The Groups > Professor Craig Atkins
 

Professor Craig Atkins
Professor Plant Biology (Botany)
School of Plant Biology, The University of Western Australia ,
35 Stirling Highway , Crawley WA 6009

Personal Website Address:
Email: catkins@cyllene.uwa.edu.au

Research Aims
RETURN TO TOP

The Big Picture

  • Regulation of source/sink relations in plants.
  • The discovery and identification of signal molecules (siRNA's and peptides) in the long distance translocation channels of legumes that regulate gene expression in shoot and root stem cells (meristems).
  • Integration of phloem mobile signals with the nutrition of developing grain in lupins.

Short-Term Goals

  • Dual targeting of single gene products to plastids and mitochondria in plants.
  • Exploiting a GE approach to generate narrow leafed lupins with a high content of oil.
  • Regulation of gene expression in developing lupin seeds.
  • Identification of phloem borne 'signals' in lupin that regulate floral transition, cluster root initiation and induction of nodules in response to Bradyrhizobium.
  • Studies of the Ant/bacterial/extra-floral nectary relationships in cowpea.
Group (lab) Members and areas of research
RETURN TO TOP
  • Craig Atkins- Plant physiology/ biochemistry
  • Penny Smith- Plant molecular biology
  • Anthea Mann- Plant molecular biology
  • Margo Ferguson- Plant molecular biology
  • Natalie Fletcher- Legume transformation and microscopy
Funding
RETURN TO TOP

Current

  • ARC-Discovery (Atkins, Smith and Whelan)- Genomic approaches to investigate metabolic co-ordination in plant cells.
  • ARC-Discovery (Atkins)- Translocated signals regulating stem cell (meristem) activity in legumes.
  • GRDC- (Atkins in collaboration with staff in CSIRO (PI), Univ Melbourne and Queen's Univ Ontario )- Quantifying the effect of hydrogen gas on soil biota and crop performance.
  • GRDC- (Atkins and Smith)- Lupin grain development and genetic engineering to alter grain quality.
  • GRDC- (Atkins, Smith and Ferguson )- Characterization and manipulation of genes important for yield and quality in lupins.

Applications submitted or planned

Techniques in the Laboratory
RETURN TO TOP

Currently active

  • Gene cloning and analysis
  • Transformation in Lupin, Pea, Chickpea, Lentil, Faba Bean, Arabidopsis, Tobacco
  • Protein isolation, purification and characterization
  • Enzymology
  • Microscopy (EM, confocal and light)
  • HPLC and GC/MS analysis
  • Stable isotope analysis by IRMS
In development
Main areas of expertise
RETURN TO TOP

Top three areas of knowledge

  1. Purine biosynthesis in plants
  2. N nutrition N fixation and metabolism
  3. Long distance translocation

Top three technical skills

  1. Transformation of legume species
  2. Sampling and analysis of phloem and xylem
  3. Organelle isolation from legume nodules
Publications - Last 5 years
RETURN TO TOP

  • Atkins CA (2004) Nitrogen Metabolism. In Encyclopedia of Grain Science. Eds. C Wrigley, H Corke and C Walker. Elsevier Science, London UK (in press).

  • Emery RJN and Atkins CA (2004) CK/Seed. Handbook of Seed Science. Ed. A Basra . (in press)

  • Atkins CA and Smith PMC (2003) Transformation of Lupins. In, Biotechnology for the Improvement of Legumes. Eds, P K Jaiwal and R P Singh. pp 205-211.

  • Goggin DE, Lipscombe R, Fedorova E, Millar SH, Mann A, Atkins CA and Smith PMC (2003) Dual intracellular localization and targeting of aminoimidazole ribonucleotide synthetase in cowpea. Plant Physiology 131: 1033-1041.

  • Hardarson G and Atkins CA (2003) Optimizing Biological Nitrogen Fixation by Legumes in Farming Systems. Plant and Soil. 252: 41-54.

