Towards improving the role of canola and other Brassicas during drought

In recent years Australia has faced unprecedented drought that has impacted the agricultural sector. Our project will enable us to improve the productivity of canola and ultimately other Brassicas during drought. The Pogson lab at ANU has determined that altering the amount of one protein, called SAL1, can enhance tolerance to drought in a close relative of Canola, called Arabidopsis. A strength of this proposal is we can use non-GM or GM strategies to achieve the goal of improved drought tolerance in Canola. At the same time we will gain fundamental insight into a novel area of drought stress signaling and developmental biology. Our partner has operations in Australia and India so our product will have a global market.