Targeting chloroplasts to enhance crop salt tolerance

日益盐碱化的土壤造成的作物产量损失与盐分对叶绿体的影响有关。通过比较亲缘关系密切的喜盐植物和敏感植物的叶绿体水分和盐分运输机制，本奖学金旨在发现叶绿体如何在盐分条件下维持功能。新的生物物理学和分子技术将被用来描述模式植物中的转运蛋白，概念验证补充实验旨在赋予敏感植物耐盐性。这些基本的见解可能导致耐盐性的快速、渐进的改善，特别是与农业相关的作物，从而使澳大利亚的农业工业受益，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.