3 October 2000 

The inaugural Prime Minister's Prize for Science has gone to two CSIRO scientists for work that
will help boost the world grain harvest by millions of tonnes.

Research by the Dr Jim Peacock and Dr Liz Dennis of CSIRO Plant Industry may also enhance the nutritional value of grains eaten by billions of the world's poorest people.

Dr Peacock and Dr Dennis were awarded the PM's Prize for their work in plant molecular biology,
primarily the discovery of the Flowering Switch Gene, a key gene in determining when plants end
their vegetative growth phase and start flowering. 

This discovery has direct implications for improving the performance of food crops. Adverse
weather conditions when crops are in flower cost farmers in Australia and worldwide heavy losses
each year.

"If our $700 million rice crop experiences a cold snap around the time it's flowering, the harvest can be cut by 25 per cent or more," Dr Peacock says. 

"Hot temperatures when wheat is flowering can reduce yield equally significantly. These amount to big losses for our growers — but when crops in the Third World are similarly affected, the impact can be devastating."

By manipulating the Flowering Switch Gene it will be possible to produce strains of canola, wheat
and other crops that flower at the right time for the climate in which they're grown, so reducing the
risk of yield losses.

The $300,000 Prime Minister¹s Prize for Science, the nation's premier science award, is presented to Australian scientists who promote human welfare through an outstanding achievement in science or technology.

Discovery of the gene was the fruit of a 20 year collaboration between Dr Dennis and Dr Peacock.

One of the great mysteries in plant biology had long been what causes plants to flower when they're subjected to a period of low temperature — a process called vernalisation.

"It occurred to me that maybe there was a gene that switched on flowering after a period of cold
and that the control of this gene was epigenetic," says Dr Peacock. 

Peacock and Dennis went on to prove this idea using the experimental plant, Arabidopsis. By
reducing the level of chemical change (methylation) in the plant's DNA, they found they could
minimise the need for cold before the plant would flower.

Dennis suggested they further explore the idea with a strain of Arabidopsis that flowered very late.
A normal Arabidopsis flowers after about thirty days. This strain hadn't flowered in 150 days.

The team then isolated the gene that causes the late flowering mutation. In a normal plant the gene represses flowering until the plant undergoes a period of cold. Come the cold, the gene switches off and the plant flowers.

By knocking out the flowering repression gene in the odd strain of Arabidopsis, they caused the
plant to flower.

"This gene was clearly critical in flowering control and provided a molecular understanding of what
was going on in the flowering process," Dr Peacock says.

The next move was to show the same gene controlled flowering in canola. Current research aims
isolate the same gene in wheat — a goal they hope to achieve within 12 months.

If the team succeeds, wheat growers will eventually be able to select a wheat that heads at just the right time to suit their local climate.

"And canola farmers will be able to say 'I want a 120 day flowering crop, or a 150 day crop' and
the seed to produce those crops will be available," says Dr Peacock.

"It'll take about six years before wheat crops with modified Flowering Switch Genes are available
to farmers. However that timeframe may be influenced by public acceptance, if the seed is
genetically modified."

Dr Dennis estimates that if seed wheat developed using the Flowering Switch Genewere planted
extensively, it could improve the value of Australia¹s $4 billion wheat harvest by up to ten per cent.

"If Flowering Switch technology, with other genes, were taken up world-wide, it would add billions
of tonnes to world crop output," she says.

Dr Peacock believes Flowering Switch technology can make an important difference to the lives of
subsistence farmers in developing countries, who are even more at the mercy of the elements than western farmers.

"CSIRO owns the patents to our research. That way it benefits Australia, and we can also make it
available to developing nations."

More information:
Dr Jim Peacock, CSIRO 02 6246 5250
Dr Liz Dennis, CSIRO 02 6246 5061
Ms Jane Kahler, CSIRO 02 6246 5077 mobile 0419 494 137

Contacts:
Ms Jane Kahler 
Communication Manager 
CSIRO Plant Industry 
GPO Box 1600 
Canberra ACT 2601 
Phone: +61 2 6246 5077 
Fax: +61 2 6246 5299 
Mobile: +61 0418 626 860 
Email: Jane.Kahler@pi.csiro.au  

Mr Julian Cribb 
Director 
CSIRO National Awareness
PO Box 225
Dickson ACT 2602
Australia 
Phone: +61 2 6276 6244 
Fax: +61 2 6276 6821 
Mobile: +61 0418 639 245 
Email: julian.cribb@nap.csiro.au  

CSIRO news release
N3026