The Groups > Professor David Day
 

Professor David Day
Head of Discipline
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
School of Biomedical & Chemical Sciences
University of Western Australia

Email: dday@cyllene.uwa.edu.au

Academic Qualifications:
Diploma of Teaching, Adelaide Teachers College: 1970
B.Sc. (Hons) Adelaide University: 1971
Ph.D. University of Adelaide: 1975

Research Aims
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My current research attempts to marry traditional biochemistry/physiology approaches with those of molecular biology and genomics to solve problems in the regulation of cellular processes in plants. We focus on the molecular biology and genomics of electron and ion transport processes, and associated pathways of carbon and nitrogen metabolism, in plants. While this is essentially fundamental research on plant mitochondria and symbiotic membranes, practical applications may arise from the results obtained as new concepts and observations are used to direct the genetic engineering of crop plants. For example, the use of transgenic technology originally designed to investigate fundamental aspects of electron transport in mitochondria may generate plants with altered respiration and possible commercially important traits. Our studies on transport mechanisms in symbiotic membranes of legumes are finding new processes, which have relevance to nutrient acquisition in general in plants.

Symbiotic nitrogen fixation

Within a legume root nodule, nitrogen-fixing bacteroids are enclosed in a plant membrane, the peribacteroid membrane (PBM), which effectively excludes the microsymbiont from the host cell's cytoplasm and controls all exchanges between the symbiotic partners. This structure is common to the majority of endosymbiotic associations found throughout nature, including some parasitic associations such as Legionnaires disease. Results we obtain with legumes such as soybean may therefore be pertinent to a wide range of different systems. My research group pioneered a study of this membrane and its transport properties. We have identified a number of transport proteins on the PBM of soybean and are now attempting to isolate the genes encoding these proteins. Details of their structure and the regulation of their expression may allow us to modify their activity and improve the efficiency of this agriculturally important process. To date we have isolated cDNA clones encoding proteins involved in ammonium transport, iron and zinc transport and membrane energisation (H+-ATPases). Future work will focus on characterising these transporters and discovering new transport proteins, utilising the Medicago truncatula genomic database.

Mitochondrial metabolism

Mitochondria are the sub-cellular organelles responsible for oxidative phosphorylation and therefore are essential for the growth and survival of all eukaryote organisms. In addition to their primary role in the energy balance of cells, plant mitochondria play important roles in floral development and fertility, they underlie the respiratory bursts which drive the climacteric of certain fruit and thermogenesis in some plants, and they are the site of several biosynthetic pathways (eg, folic acid, lipoic acid and vitamin C). Mitochondria have been implicated in systemic acquired resistance against viruses and they are also involved in programmed cell death (apoptosis). The latter phenomenon is likely to be particularly important in the hypersensitive response to pathogen attack in resistant plants and during senescence of plant organs. Mitochondria are also a site for generation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). ROS generation occurs in response to many environmental stresses and it is essential that mitochondrial involvement in these responses be understood. Finding the genes and proteins that initiate and control the functions and interactions of mitochondria in plants (ie, the functional genomics of mitochondria), utilising the Arabidopsis and rice genome data bases, is the foundation of our current work in this area.

Group (laboratory) members and Areas of Research
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  • Ms Joanne Castelli (Research Assistant/PhD student) Fe transport in soybean
  • Ms Helle Christoffersen (PhD student) Organic and amino transport in nodules
  • Ms Liz MacLean (Research Assistant) Ammonia transport in nodules
  • Ms Alison Winger (PhD student) Oxidative stress and mitochondria
  • Mr Nic Taylor (Research Associate) Oxidative stress and mitochondria
Funding
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Current

ARC Discovery grants:

  • * Functional Genomics of Plant Mitochondria, ARC Discovery $2.4m (CIs DA Day, AH Millar, J Whelan, K Singh) 2002-2006

  • * Molecular analysis of the symbiotic interface of N2-fixing legumes, ARC Discovery $450,000 (CIs D.A. Day, M. Ludwig, B. N. Kaiser and S.D. Tyerman 2004-2006)

Technical skills in the group
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Current

