Dr Robert Sharwood
Areas of expertise
- Plant Physiology 060705
- Agricultural Molecular Engineering Of Nucleic Acids And Proteins 100103
- Enzymes 060107
- Crop And Pasture Improvement (Selection And Breeding) 070305
- Plant Biology 0607
Biography
Dr Sharwood completed his PHD at ANU in 2006 in Plant Sciences and then moved to the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University to understand the intricacies of chloroplast gene regulation. In 2010 he returned to the Hawkesbury Institute, UWS to continue an independent photosynthesis research program focusing on C4 grasses, Eucalypts and Cotton. Currently, he is an ARC DECRA Fellow within the Research School of Biology, ANU. The overarching theme of his research is to improve plant productivity under future climates. This will be achieved by deciphering chloroplast gene regulatory mechanisms critical for engineering chloroplasts. The second theme of his research is to understand the adaptive evolution of Rubisco catalysis to provide the next generation solutions for tailoring CO2 fixation in plants to variable future climate conditions. He also works within the Cotton Industry to translate basic research into future cotton crops to improve overall resource use.
Publications
- Cano, F, Sharwood, R, Cousins, A et al 2019, 'The role of leaf width and conductances to CO2 in determining water use efficiency in C4 grasses', New Phytologist, vol. 223, no. 3, pp. 1280-1295.
- Sonawane, B, Sharwood, R, Whitney, S et al 2018, 'Shade compromises the photosynthetic efficiency of NADP-ME less than that of PEP-CK and NAD-ME C4 grasses', Journal of Experimental Botany, vol. 69, no. 12, pp. 3053-3068pp.
- Crous, K, Drake, J, Aspinwall, M et al 2018, 'Photosynthetic capacity and leaf nitrogen decline along a controlled climate gradient in provenances of two widely distributed Eucalyptus species', Global Change Biology, vol. 24, no. 10, pp. 4626-4644pp.
- Salesse-Smith, C, Sharwood, R, Busch, F et al 2018, 'Overexpression of Rubisco subunits with RAF1 increases Rubisco content in maize', Nature Plants, vol. 4, no. 10, pp. 802-810.
- Alonso Cantabrana, H, Cousins, A, Danila, F et al 2018, 'Diffusion of CO2 across the mesophyll-bundle sheath cell interface in a C4 plant with genetically reduced PEP carboxylase activity', Plant Physiology, vol. 178, no. 1, pp. 72-81pp.
- Watson-Lazowski, A, Papanicolaou, A, Sharwood, R et al. 2018, 'Investigating the NAD-ME biochemical pathway within C4 grasses using transcript and amino acid variation in C4 photosynthetic genes', Photosynthesis Research, vol. 138, no. 2, pp. 233-248.
- Long, B, Hee, W, Sharwood, R et al. 2018, 'Carboxysome encapsulation of the CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco in tobacco chloroplasts', Nature Communications, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 1-14.
- Ford, B, Foo, E, Sharwood, R et al 2018, 'Rht18 Semidwarfism in Wheat Is Due to Increased GA 2-oxidaseA9 Expression and Reduced GA Content', Plant Physiology, vol. 177, no. 1, pp. 168-180pp.
- Osborn, H, Alonso Cantabrana, H, Sharwood, R et al 2017, 'Effects of reduced carbonic anhydrase activity on CO2 assimilation rates in Setaria viridis: A transgenic analysis', Journal of Experimental Botany, vol. 68, no. 2, pp. 299-310pp.
- Clayton, H, Saladié, M, Rolland, V et al 2017, 'Loss of the chloroplast transit peptide from an ancestral C3 carbonic anhydrase is associated with C4 evolution in the grass genus Neurachne', Plant Physiology, vol. 173, no. 3, pp. 1648-1658pp.
- Sharwood, R 2017, 'A step forward to building an algal pyrenoid in higher plants', New Phytologist, vol. 214, no. 2, pp. 496-499.
- Sharwood, R, Crous, K, Whitney, S et al 2017, 'Linking photosynthesis and leaf N allocation under future elevated CO2 and climate warming in Eucalyptus globulus', Journal of Experimental Botany, vol. 68, no. 5, pp. 1157-1167.
