Dr Peter Ryan
Principal Research Scientist
CSIRO Plant Industry, GPO Box 1600 , Canberra , ACT 2601, Australia

Personal Website Address:
Email: peter.ryan@csiro.au

Research Aims

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The Big Question

• Mechanisms of metal ion-tolerance in plants (especially those occurring in acid soils like aluminium and manganese)
• Control of organic acid release from plant roots

The Short-term goals

• Generate markers for Al tolerance and P-use efficiency in wheat
• Characterise ALMT1 , the gene controlling Al tolerance in wheat

Group (lab) Members and areas of research

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Scientists/post-docs with direct and indirect interactions:

• Manny Delhaize - Mechanisms of Al and Mn tolerance, P nutrition
• Alan Richardson - Improving plant acquisition of organic P from soils
• Petra Schunmann - Genes associated with P efficiency in wheat
• Mingtan Liao - Developing molecular markers for P efficiency in wheat

Funding

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Current

Graing ene is funding two projects :

1. Improving the P efficiency of wheat;
2. Developing a perfect marker for Al tolerance in wheat.

Applications submitted or planned

1. GATES Foundation for improving the nutrient quality of rice.
2. China-Australia Grant for improving the acid-soil tolerance of pasture species.

Techniques in the Laboratory

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Currently active

• Molecular biology, plant and microbial transformation techniques (yeast, Arabidopsis, barley, rice), electrophysiology

In development

• Patch-clamping

Main areas of expertise

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Top three areas of knowledge

1. Aluminium tolerance, membrane transport, root physiology

Top three technical skills

1. Electrophysiology, gene expression in yeast, cDNA library preparation

 

Publications - Last 5 years

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• Takayuki Sasaki, Yoko Yamamoto, Bunichi Ezaki, Maki Katsuhara, Sung Ju Ahn, Peter R. Ryan , Emmanuel Delhaize, and Hideaki Matsumoto (2004) A wheat gene encoding an aluminum-activated malate transporter. Plant Journal (in press )

• Jones DL and Ryan PR (2003) Mechanisms of aluminium toxicity and tolerance in plants. Encyclopedia of Applied Plant Sciences (in press)

• Delhaize E, Kataoka T, Hebb D, White RG, Ryan PR (2003) Genes encoding proteins of the cation diffusion facilitator family confer manganese tolerance. The Plant Cell 15, 1131-1142.

• Delhaize, E Ryan PR , Hocking PJ, Richardson AE (2003) Effects of altered citrate synthase and isocitrate dehydrogenase expression on internal citrate concentrations of tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum L.) Plant and Soil 248, 137-144.

• Ryan PR , Dong B, Watt M, Kataoka T & Delhaize, E (2003) Strategies to isolate transporters that facilitate organic acid efflux from plant roots. Plant and Soil 248, 61-69.

• Liu G-J, Martin D, Gardner RC, Ryan PR (2002) Large Mg 2+ -dependent currents are associated with the increased expression of ALR1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. FEMS Microbiol Lett . 213, 231-237.

• Kataoka T, Stekelenburg A, Delhaize E, Ryan PR (2002) Several lanthanides activate malate efflux from roots of aluminum-tolerant wheat. Plant Cell and Environment 25, 453-460.

• Ma JF, Ryan PR, Delhaize E (2001) Aluminium tolerance in plants and the complexing role of organic acids. Trends in Plant Science 6, 273-278.

• Delhaize E, Hebb D, Ryan PR (2001) Expression of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa citrate synthase gene in tobacco is not associated with citrate overproduction. Plant Physiology 125, 2059-2067.

• Zhang W-H, Ryan PR , Tyerman SD (2001). Malate-permeable channels and cation channels activated by aluminum in the apical cells of wheat roots. Plant Physiology 125, 1459-1472.

• Ryan, P.R., Delhaize, E., Jones, D.L. (2001) Function and mechanism of organic acid excretion from plant roots. Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology 52, 527-560.

• Sheldon, M.C., Dong, B., de Bruxelles, G.L., Trevaskis, B., Ryan, P.R. , Howitt, S.M., Udvardi, M.K. (2001) Comparative biochemistry and molecular biology of ammonium transportes in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant and Soil 231, 151-160

• Dong, B., Ryan, P.R. , Rengel, Z., Delhaize, E. (1999) Phosphate uptake in Arabidopsis thaliana: dependence of uptake on the expression of transporter genes and internal phosphate concentrations. Plant, Cell and Environment , 22: 1455-1461

• Delhaize. E., Hebb, D.M., Richards, K.D., Lin, J-M, Ryan, P.R. , Gardner, R.C. (1999) Cloning and expression of a wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) cDNA phosphatidylserine synthase cDNA. Journal of Biological Chemistry , 274: 7082-7088