Membrane and organelle purification and fractionation; Polarographic and spectrophotometric analyses; Radioisotope flux measurements; Cell culture; Heterologous expression of membrane proteins in yeast; Real-time PCR analysis of transcript abundance; Electrophoresis and western blotting; microscopy and immuncytochemistry; Protein purification and antibody production

In development

In situ hybridisation; legume transformation

Main areas of expertise
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Top Three areas of knowledge

  1. Bioenergetics
  2. Membrane biology
  3. Legume nitrogen fixation

Top Three Techniques

  1. Purification and fractionation of membranes and organelles
  2. Heterologous expression of proteins in yeast
  3. Electrophoresis and protein analysis
A statement on your most significant contributions to this research field
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My major contribution to the field of nutrient acquisition in plants has come via my work on symbiotic nitrogen fixation. This principally involved my recognition of the importance of the symbiosome membrane in the control of metabolic exchange between bacteroids and plant, and the development of techniques to study the properties of this membrane in an intact state. A hallmark of my research has been the integration of physiology and biochemistry with molecular biology. My research group pioneered the isolation of intact symbiosomes from legume nodules, and their use in transport assays, and discovered transport systems for malate, ammonium, zinc and iron across the PBM. We were also the first to demonstrate energisation of the PBM by an ATPase. In collaboration with Steve Tyerman's group, we discovered novel mechanisms for the transport of ammoniun across symbiotic membranes, involving a unique ion channel on the symbiosome membrane. This collaboration led to papers in Nature, Science and the Plant Journal, amongst others. More recently, we have identified a number of genes encoding symbiotic transport proteins. This research has changed the way other workers in the field view these processes. In addition to this, I have made substantial contributions to our understanding of metabolite transport in plant mitochondria, especially that involving organic acids and glycine metabolism. Evidence of international recognition of this work has come in the form of frequent invitations to international meetings (either to give papers or chair symposia) and invitations to write reviews in major plant physiology and cell biology journals. In 1999 I was asked to give the JG Wood memorial lecture at the ASPP annual meeting and I am regularly invited to give lectures at other national and international meetings. I have supervised, or co-supervised, more than 30 successful PhD students and about 25 honours students, and trained six postdoctoral fellows.

Other evidence of impact and contributions to the field
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I have maintained a high level of productivity despite a large administrative load and to date have published 149 articles in refereed journals, 22 invited reviews and book chapters, one book (another is in preparation), 20 full papers in proceedings of meetings, and 43 published abstracts. I am one of 13 Australian plant scientisits on the ISI list of most highly cited authors. In 1989 I was elected to the Editorial Board of the journal Plant Physiology and in 1991 to the Advisory Board of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry . I am currently on the Editorial Boards of the journals Biochimica Biophysica Acta , The Biochemical Journal and Symbiosis . I contributed chapters for the textbooks Plants in Action and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Plants . I have served as Manager for Education and Communication in the CRC for Plant Science (which included supervision of the Green Machine hands-on public science centre) and was founder and initial convenor of the Graduate Program for Plant Science at ANU. I am a former member of the ARC Biological Sciences Advisory Panel. Awards include a Queen Elizabeth II Postdoctoral Fellowship, French Government Scientific Fellowship, Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research (ZWO) Award, Australian Academy of Science /Royal Society Scientific and Technological Exchange Fellowship. I am a member of the Australian Society of Plant Scientists, American Society of Plant Biologists, Australian Society for Nitrogen Fixation, and the Australian Society for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. I am a reviewer for the National Science Foundation (U.S.A.), United States Department of Agriculture, Australian Research Council, Research Council of Canada, BBRC (UK). I am a referee for: Plant Physiology, Biochimica Biophysica Acta, Australian Journal of Plant Physiology, Symbiosis, Journal of Experimental Botany, Archives of Microbiology, Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, Physiologia Plantarum, Proceedings Royal Society (Lond.), Tree Physiology, Journal of Plant Physiology, Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Planta, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Biochemical Journal, FEBS Letters, Symbiosis, The Plant Journal, and others .

I am Editor of The Biochemical Journal , also BBA Bioenergetics and Symbiosis .

Any aspects of your career or opportunities for research that are relevant to assessment and that have not been detailed elsewhere in this application.

At the end of 1999 I moved from Canberra to Perth to take up the Chair of Biochemistry at UWA. This relocation caused a serious disruption to my research over the following two years.

