Control of crop-microbe symbiosis by new plant hormones

该项目旨在发现植物如何使用被称为丁烯内酯的类似激素的化学物质来控制与土壤真菌的共生关系。它将使用多学科和协作技术来确定丁烯内酯代谢如何影响真菌定植的多样性。该项目的预期成果包括更深入地了解植物如何调节根部寄生共生真菌的能力，以及这如何影响植物的生长。因此，它将产生关于如何对大麦等谷物进行改良以提高其养分利用效率的知识。该项目的好处包括减少化肥投入的潜力，从而提高澳大利亚农业的竞争力和环境影响。

This project aims to discover how plants use hormone-like chemicals, called butenolides, to control symbiotic relationships with soil fungi. It will use multidisciplinary and collaborative techniques to establish how butenolide metabolism affects the diversity of fungal colonisation. Expected outcomes of this project include a deeper understanding of how plants regulate the competency of roots to host symbiotic fungi, and how this affects plant growth. As such, it will generate knowledge of how cereals such as barley could be modified to improve their nutrient use efficiency. Benefits of this project include the potential to reduce fertiliser inputs, thereby improving the competitiveness and environmental impact of Australian agriculture.