Investment

This GRDC investment supports PhD candidate Tanya Skinner who is completing her PhD at the Australian National University supported by a GRDC Research Scholarship (GRS). Tanya is working to improve photosynthetic yield potential in crops by looking at the carbon dioxide-fixing enzyme Rubisco and ways to improve its CO2-fixing properties. Her research is enabling her to rapidly screen millions of Rubisco mutants for improved function using a bacterial host. This makes it possible for Ms Skinner to characterise the biochemistry of Rubisco mutants prior to transforming them into canola crops to assess plant growth.

Due to exhaustion of yield progress in grains breeding using the 'green revolution' traits, photosynthesis has become a new frontier-breeding target globally. Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) is the key photosynthetic enzyme which catalyses carbon dioxide (CO2) fixation, however it is catalytically inefficient and results in losses of up to 30% of fixed CO2 in plants. Improving crop Rubisco has been a longstanding 'holy grail' in crop bioengineering. This PhD project aims to translate Rubisco-dependent E. coli system system into Brassica napus (canola) Rubisco to improve the rate of carbon capture in canola - a world first in this agronomically and economically important crop.

A GRS supports PhD candidates in delivering innovative research that addresses constraints or builds opportunities for Australian grain growers to help improve their farm business sustainability and profitability. The three-year scholarship, worth over $35,000 per year, provides high-achieving students with the financial and industry support to complete their PhD in an area aligned with GRDC's RD&E Plan 2023-28.