Publications - Last 5 years
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Book chapters

  • Millar, AH, Day DA , Whelan J. (2004) Mitochondrial biogenesis and function in Arabidopsis, The Arabidopsis Book, eds. C.R. Somerville and E.M. Meyerowitz, American Society of Plant Biologists, Rockville, MD, http://www.aspb.org/publications/arabidopsis/

  • Millar AH, Mathieu C, Day, DA . 2002 Nitric oxide synthesis by plants and its potential impact on nitrogen and respiratory metabolism. In , Christine H. Foyer and Graham Noctor (eds): Photosynthetic Nitrogen Assimilation and Associated Carbon Metabolism, (Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration, vol 12) pp. 193-224. Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands .

  • Atkin, O.K. A.H., Millar, P. Gardeström and D.A. Day. 2000. Relationships between photosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism and respiration. In Photosynthesis: Physiology and Metabolism (Advances in Photosynthesis Vol 9), eds RC Leegood, TD Sharkey and S von Caemmerer, pp. 153-175, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht

Refereed journal articles

  • Heazlewood JL, JS Tonti-Filippini, A Gout, DA Day , J Whelan and AH Millar. (2004) Experimental Analysis of the Arabidopsis Mitochondrial Proteome Highlights Signalling and Regulatory Components, Provides Assessment of Targeting Prediction Programs and Points to Plant Specific Mitochondrial Proteins. The Plant Cell in press.

  • Taylor NL, Heazlewood JL, Day DA and Millar AH. (2004) Lipoic acid-dependent oxidative catabolism of a -keto acids in mitochondria provides evidence for branched chain amino acid catabolism in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology , in press .

  • Shane MW, Cramer MD, Funayama-Noguchi S, Cawthray GR, Millar AH, Day DA and Lambers H. (2004) Developmental physiology of cluster-root carboxylate synthesis and exudation in Hakea prostrata R.Br. (Proteaceae): Expression of PEP-carboxylase and the alternative oxidase. Plant Physiology , in press.

  • Kurimoto K, Day DA , Lambers H and Noguchi K. (2004) Effect of respiratory homeostasis on plant growth in cultivars of wheat and rice. Plant Cell Environment , in press

  • Thi-Phuong Hoa L, Nomura M, Kajiwara H, Day DA and Tajima S. (2004) Proteomic analysis of symbiotic differentiation of mitochondria in soybean nodules. Plant Cell Physiology , in press .

  • Norman C, Howell KA, Millar AH, Whelan J and Day DA .(2004) Salicylic Acid is an uncoupler and inhibitor of mitochondrial electron transport. Plant Physiology 134, 492-501.

  • Moore CS, Cook-Johnson RJ, Rudhe C, Whelan J, Day DA ,Wiskich JT, and. Soole KL. (2003) Identification of AtNDI1, an Internal Non-Phosphorylating NAD(P)H Dehydrogenase in Arabidopsis Mitochondria. Plant Physiology 133: 1968-1978.

  • Daley DO, Considine MJ, Howell KA, Millar AH, Day DA and Whelan J. (2003) Respiratory Gene Expression in Soybean Cotyledons During Post-Germinative Development. Plant Molecular Biology 51: 745-755.

  • Herald VL, Heazlewood JL, Day DA , Millar AH. (2003) Proteomic Identification of Divalent Metal Cation Binding Proteins in Plant Mitochondria. FEBS Letters 537: 96-100.

  • Kaiser BN, Moreau S, Castelli J, Thomson R, Lambert A, Bogliolo S, Puppo A, Day DA . (2003) The Soybean NRAMP homologue, GmDMT1, is a Symbiotic Divalent Metal Transporter capable of Ferrous Iron Transport. The Plant Journal , 35: 295-304.

  • Heazlewood JL, Millar AH, Day DA and Whelan J. 2003. What makes a mitochondrion? Genome Biology 4: 218-221.

  • Taylor NL, Day DA and Millar AH. 2003. Targets of stress-induced oxidative damage in plant mitochondria and their impact on cell carbon/nitrogen metabolism. Journal of Experimental Botany 55: 1-10.

