Targeting chloroplasts to enhance crop salt tolerance

由于土壤含盐量越来越高，作物的产量损失与盐对叶绿体的影响有关。通过比较密切相关的喜盐和盐敏感植物的叶绿体水盐运输机制，该奖学金旨在发现叶绿体如何在盐条件下保持功能。新的生物物理学和分子技术将被用于在模式植物中鉴定转运蛋白，概念验证互补实验旨在赋予敏感植物耐盐性。这些基本见解可能会导致耐盐性的快速，逐步变化的改善，特别是在农业相关作物中，以造福澳大利亚的农业产业，并确保未来的粮食安全。

Yield losses in crop plants due to increasingly saline soils are linked to the effects of salt on chloroplasts. By comparing chloroplast water- and salt-transport mechanisms of closely related salt-loving and salt-sensitive plants, this Fellowships aims to discover how chloroplasts maintain function in saline conditions. Novel biophysics and molecular techniques will be used to characterise transporters in model plants, and proof-of-concept complementation experiments aim to confer salt tolerance on sensitive plants. These fundamental insights are likely to lead to rapid, step-change improvements in salt tolerance, especially in agriculturally relevant crops, to benefit Australia’s agri-industry and ensure food security in the future.