  • Francki MG, Whitaker P, Smith PMC and Atkins CA (2002) Differential expression of a novel gene during triacylglycerol accumulation in lupin species (Lupinus angustifolius L. and L. mutabilis L.). Funct Integr Genomics 2: 292-300.

  • Atkins CA and Thumfort PP (2002) Assimilation of Fixed-N in a ureide-forming symbiosis. In Nitrogen Fixation: Global Perspectives (eds T Finan, M O'Brian, D Layzell, K Vessey, W Newton) CAB International Wallingford OXON UK . pp 256-257.

  • Smith P M C, Winter H, Storer P J, Bussell J D, Schuller KA, and. Atkins CA (2002) Effect of short-term N2 deficiency on expression of the ureide pathway in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) root nodules. Plant Physiology 129: 1216-1221.

  • Emery RJN and Atkins CA (2002) Chapter 25. Roots and Cytokinins. In, Plant Roots: The Hidden Half, 3rd Edition. Ed, Y Waisel, A Eshel and U Kafkafi. Marcel Decker, New York . pp 417-433.

  • Smith PMC and Atkins CA (2002) Purine Biosynthesis: Big in cell division- even bigger in nitrogen assimilation. Plant Physiology UPDATE 128: 793-802.

  • Peltzer SC , Abbott LK and Atkins CA (2002) Effect of low root zone temperature on nodule initiation in narrow-leafed lupin (Lupinus angustifolius L.). Aust J Agric Res 53, 1-11.

  • Clements JC and Atkins CA (2001) Characterisation of a non-abscission mutant in Lupinus angustifolius L.: Physiological aspects. Annals of Botany 88: 629-635.

  • Clements J and Atkins CA (2001) Characterisation of a non-abscission mutant in Lupinus angustifolius L. I. Genetic, and structural aspects. American Journal of Botany 88: 31-42.

  • Atkins C , Smith P, Mann A and Thumfort P (2001) Localization of carbonic anhydrase in legume nodules. Plant Cell and Environment 24: 317-326.

  • Emery, R.J.N., Ma Qifu and Atkins C.A . (2000) The forms and sources of cytokinins in developing Lupinus seeds and fruits. Plant Physiology 123: 1593-1604.

  • Atkins, C. A . (2000) Biochemical aspects of assimilate exchange along the phloem path: Exchange of N-solutes in lupin. Australian Journal of Plant Physiology 27: 531-537.

  • Atkins , C.A. and Smith, P.M.C. (2000) Genetic Transformation of Legumes. In: Nitrogen Fixation: From Molecules to Crop Productivity. Eds. F O Pedrosa, M Hungria, MG Yates and WE Newton . Kluwer Academic Press, Dordrecht . p. 647-652.

  • Atkins CA and Smith PMC (2000) Ureide Synthesis in Legume Nodules. In E Triplett (ed) Nitrogen Fixation in Bacteria: Molecular and Cellular Biology. University of Wisconsin p 559-588.

  • Thumfort PP, Layzell DB and Atkins CA (2000) A simplified approach to modelling diffusion into cells. J Theor Biol 204: 47-65.

  • Thumfort PP, Layzell DB and Atkins CA (1999) Diffusion and Reaction of Oxygen in the Central Tissue of Ureide-Producing Legume Nodules. Plant Cell and Environment 22: 1351-1363.

  • Atkins CA . (1999). Spontaneous phloem exudation accompanying abscission in Lupinus mutabilis (Sweet). Journal of Experimental Botany 50: 805-812.

  • Kuzma MM, Winter H, Storer PJ, Oresnik I, Atkins CA , and Layzell DB. (1999) The site of O2 limitation in soybean nodules Plant Physiology 119: 399-407.

 

© COPYRIGHT TO THE AUSTRALIAN PLANT NUTRIOMICS NETWORK    |    DISCLAIMER/COPYRIGHT    |    RETURN TO TOP