  • Taylor NL , Rudhe C , Hulett JM , Lithgow T , Glaser E , Day DA , Millar AH and Whelan J. (2003) Environmental Stresses Inhibit and Stimulate Different Protein Import Pathways in Plant Mitochondria. FEBS Letters 547: 125-130 .

  • Holtzapffel RC Castelli J, Finnegan PM, Millar AH, Whelan J, and Day DA . (2003) A tomato alternative oxidase protein with altered regulatory properties. BBA Bioenergetics 1606: 153-162.

  • Thirkettle-Watts D, McCabe TC, Clifton R, Moore C, Finnegan PM, Day DA and Whelan J. (2003) Analysis of the Alternative Oxidase Promoters from Soybean. Plant Physiology 133: 1158-1169

  • *Moreau S, Thomson R, Kaiser B, Trevaskis B, Guerinot ML, Udvardi MK, Puppo A, and Day DA. (2002) GmZIP1 encodes a symbiosis specific zinc transporter in soybean. Journal Biological Chemistry , 277:4738-4746.

  • Holtzapffel RC, Finnegan PM , Millar AH, Badger MR, Day DA . (2002) Respiratory gene expression in tomato fruit during ripening and cold storage. Functional Plant Biology 29: 827-835.

  • *Li Y, Parsons R, Day DA , and Bergersen FJ. (2002) Reassessment of major products of N 2 fixation by bacteroids from soybean root nodules. Microbiology 148: 1959-1966 .

  • Djajanegara I, Finnegan PM, Mathieu C, McCabe T, Whelan J and Day DA . (2002). Regulation of alternative oxidase gene expression in soybean. Plant Molecular Biology . 50: 735-742.

  • Considine MJ, Holtzapffel RC, Day DA , Whelan J and Millar AH. (2002) Molecular Distinction between Alternative Oxidases from Monocots and Dicots. Plant Physiology . 129: 949-953

  • Sweetlove LJ, Heazlewood JL, Herald V, Holtzapffel R, Day DA , Leaver CJ, Millar AH. (2002) The impact of oxidative stress on Arabidopsis mitochondria. The Plant Journal 32, 891-904

  • Taylor NL, Day DA and Millar AH. (2002) Environmental stress causes oxidative damage to mitochondria in plants and inhibits glycine decarboxylase. Journal of Biological Chemistry 277: 42663-42668

  • Millar AH, MJ Considine, DA Day and J Whelan 2001. Unravelling the role of mitochondria during oxidative stress in plants. IUBMB Life 51: 201-205 .

  • *Li Y., Green L.S., Holtzapffel R., Day D.A. and Bergersen F.J. (2001) Supply of O 2 regulates demand for O 2 and uptake of malate by N 2 -fixing bacteroids from soybean nodules. Microbiology , 147: 663-670.

  • *Whitehead, L. F., S. D. Tyerman and D. A. Day (2001) The effect of polyamines on nutrient transport across the peribacteroid membrane in soybean root nodules. Australian Journal Plant Physiology ,28: 675-681.

  • * Day DA , Kaiser BN, Thomson R, Udvardi MK, Moreau S and Puppo A. 2001. Nutrient transport across symbiotic membranes from legume nodules. Australian Journal Plant Physiology ,28: 667-674.

  • *Green L.S., Li Y., Emerich D.W., Bergersen F.J., Day D.A. (2000) Catabolism of a -ketoglutarate by a sucA mutant of Bradyrhizbium japonicum : evidence for an alternative TCA cycle. J Bacteriology 182(10): 2838-2844.

  • *Day, D.A., P. S. Poole, S. D. Tyerman and L. Rosendahl 2000. Ammonia and amino acid transport across symbiotic membranes in nitrogen-fixing legume nodules. Cell and Molecular Life Science 58: 61-71.

  • Pádua, M., S. Aubert, A. Casimiro, R. Bligny, A.H. Millar and D.A. Day. 1999. Induction of alternative oxidase synthesis in copper-treated sycamore cells. Plant Physiology Biochemistry , 37: 131-137.

  • Finnegan, P.M., Wooding, A.R. and D.A. Day . 1999. The AOA antibody recognises a highly conserved sequence among alternative oxidase subunits. FEBS Letters , 447:21-24.

