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Super plants in gene centre's sights
25 Sep 2003
A $20 million agricultural gene research centre was opened in Melbourne by the Victorian Innovation Minister, John Brumby, on September 23. The Victorian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics was given a $4 million grant from the State Government's science, technology and innovation program.
The centre, which is based at the University of Melbourne, aims to assist in finding ways to lower pesticide and herbicide use, and to produce drought, frost and salinity-resistant plants.
The centre's researchers are already examining native and exotic grasses that carry adaptive genes offering tolerance to environmental stresses, including a salt-tolerant grass, Agrostis robusta, previously thought to be extinct; weeping grasses, Microlaena stipoides, that are tolerant to soil aluminium levels; Antarctic hair grass, Deschampsia antarctica, which can handle extreme cold; and hypoallergenic rye grasses that can reduce hay fever.
Weekly Times, 24/9/03, page 22.
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