Plant biotech centre to develop better crops

A $20 million plant biotechnology centre to explore ways of improving agricultural sustainability and develop plants resistant to drought, frost and salinity was opened recently at the University of Melbourne.

The new Victorian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (VCPFG) is a joint venture between the University's Plant Cell Biology Research Centre (School of Botany) and the Victorian Department of Primary Industries (DPI) through La Trobe University's Plant Biotechnology Centre.

Co-chair of the VCPFG and Director of the Plant Cell Biology Research Centre, Professor Tony Bacic, described the new Centre as "unique in the Asia-Pacific region".

"The Centre will provide state-of-the-art functional genomics platforms to help deliver an increase in knowledge and infrastructure capital in Australia vital to the agri-food sector. It will research the function of the more than 25,000 genes of flowering plants and measure the impact that changes to a gene have on the plant and the way it responds to changes in the environment, or what is known as plant functional genomics," he said.

The Centre will be able to do this using the latest platform technologies to improve agricultural sustainability.

Prof. Bacic said agricultural practice has the potential to become more sustainable if herbicide and fertiliser applications can be reduced, water-use efficiency is increased and tolerance to salinity and mineral-use efficiency is enhanced in agricultural and horticultural crops.

VCPFG researchers are already screening native and exotic grasses with genes that provide tolerance to a range of environmental stresses.

Prof. Bacic said global trends suggest the market for plant functional genomics will grow from its 1999 level of $US30 billion to $US600 billion by 2010.

Item provided courtesy of The University of Melbourne