elucidate the molecular regulation of genes involved in emerging regulatory pathways. The conference delivered an impressive balance of graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, associate professors, and professors presenting their cutting-edge research or stories of discovery.

As part of the crop productivity symposium, I presented my research topic Drought Response in Low-Cyanogenic Sorghum bicolor Mutants; with the presentation being very well received. I took a number of questions during the allocated question time and was given valuable advice driving new exploration within the scope of my research program. It is now the fourth time within a two-year period that I have been a conference presenter. As one might expect, my confidence grows with each presentation and as I become more adept; and there is always a constant challenge to improve and hone my skills in order to deliver a story with a clear message that engages interest and drives impact.

I am extremely grateful to ASPS for providing funding that enabled me to attend the conference and present my research to the plant science community.

Contact: Viviana Rosati (viviana.rosati@monash.edu)

Registration now open!
41^st New Phytologist Symposium: Plant sciences for the future

11–13 April 2018, Nancy, France

https://www.newphytologist.org/symposia/41

The 41^st New Phytologist Symposium will provide new insights into the evolutionary forces and molecular mechanisms that govern plant development and physiology, and their interactions with biotic and abiotic cues.

Invited speakers from the New Phytologist Editorial Board will highlight emerging topics in plant sciences as well as the application of modern technologies to capture the complex mechanisms driving plant development, physiology, interactions and evolution.
Eighteen leading scientists will speak at the symposium along with early career researchers, selected to give talks following submission of poster abstracts. Travel grants are available.

Travel grant deadline: Thursday 18 January 2018
Poster abstract deadline: Thursday 8 February 2018

More details and registration at https://www.newphytologist.org/symposia/41.