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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Dear colleagues,</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>This may be of interest:</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>From <a href="http://www.industrysearch.com.au/">http://www.industrysearch.com.au</a>
(News Centre)</span></font></p>
<p><b><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Australian
scientists have identified a gene that regulates the water efficiency of
plants, raising prospects of developing more robust plants for crops in dry
area.</span></font></b></p>
<p><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>The Australian
National University (ANU) research team claims the gene is the first to be
discovered that mediates the process critical to plant survival, crop yield and
vegetation dynamics.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>ANU</span></font> Research
School of Biological Sciences researcher Josette Masle, with colleagues Scott
Gilmore and Professor Graham Farquhar, identified the gene in the model plant
Arabidopsis.</p>
<p><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt'><!-- Banner starts here -->
<iframe border=0 marginwidth=0 framespacing=0 marginheight=0
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<!-- Banner ends here -->Arabidopsis is a convenient plant for laboratory
studies of genetics and is one of the few plant species for which the whole
genome has been sequenced.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>"Known as Erecta,
it is the first gene to be discovered for the regulation of the coordination
between plant photosynthesis and transpiration," Dr Masle said in a
statement.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>"Erecta controls
plant transpiration efficiency which is the trade-off between water vapour loss
through the stomata of the plant and the fixation of carbon during
photosynthesis.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>"It is an
essential function to the survival of plants yet until this point little was
known about why some plants lose less water through transpiration than
others."</span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Dr Masle said Erecta
was, to the team's knowledge, the first gene to be shown to mobilise the
coordination between transpiration and photosynthesis and therefore the first
to be identified as a transpiration efficiency gene, as opposed to simply a
stomatal or photosynthesis gene.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Transpiration is the
release of water vapour from a plant's leaf surface during photosynthesis.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Dr Masle said that in
a water-limited environment, transpiration efficiency was obviously critical to
plant survival and crop yield.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>"Our finding will
help unravel some of the unanswered questions about this process and
potentially lead to further development of more robust plants for crop in dry
areas," she said.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=FR
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue;font-style:italic'>Regards,</span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=4 color=blue face="Monotype Corsiva"><span
lang=FR style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Monotype Corsiva";color:blue'>Lorraine
Tran</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=FR
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Technology Curriculum
Manager</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=FR
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>VCAA</span></font><font
size=2 face=Arial><span lang=FR style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=FR
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue;font-style:italic'>Telephone:
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<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=1 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
7.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>The VCAA provides curriculum and assessment
for prep to Year 12. The VCAA is a statutory body directly responsible to the
Minister for Education and Training and serves government and non-government
schools.</span></font></p>
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