Contact us
- Associate Professor David Field
- E: david.field@mq.edu.au
Identifying genetic sources of adaptive variability
Our aim is to unlock the genetic and biochemical potential of native plants to accelerate horticulture breeding programs, improve conservation and our understanding of the evolutionary processes generating our remarkable biodiversity.
Genomic & biochemical basis of flower colour
Identifying the genetic sources of adaptive variability is crucial for horticulture and the conservation of Australia’s unique biological resources. Flower colour is an important trait for plants for attracting pollinators and in species diversification. For the horticultural industry, the shuffling of natural genetic variation via intentional hybridisation has been an important technique for generating novel trait combinations that don’t exist in nature. In this project we are focusing on Kangaroo paws (Anigozanthos) of Western Australia, an iconic group of native plants with a remarkable diversity of flower colours and natural hybrid zones. The goal is to understand the genetic and biochemical basis of different colours in the genus to accelerate breeding programs and to learn about how this variation arose and is maintained in nature.
To achieve these goals, we take an integrative systems biology approach – using whole genomes, genetic mapping, transcriptomics, biochemistry and evolutionary analyses to map the distribution of adaptive variation along the genome, space and time. We are targeting both naturally occurring colour varieties and variation in hybrid zones together with the striking blue colours that have been developed in horticultural breeding programs by our industry partners. This new knowledge should help horticultural programs to more easily breed varieties with desirable and highly marketable new colours, and assist in conserving these amazing Australian plants.
Our work on kangaroo paws is highly complementary to ongoing and long-term projects we have on flower colour, hybrid zones, speciation genomics and fitness landscapes on the model plant Antirrhinum (Snapdragons). Contact us to get involved in our research programs on flower colour evolution and speciation on Australian plants or Snapdragons.
Funding: Australian Research Council (ARC), Kings Park Botanic Gardens Park Authority
Partners: Kings Park Botanic Gardens Park Authority, Australian Genome Research Facility, University of Western Australia (Kangaroo Paws). Institute of Science and Technology Austria, University of Vienna, John Innes Centre (Snapdragons)
Contact: Associate Professor David Field, david.field@mq.edu.au