
Doctor Nijat Imin
Associate Professor in Intensive Food Production,
Food Sciences
Biography
Dr Nijat Imin has a PhD degree in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the Australian National University. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Australian National University prior to joining the ARC Centre of Excellence for Integrative Legume research as a Research Fellow. In 2017, He took up a tenured Senior Lecturer position in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland, where we directed and taught various undergraduate and graduate courses related to Plant Biology. He has supervised and has been supervising over a dozen PhD students and many more Honours/Masters students. Dr. Imin leads a team to investigate how plants coordinate growth, development and responses to the environment. In particular, his team studies how plant signalling peptides regulate nutrient update, growth and yield.
This information has been contributed by Doctor Imin.
Professional Memberships
- Australian Society of Plant Scientists (2022 - 2027)
- New Zealand Society of Plant Biologists (2017 - 2027)
Organisational Unit (School / Division)
- Food Sciences
Contact
Email: | N.Imin@westernsydney.edu.au |
---|---|
Phone: | (02) 4570 1934 |
Mobile: | |
Location: | Hawkesbury |
PLEASE NOTE: obtaining information from this Directory must be for the legitimate purposes of doing business with and within Western Sydney University, and must not be used for unsolicited bulk e-mailing (spamming) or similar purposes.
Teaching
Previous Teaching Areas
- NATS3015 Field Project 1, 2022
- NATS3017 Field Project 2, 2022
Publications
Chapters in Books
- Imin, N. (2008), 'Anther proteome', Plant Proteomics: Technologies, Strategies, and Applications, John Wiley & Sons 9780470069769.
Journal Articles
- Taleski, M., Chapman, K., Imin, N., Djordjevic, M. and Groszmann, M. (2020), 'The peptide hormone receptor CEPR1 functions in the reproductive tissue to control seed size and yield', Plant Physiology, vol 183, no 2 , pp 620 - 636.
- Chapman, K., Taleski, M., Ogilvie, H., Imin, N. and Djordjevic, M. (2019), 'CEP-CEPR1 signalling inhibits the sucrose-dependent enhancement of lateral root growth', Journal of Experimental Botany, vol 70, no 15 , pp 3955 - 3967.
- Delay, C., Chapman, K., Taleski, M., Wang, Y., Tyagi, S., Xiong, Y., Imin, N. and Djordjevic, M. (2019), 'CEP3 levels affect starvation-related growth responses of the primary root', Journal of Experimental Botany, vol 70, no 18 , pp 4763 - 4774.
- Imin, N., Patel, N., Corcilius, L., Payne, R. and Djordjevic, M. (2018), 'CLE peptide tri-arabinosylation and peptide domain sequence composition are essential for SUNN-dependent autoregulation of nodulation in Medicago truncatula', New Phytologist, vol 218, no 1 , pp 73 - 80.
- Taleski, M., Imin, N. and Djordjevic, M. (2018), 'CEP peptide hormones : key players in orchestrating nitrogen-demand signalling, root nodulation, and lateral root deployment', Journal of Experimental Botany, vol 69, no 8 , pp 1829 - 1836.
- Mohd-Radzman, N., Laffont, C., Ivanovici, A., Patel, N., Reid, D., Stougaard, J., Frugier, F., Imin, N. and Djordjevic, M. (2016), 'Different pathways act downstream of the CEP peptide receptor CRA2 to regulate lateral root and nodule development', Plant Physiology, vol 171, no 4 , pp 2536 - 2548.
- Taleski, M., Imin, N. and Djordjevic, M. (2016), 'New role for a CEP peptide and its receptor : complex control of lateral roots', Journal of Experimental Botany, vol 67, no 16 , pp 4797 - 4799.
- Kerim, T., Imin, N., Weinman, J. and Rolfe, B. (2003), 'Proteome analysis of male gametophyte development in rice anthers', Proteomics, vol 3, no 5 , pp 738 - 751.
- Kerim, T., Imin, N., Weinman, J. and Rolfe, B. (2003), 'Proteomic analysis reveals developmentally expressed rice homologues of grass group II pollen allergens', Functional Plant Biology, vol 30, no 8 , pp 843 - 852.
- Mathesius, U., Imin, N., Chen, H., Djordjevic, M., Weinman, J., Natera, S., Morris, A., Kerim, T., Paul, S., Menzel, C., Weiller, G. and Rolfe, B. (2002), 'Evaluation of proteome reference maps for cross-species identification of proteins by peptide mass fingerprinting', Proteomics, vol 2, no 9 , pp 1288 - 1303.
- Plant development and molecular biology
- Plant peptide signalling and gene regulation
- Root system architecture, nutrient uptake and use
- Legume rhizobium symbiosis and biological nitrogen fixation
1. Discovering molecular mechanisms regulating nitrogen demand signalling and nitrogen use efficiency in plants
Nitrogen (N) is a key determinant of crop productivity. In agriculture, the demand for nitrogen (N) fertilisers to produce food, fibre, and feed from crops and pastures is increasing dramatically. The adverse environmental effects of using N-fertilisers in their current form, however, make their use unsustainable. A major challenge in agriculture is to reduce our reliance on environmentally devastating and expensive N-fertilisers. Breeds that boost nutrient-capture and have efficient N usage are highly-desired. Plants coordinate the distribution and allocation of nutrients from the source to support growth. How this is achieved remains unanswered. We have shown that plant-specific small secreted peptides and their receptors act between the roots and the shoots to coordinate root deployment, N-uptake, and, in legumes, nodule formation and N-fixation. This project aims to decipher the output of peptide hormone systems that control nitrogen demand signalling, N-uptake and -utilisation. It will identify key components of these peptide/receptor circuits and investigate how these peptide/receptor circuits operate and how they coordinate growth, maintain homeostasis and respond to nutritional cues. This project will help to identify and nominate key gene candidates for breeding programs for improving plant’s N economy, biological N-fixation and yield, all of which will ultimately aid for sustainable agriculture where N eco-efficiency of intensification of farming and grazing is highly-desired.
2. Uncovering regulatory networks that control symbiotic nitrogen fixation
Legume plants enables atmospheric N fixation in root nodules through symbiotic N-fixation (SNF), delivers substantial amounts of N to agriculture in a sustainable manner and it is an attractive solution for reducing the need for N-fertiliser. However, lack of understanding how SNF is regulated limits its impact. Signalling molecules are known to regulate N-demand signalling, nodule development and SNF. However, it is unclear how they target nodule development and SNF. We recently have identified a ‘regulatory hub’ that is downstream of peptide signalling and directly controls nodulation and SNF. This proposal aims to uncover how this ‘hub’ works to control SNF. In particular, we will investigate how newly discovered transcription factors regulate nodulation and SNF using reverse genetics, gene expression and phenotypic analyses. The overall significance of this work is that it will revolutionise our understanding of how SNF are regulated, providing a unified conceptual framework. It will help to identify key candidate genes for improving the efficiency of SNF. The ultimate goal of this research is to sustain global food security by sustainable N-use in Agriculture. Further, this proposal addresses fundamental questions in plant biology - how plant cells communicate through intercellular peptide signalling, to coordinate growth and respond to their environment.
This information has been contributed by Doctor Imin.
Current Projects
Title: | Harnessing peptide hormone output to expand the efficacy of root nodulation [via ANU] |
---|---|
Funder: |
|
Western Researchers: | Nijat Imin |
Years: | 2022-01-03 - 2024-12-31 |
ID: | P00028214 |