- Heureux, A, Young, J, Whitney, S et al 2017, 'The role of Rubisco kinetics and pyrenoid morphology in shaping the CCM of haptophyte microalgae', Journal of Experimental Botany, vol. 68, no. 14, pp. 3959-3969.
- Sharwood, R 2017, 'Engineering chloroplasts to improve Rubisco catalysis: prospects for translating improvements into food and fiber crops', New Phytologist, vol. 213, no. 2, pp. 494-510pp.
- Sonawane, B, Sharwood, R, von Caemmerer, S et al 2017, 'Short-term thermal photosynthetic responses of C4 grasses are independent of the biochemical subtype', Journal of Experimental Botany, vol. 68, no. 20, pp. 5583-5597.
- Salesse, C, Sharwood, R, Sakamoto, W et al 2017, 'The Rubisco Chaperone BSD2 May Regulate Chloroplast Coverage in Maize Bundle Sheath Cells', Plant Physiology, vol. 175, no. 4, pp. 1624-1633pp.
- Pinto, H, Powell, J, Sharwood, R et al 2016, 'Variations in nitrogen use efficiency reflect the biochemical subtype while variations in water use efficiency reflect the evolutionary lineage of C-4 grasses at inter-glacial CO2', Plant Cell and Environment, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 514-526.
- Sharwood, R, Sonawane, B, Ghannoum, O et al 2016, 'Improved analysis of C-4 and C-3 photosynthesis via refined in vitro assays of their carbon fixation biochemistry', Journal of Experimental Botany, vol. 67, no. 10, pp. 3137-3148.
- Sharwood, R, Ghannoum, O & Whitney, S 2016, 'Prospects for improving CO2 fixation in C-3-crops through understanding C-4-Rubisco biogenesis and catalytic diversity', Current Opinion in Plant Biology, vol. 31, pp. 135-142.
- Young, J, Heureux, A, Sharwood, R et al 2016, 'Large variation in the Rubisco kinetics of diatoms reveals diversity among their carbon-concentrating mechanisms', Journal of Experimental Botany, vol. 67, no. 11, pp. 3445-3456.
- Sharwood, R, Ghannoum, O & Whitney, S 2016, 'Prospects for improving CO2 fixation in C-3-crops through understanding C-4-Rubisco biogenesis and catalytic diversity', Current Opinion in Plant Biology, vol. 31, pp. 135-142.
- Sharwood, R, Ghannoum, O, Kapralov, M et al 2016, 'Temperature responses of Rubisco from Paniceae grasses provide opportunities for improving C-3 photosynthesis', Nature Plants, vol. 2, no. 12, pp. 16186-16186.
- Sharwood, R, Ghannoum, O, Kapralov, M et al 2016, 'Temperature responses of Rubisco from Paniceae grasses provide opportunities for improving C-3 photosynthesis', Nature Plants, vol. 2, no. 12, pp. 16186-16186.
- Whitney, S & Sharwood, R 2014, 'Plastid Transformation for Rubisco Engineering and Protocols for Assessing Expression', in Pal Maliga (ed.), Chloroplast Biotechnology. Methods and Protocols, Humana Press, New York, pp. 245-262.
- Sharwood, R, Sonawane, B & Ghannoum, O 2014, 'Photosynthetic flexibility in maize exposed to salinity and shade', Journal of Experimental Botany, vol. 65, no. 13, pp. 3715-3724.
- Sharwood, R & Whitney, S 2014, 'Correlating Rubisco catalytic and sequence diversity within C3 plants with changes in atmospheric CO2 concentrations', Plant Cell and Environment, vol. 37, no. 9, pp. 1981-1984.
- Pinto, H, Sharwood, R, Tissue, D et al 2014, 'Photosynthesis of C-3, C-3-C-4, and C-4 grasses at glacial CO2', Journal of Experimental Botany, vol. 65, no. 13, pp. 3669-3681.
- Luro, S, Germain, A, Sharwood, R et al 2013, 'RNase J participates in a pentatricopeptide repeat protein-mediated 5' end maturation of chloroplast mRNAs', Nucleic Acids Research, vol. 41, no. 19, pp. 9141-9151.