  • Tanudji, M., Djajanegara, I.N., Daley, D.O., McCabe, T.C. , Finnegan, P.M., Day, D.A ., and Whelan, J. 1999. The multiple alternative oxidase proteins of soybean. Australian Journal of Plant Physiology , 26: 337-344.

  • *Fedorova, E., Thomson, R., Whitehead, L. F., Udvardi M. K. and Day, D. A. 1999. Localization of H + -ATPases in soybean root nodules. Planta 209: 25-32 .

  • Whelan J. , Smith M.K., Finnegan P.M. and Day D.A . 1999 Cloning and Sequencing of a Genomic Clone for the Alternative Oxidase (Accession no. AF 083880) from Soybean. Plant Physiology (PGR) 120, 633.

  • Djajanegara, I. , Holtzapffel, R.C., Finnegan, P.M., Hoefnagel, M. H. N., Berthold, D.A., Wiskich, J.T. and Day, D.A. 1999. A Single Amino Acid Change in the Plant Alternative Oxidase Alters the Specificity of Organic Acid Activation. FEBS Letters 454: 220-224.

  • Henry, B.K., Atkin, O.K., Day, D.A. , Millar, A.H., Menz , R.I. and Farquhar, G.D. 1999 Calculation of the oxygen isotope discrimination factor for studying plant respiration. Aust. J. Plant Physiol 26: 773-780.

Conference papers

  • *Day, D.A . 2000 Symbiosome metabolism. In: "Nitrogen Fixation: From Molecules to Crop Productivity" (F.O. Pedosa, M. Hungria, M.G. Yates& W.E. Newton eds.) Kluwer Acad. Publ. pp349-50.
Ten career-best publications (arranged chronologically)
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  1. Kaiser BN, Moreau S, Castelli J, Thomson R, Lambert A, Bogliolo S, Puppo A, Day DA . (2003) The Soybean NRAMP homologue, GmDMT1, is a Symbiotic Divalent Metal Transporter capable of Ferrous Iron Transport. The Plant Journal 35: 295-304 .

  2. Moreau S, Thomson R, Kaiser B, Trevaskis B, Guerinot ML, Udvardi MK, Puppo A, and Day DA. (2002) GmZIP1 encodes a symbiosis specific zinc transporter in soybean. Journal of Biological Chemistry , 277:4738-4746.

  3. Djajanegara, I. , Holtzapffel, R.C., Finnegan, P.M., Hoefnagel, M. H. N., Berthold, D.A., Wiskich, J.T. and Day, D.A. 1999. A Single Amino Acid Change in the Plant Alternative Oxidase Alters the Specificity of Organic Acid Activation. FEBS Letters 454: 220-224.

  4. Kaiser, B. N., Finnegan, P. M., Tyerman, S. D., Whitehead, L. F., Bergersen, F.J., Day, D. A. and Udvardi, M. K. 1998. Characterisation of an ammonium transport protein from the peribacteroid membrane of soybean nodules. Science 281: 1202-1206.

  5. Tyerman , S.D. , Whitehead, L. & Day, D.A . 1995. A channel permeable to ammonium on the symbiotic interface between a legume and nitrogen-fixing bacteroids. Nature . 378, 629-632.

  6. Millar, A.H., J.T. Wiskich, J. Whelan & D.A. Day . 1993. Activation of the alternative oxidase of plant mitochondria by organic acids. FEBS Letters 329, 259-262.

  7. Day, D.A. , G.D. Price & M.I. Udvardi. 1989. The membrane interface of the Bradyrhizobium japonicum - Glycine max symbiosis: peribacteroid units from soybean nodules. Australian. Journal of Plant Physiol . 16. 69-84

  8. Udvardi, M.K., G.D. Price, P.M. Gresshoff & D.A. Day . 1988. A dicarboxylate carrier on the peribacteroid membrane from soybean nodules. FEBS Letters , 231, 36-40

  9. Day, D.A . & J.T. Wiskich. 1981. Glycine metabolism and oxaloacetate transport by pea leaf mitochondria. Plant Physiology 68, 425-429

  10. Day, D.A. & J.B. Hanson. 1977. Pyruvate and malate transport and oxidation by isolated corn mitochondria. Plant Physiology 59, 630-635

 

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