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Genetics of Meiosis in Cereals

The Genetics of Meiosis in Cereals research group is led by Dr Jason Able. We are located in the Waite Main Building (Lab GN15). The research is principally funded through the Molecular Plant Breeding CRC, Department of Education, Science & Training (DEST) and the GRDC. The group has a close affiliation with several members of the ACPFG including Professor Peter Langridge. Opportunities exist to undertake research with members of the ‘Able Group’ as students of the University of Adelaide or as visiting fellows from overseas institutions. Please contact Jason about these opportunities.

Major Research Themes

• Investigating recombination in bread wheat with the aim of being able to manipulate this process.
• Investigating the process of chromosome pairing and working towards understanding what genes control the pairing complex that is prevalent in the hexaploid wheat genome.
• Investigating the meiotic transcriptome (the ‘meiome’) in bread wheat, enabling the identification of candidate genes that are ‘novel’ and that have a role in meiosis in bread wheat.

The ‘Able Group’ is currently composed of young aspiring scientists at Post-Doctoral, PhD and Honours level.

Current Members: Research Programme Highlights

• Dr William Bovill – Post-Doctoral Research Fellow (commenced November 2007)

Meiosis in wheat and rice: are the interactions and regulation of this process conserved between other diverse eukaryote organisms?

Meiosis is an ancient, evolutionarily conserved cellular process and a key driver for the generation of genetic diversity within sexually reproducing organisms. This DEST funded project, awarded through the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF) in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Delhi, seeks to determine the genes that regulate and interact with one another during meiosis in wheat, rice, and other diverse organisms. Specifically, this project will address the questions:

1. To what extent is transcriptional regulation responsible for the orderly progression of meiosis in wheat (a polyploid) and rice (a diploid); and
2. What meiotic genes are highly conserved across diverse organisms?

To answer these questions, yeast one-hybrid analysis, quantitative PCR, and bioinformatics approaches will be utilised. The potential outcomes of this work will enable plant breeding programmes to develop new strategies for the introgression of genetic material from wild relatives which have desirable phenotypes, but, which at present, do not readily cross to produce fertile hybrids.

• Wayne Crismani – PhD Candidate (commenced mid-2005)

The bread wheat ‘meiome’: Working towards identifying the key players that have a role in homologous recombination

This research project is focussed on understanding the homologous recombination pathway in bread wheat. To date both microarray and Q-PCR platforms have been used to provide a starting point for this research. The microarray was a time course with seven meiotic time points. The data generated from this experiment has provided a source of new meiotic genes from which to conduct further research. From this pool of candidate genes, three have been selected that will be characterised. Their selection was based on being meiotically regulated during the early stages of Prophase I as well as being novel transcripts that showed no similarities to any other sequence in the publicly available databases. A series of genetic and biochemical techniques will be employed to characterise these candidates.

• Hayley Jolly – PhD Candidate (commenced 2007)

Functional characterisation of candidate genes with a role in chromosome pairing in bread wheat

Through the use of genetic and proteomic technologies, several candidate genes will be characterised to determine their role(s) in the process of chromosome condensation and pairing during meiosis. The technologies typically employed throughout the study will include basic expression experiments (Southern and northern analysis), RNA in situ hybridisation, protein co-localisation, yeast-two-hybrids and western analysis. Investigating both wild-type and transgenic wheat plants with the candidate genes over-expressed or ‘knocked-out’, it is envisaged that we will have a better understanding of the pairing control process between homologous and homoeologous chromosomes. If successful, this project has the potential in allowing for the development of new controlled introgression strategies that will assist cereal breeders of the future.

• Kelvin Khoo – PhD Candidate (commenced 2008)

Investigating the bread wheat proteome during meiosis

This project will investigate a proteomics-based approach to study the similarities and differences that exist between anther protein profiles of different wheat varieties (with varying ploidy levels) and the screening of mutants that have known meiotic phenotypes. These two objectives will enable us to: 1) gain a greater appreciation as to how polyploidy has contributed to plant evolution in the genus Triticum; and 2) by comparing wheat mutants with wild-type wheat plants, determine proteins that are involved in bread wheat meiosis. Particular attention will be given to studying those proteins that have known roles during early meiosis but given the complexity of the polyploid bread wheat genome, novel proteins may also be discovered that have equally important roles.

• Gordon Wellman – Honours Candidate (2008)

ZYP1 localisation during early meiosis in bread wheat

The correct division of chromosomes in meiosis relies upon the accurate pairing of homologous chromosomes which are held together by a multi-protein structure referred to as the synaptonemal complex (SC). In polyploid organisms (such as bread wheat), correct chromosome pairing is particularly important for the production of viable gametes. The recently identified wheat gene TaASY1 (which is an AtASY1 homologue) has been shown to associate early with, but not result in the formation of, axial elements, in addition to being associated with the lateral elements within the formed SC. In order to further elucidate the role of TaASY1 during meiosis in bread wheat, we plan to compare the localisation patterns of a SC component protein, the transverse filament ZYP1; in both wild-type and TaASY1 knock-down bread wheat lines. The main techniques used during this Honours project will be immunological staining of wheat anthers throughout the early stages of meiosis (specifically prophase I) and 3D microscopy to enable visualization of ZYP1 localisation.

Key Papers

• Lloyd AH et al. (2007) BMC Plant Biology DOI:10.1186/1471-2229-7-67
• Boden SA et al. (2007) BMC Molecular Biology DOI:10.1186/1471-2199-8-65
• Able JA et al. (2007) Trends Plant Sci. 12 (2): 71-79
• Crismani W et al. (2006) BMC Genomics DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-7-267
• Able JA & Langridge P (2006) ‘Wild sex in the grasses’, Trends Plant Sci. 11 (6): 261-263
• Whitford R et al. (2006) Funct. Integr. Genomics DOI: 10.1007/s10142-006-0026-3
• Dong C et al. (2005) Funct. Plant Biol. 32: 249-258
• Sutton T et al. (2003) Plant J. 36: 443-456

Collaborative Linkages

• National:

• Professor German Spangenberg et al., MPB CRC, La Trobe University, Victoria.
• Professor Peter Langridge et al., ACPFG, University of Adelaide, South Australia.
• Dr Amanda Able, Plant & Food Science, University of Adelaide, South Australia.
• Dr Rohan Singh, Plant & Food Science, University of Adelaide, South Australia.

• International:

• Professor Graham Moore, John Innes Centre, Norwich, England.
• Dr Sanjay Kapoor, University of Delhi – Plant Molecular Biology, Delhi, India.
• Dr Glyn Jenkins, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales.
• Professor Zac Cande, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA.
• Professor Peter Shaw, John Innes Centre, Norwich, England.

Past Members/Students: Where are they now?

• Honours Student: James Chand, USA (Graduated 2004)
• Honours Student: Andrew Lloyd, UA PhD North Terrace (Graduated 2005)
• PhD Student: Sherri Kruger, Monsanto, Canada (Awarded August 2007)
• PhD Student: Scott Boden, John Innes Centre, UK (Awarded 2008)