Dr Dean Price
Senior Fellow
Molecular Plant Physiology
Research School of Biological Sciences
Building 46, RSBS Building
The Australian National University
ACT 0200 Australia
Personal Website Address: http://www.rsbs.anu.edu.au/profiles/price.asp
Email: Dean.Price@anu.edu.au
The Price lab is presently focusing on the molecular biology and physiology of photosynthesis in cyanobacteria (blue-green photosynthetic bacteria) with emphasis on gaining a full understanding of the adaptive mechanism known as a the "CO2 concentrating mechanism" in these organisms. The CCM operates to elevate the CO2 concentration around the otherwise substrate-limited primary carboxylase, Rubisco, thus improving the efficiency of photosynthetic CO2 fixation. The system features inducible and constitutive transporters for CO2 and HCO3- that actively accumulate HCO3- within the cell through a light-dependent process. A suite of defined CCM mutants for intensive analysis plus the availability of several complete genome sequence databases for cyanobacteria, A long-term goal of this work is to allow the engineering of some useful CCM components into higher plants so that water and nitrogen-use efficiency can be improved.
A particular focus at present is the physiological and molecular analysis of HCO 3 - transporters from marine cyanobacteria.
Fields of study: Ion transport mechanisms; Plant physiology and molecular biology; Molecular and physiological analysis of CO2 concentrating mechanisms in cyanobacteria; Construction and analysis of mutants; CO2 sensing in cyanobacteria; Regulation of gene expression; Proteomic identification of protein complexes; Photosynthetic enzymes; electron microscopy
| Group (lab) Members and areas of research
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- Dr Dean Price (lab leader).
- Dr Fiona Wodger (PDF)
- Ms Loraine Tucker (Research assistant)
Current
- ARC Discovery grant on "proteomic analysis of cyanobacterial carboxysomes" - with Prof. Murray Badger.
Applications submitted or planned
- ARC Discovery grant on "physiological analysis of bicarbonate transporters from marine cyanobacteria" - Dr Fiona Woodger.
| Techniques in the Laboratory
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Currently active
- Membrane inlet mass spectrometry(MIMS)
- General Molecular biology
- RT-PCR analysis of gene transcript abundance
- Proteomic techniques
In development
- Advanced molecular techniques
- Advanced proteomic techniques
Techniques used
- Analysis of changes in transcript abundance using Real time RT-PCR
- Proteome analysis of protein complexes using protein mass spectrometry
- Physiological analysis of photosynthetic fluxes using Membrane-inlet mass
- spectrometry
- Structure-function analysis of CO2 transporters using Site-
Top three areas of knowledge
- Photosynthesis
- Ion transport processes
- Molecular biology
Top three technical skills
- Photosynthetic physiology
- Genetic manipulation of specific genes
- CO 2 / HCO 3 - exchange kinetics determined by MIMS
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McGinn PJ, Price GD , Badger MR (2004) High Light Enhances the Expression of Low-CO 2 Inducible Transcripts Involved in the CO 2 -Concentrating Mechanism in Synechocystis sp. PCC6803. Plant, Cell & Environment (In Press).
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Von Caemmerer S, Quinn V, Hancock NC , Price GD , Furbank RT, and M Ludwig (2004) Carbonic anhydrase and C4 photosynthesis: a transgenic analysis . Plant, Cell & Environment (In Press).
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Woodger FJ, Badger MR, Price GD (2003) Inorganic carbon limitation induces transcripts encoding components of the CO 2 -concentrating mechanism in Synechococcus sp. PCC7942 through a redox-independent pathway. Plant Physiology 133 : 2069-2080.
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Emlyn-Jones D, Price GD , Andrews TJ (2003) A nitrogen-regulated hyper-mutator strain of Synechococcus for use in in vivo artificial evolution. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 69 : 6427-6433.
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McGinn PJ, Price G D, Maleszka R, Badger MR (2003) Inorganic carbon limitation and light control the expression of transcripts related to the CO2-concentrating mechanism in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. Strain PCC6803. Plant Physiology 132: 218-229.
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Badger MR and Price GD (2003) CO2 concentrating mechanisms in cyanobacteria: molecular components, their diversity and evolution (Review). Journal of Experimental Botany 54: 609-22.
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Price GD , Maeda S, Omata T and Badger MR (2002) Modes of active inorganic carbon uptake in the cyanobacterium, Synechococcus sp. PCC7942. Functional Plant Biology 29: 131-149.
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.Badger MR, Hanson D and Price GD (2002) Evolution and diversity of CO2 concentrating mechanisms in cyanobacteria. Functional Plant Biology 29: 161-173.
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Maeda S, Badger MR, Price GD (2002) Novel gene products associated withNdhD3/D4-containing NDH-1 complexes are involved in photosynthetic CO2hydration in the cyanobacterium, Synechococcus sp. PCC7942. MolecularMicrobiology 43: 425-436.
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Pike CS, Grieve J, Badger MR and Price GD (2001) Thermoprotective properties ofsmall heat shock proteins from rice, tomato, and Synechocystis sp. PCC6803overexpressed in, and isolated from, Escherichia coli. Aust. Journal of PlantPhysiology 28: 1219-29.
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Ludwig M, Sültemeyer D and Price GD . ( 2000) Isolation of ccmKLMN genes from the marine cyanobacterium, Synechococcus sp. PCC7002 (Cyanophyceae), and evidence that CcmM is essential for carboxysome assembly Journal of Phycology 36: 1109-18.
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Maeda S, Price GD , Badger MR, Enomoto C, Omata T. (2000) Bicarbonate-binding activity of the CmpA protein of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. strain PCC 7942 involved in active transport of bicarbonate. Journal of Biological Chemistry 275: 20551-55 .
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Omata T, Price GD , Badger MR, Okamura M, Gohta S, Ogawa T (1999) Identification of an ATP-binding cassette transporter involved in bicarbonate uptake in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. Strain PCC7942. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ( U.S.A. ) 96: 13571-13576.
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Klughammer B, Sültemeyer D, Badger MR, Price GD . (1999) The involvement of NAD(P)H dehydrogenase subunits, NdhD3 and NdhF3, in high affinity CO2 uptake in Synechococcus sp. PCC7002 gives evidence for multiple NDH-1 complexes with specific roles in cyanobacteria.. Molecular Microbiology 32: 1305-1315.
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