Plant genomics centre lands international research headquarters

The Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, which was officially opened in Adelaide last week, has taken on the headquarters for the International Triticeae Mapping Initiative (ITMI) -- an international forum for the discussion and coordination of public sector research into the genetics and genomics of cereals including wheat, barley, rye and their wild relatives.

It's quite a coup for the Centre, said CEO Prof Peter Langridge, and reflects the country's high profile in wheat and barley research.

"We work together as a community to develop resources to accelerate research in wheat and barley genomics," he said.

The ITMI got its start about 10 years ago, after the cereal research community decided to establish a EST sequencing effort for wheat which saw the number of ESTs jump for a mere 14 to over 1000 in several months.

More recently, the organisation has been coordinating the development of microarrays including a barley array being developed through a collaboration between Affymetrix and public sector barley researchers which will become a reference standard for all barley microarray analysis.

Langridge said ITMI essentially comprised every major cereal research lab in the world, including researchers from most developed nations and many developing countries.

The ACPFG was established in December 2002 with $27 million in funding from the ARC, the Grains Research and Development Corporation and the South Australian government, as well as an additional $30 million from the University of Adelaide, the University of Melbourne, Victoria's Department of Primary Industries and the University of Queensland.

According to Langridge, the centre's research programs are primarily focused on the genetics and genomics of abiotic stress tolerance, including drought, salt and frost tolerance, as well as quality characteristics and disease resistance.

"We use genomics to understand the genetic control of traits, and to make improvements," he said. "Our interests go right from fundamental research into genes and processes through to breeding programs."

The centre maintains strong links with Australian and international cereal breeding programs and research organisations, and is also developing a commercialisation group to capitalise on the IP it generates.

"We're starting to file patents and we're also talking to international companies about developing collaborative programs -- the talks are quite advanced," Langridge said.