Functional characterisation of candidate genes revolve around 1) gene manipulation of the candidate and 2) phenotyping based on the trait of interest. In Eucalyptus, this proves to be troublesome due to the recalcitrance of the genus to genetic transformation. In my honours year, I successfully transformed the cold-tolerant E. nitensspecies with an empty vector constructbusing hairy root transformation, and in my Master's project I extended this to an ArabidopsisNPR1 construct. The AtNPR1 gene is a defense candidate and its overexpression enhances resistance to disease in many crops. For my current PhD project, we functionally characterise the gene by infecting transformed hairy roots with Phytophthora cinnamoni , and phenotype resistance relative to untransformed roots.

We hypothesise that overexpression of AtNPR1 in E. nitens hairy roots will enhance resistance against the root pathogen,and provide a proof of concept for Eucalyptus functional testing of eucalypt pathosystems in vitro.