- Sharwood, R, HALPERT, M, Luro, S et al 2011, 'Chloroplast RNase J compensates for inefficient transcription termination by removal of antisense RNA', RNA, vol. 17, no. 12, pp. 2165-2176.
- Sharwood, R, Hotto, A, BOLLENBACH, T et al 2011, 'Overaccumulation of the chloroplast antisense RNA AS5 is correlated with decreased abundance of 5S rRNA in vivo and inefficient 5S rRNA maturation in vitro', RNA, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 230-243.
- Whitney, S, Sharwood, R, Orr, D et al 2011, 'Isoleucine 309 acts as a C4 catalytic switch that increases ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (rubisco) carboxylation rate in Flaveria', PNAS - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 108, no. 35, pp. 14688-14693.
- Sharwood, R & Whitney, S 2010, 'Engineering the Sunflower Rubisco Subunits into Tobacco Chloroplasts: New Considerations', in Constantin A. Rebeiz et al (ed.), The Chloroplast: Basics and Applications, Springer, Netherlands, pp. 285-306.
- BOLLENBACH, T, Sharwood, R, Gutierrez, R et al. 2009, 'The RNA-binding proteins CSP41a and CSP41b may regulate transcription and translation of chloroplast-encoded RNAs in Arabidopsis', Plant Molecular Biology, vol. 69, no. 5, pp. 541-552.
- Whitney, S, Kane, H, Houtz, R et al 2009, 'Rubisco Oligomers Composed of Linked Small and Large Subunits Assemble in Tobacco Plastids and Have Higher Affinities for CO2 and O2', Plant Physiology, vol. 149, no. 4, pp. 1887-1895.
- Hendrickson, L, Sharwood, R, Ludwig, M et al 2008, 'The effects of Rubisco activase on C4 photosynthesis and metabolism at high temperature', Journal of Experimental Botany, vol. 59, no. 7, pp. 1789-1798.
- Sharwood, R, von Caemmerer, S, Maliga, P et al 2008, 'The Catalytic properties of hybrid Rubisco comprising tobacco small and sunflower large subunits mirror the kinetically equivalent source rubiscos and can support tobacco growth 1[W][OA]', Plant Physiology, vol. 146, no. 1, pp. 83-96.
- Whitney, S & Sharwood, R 2008, 'Construction of a tobacco master line to improve Rubisco engineering in chloroplasts', Journal of Experimental Botany, vol. 59, no. 7, pp. 1909-1921.
- Whitney, S & Sharwood, R 2007, 'Linked Rubisco Subunits Can Assemble into Functional Oligomers without Impeding Catalytic Performance', Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 282, no. 6, pp. 3809-3818.
- Baker, R, Catanzariti, A, Karunasekara, Y et al 2005, 'Using Deubiquitylating Enzymes as Research Tools', in Raymond J. Deshaies (ed.), Ubiquitin and Protein Degradation, Elsevier, California, pp. 540-554.
- Pearce, F, Andrews, T, Kane, H et al. 2002, 'A mutation in the large subunit of tobacco Rubisco reduces the decline in activity during catalysis', International Congress on Photosynthesis (PS 2001), CSLI Publications, Melbourne, pp. s16-012.
- Sharwood, R, Whitney, S & Andrews, T 2002, 'A comparison of the effectiveness of the promoters and 5 regions of two plastid genes in directing the synthesis of Rubisco small subunits in tobacco plastids', International Congress on Photosynthesis (PS 2001), CSLI Publications, Melbourne, pp. s16-017.
Projects and Grants
Grants information is drawn from ARIES. To add or update Projects or Grants information please contact your College Research Office.
- Building climate change resilience in cotton through translational physiology (Primary Investigator)
- Adaptive evolution of Eucalyptus trees under future climates (Primary Investigator)
- Unlocking the diversity of Rubisco catalysis from deep-sea ocean α-cyanobacteria and their transplantation into higher plant chloroplasts to improve photosynthetic CO2 assimilation (Primary Investigator)
- Uncovering the roles of key ribonucleases critical for post-transcriptional control of chloroplast gene expression (Primary Investigator)