Cryo-preservation used to save endangered Qld tree
But now a team at Queensland University has developed a scientific protocol to indefinitely store plant tissue at ultra-low temperatures.
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ABC News
19 hours ago
- ABC News
Cryo-preservation used to save endangered Qld tree
There are only about 380 angle-stemmed myrtle, left in the wild, mostly found in areas around Logan and parts of the Gold Coast. But now a team at Queensland University has developed a scientific protocol to indefinitely store plant tissue at ultra-low temperatures.
ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
Researchers using cryopreservation to save critically endangered Gossia gonoclada
Cryopreservation was once the stuff of science fiction, but now the technology is being used to help save a critically endangered tree in south-east Queensland. There are only about 380 Gossia gonoclada, or angle-stemmed myrtle, left in the wild, mostly found in riparian and vine forest areas around Logan and parts of the Gold Coast. The small tree has dense, glossy, bright-green leaves, and plays a role in local ecosystems — but it's under severe threat. A fungal disease known as myrtle rust — which damages new growth — along with land clearing and rising temperatures, has drastically reduced the tree's numbers. Jingyin Bao, a PhD student at the University of Queensland, has spent three years developing a scientific protocol to indefinitely store plant tissue at ultra-low temperatures. "The idea is to safeguard these species by storing the healthy regenerable plant tissues so that one day they can be used to grow new plants in case the species becomes extinct in the wild," Ms Bao said. Her work involves taking tiny shoot tips — or the growing points of the plant where new leaves emerge — treating them with a cryoprotective solution, and freezing them in liquid nitrogen at temperatures as low as -196 degrees Celsius. "It's a technology that's been developed for quite a long time, initially for other things like IVF, but the challenge in part for cryopreservation is that you have to develop a protocol for different things every time differently," Ms Bao said. "So you have to fine tune everything in the protocol in order to make it work for different species. "For Gossia gonoclada, we don't have any similar protocols that have been developed before, so we have to do it step-by-step." Dr Alice Hayward, a plant molecular physiologist at the University of Queensland and Ms Bao's supervisor, said it wasn't possible to simply store the tree's seeds because of its fleshy fruit — meaning cryopreservation of shoot tips and tissue was the only viable way to conserve it. The method also helps preserve and regenerate myrtle rust-resistant individuals, enhancing the species' resilience. "A lot of our threatened plants, especially tropical species, about 30 per cent don't survive seed storage, so that's where cryo-preservation is really important — just safeguarding and banking the genetic diversity," Dr Hayward said. Dr Hayward said Ms Bao has already achieved remarkable results. She's been able to grow new trees from regenerated tissue, "Jinying's been successful in achieving 100 per cent regeneration rate for cryopreservation of Gossia fragrantissima, which is a related species to Gossia gonoclada," she said. "That's quite unheard of. Often the rates might be between 40 to 70 per cent regeneration." The project is a collaboration with Logan City Council, which secured about $500,000 in Australian government grants to fund the work. Lee-Anne Veage, an environment officer with the council, has been working to save the species — named after former Queensland premier Wayne Goss — for more than a decade. She's affectionately known among colleagues as the "Gossia guardian". "We estimate we've got about 300 trees in Logan and 80 or so elsewhere — including naturally occurring populations as well as planted ones," she said. "We've got a recovery plan that's a 10-year plan… [and] that's including monitoring the health, the status against threats like myrtle rust, doing habitat mapping, germplasm collection and writing up a report." For Dr Hayward, the breakthrough represents an exciting leap forward in her research field. For everyone else, she said, it could be summed up with a pop culture reference.
ABC News
2 days ago
- ABC News
Fire ant fears in central Queensland as dogs detect nests at five mine sites
Specialised detection dogs have discovered new fire ant nests at five mine sites in central Queensland's Bowen Basin. The discoveries, announced on Tuesday, come six weeks after the highly invasive pest was found outside the south-east corner for the first time, when it was identified at the Broadmeadow Mine near Moranbah, more than 150 kilometres inland from Mackay. The National Fire Ant Eradication Program (NFAEP) said in a statement the ants arrived in pallets of bricks that were stored on soil and transported more than 800km from south-east Queensland. The surveillance occurred between August 12 and 14, and was confirmed on Monday. NFAEP operations director Tom Roberts said the ants were discovered at the new sites after the bricks were moved to other mines. "At this point, we believe we've eliminated all known risks, and we're just working with each mine site to confirm they've got all the relevant information in regards to identification," he said. The NFAEP on Tuesday said the new sites were in the Central Highlands and Isaac Council regions, but declined to reveal the names of the mines involved. Odour dogs were used to find the new nests. The nests have been destroyed using "direct nest injection", with broadscale treatment applied to the surrounding areas. The Invasive Species Council fears further outbreaks in central Queensland could take resources away from the main fire ant stronghold in the state's south-east. "It shows what we've known for a long time, and that is that if fire ants get into shipments from one site in the fire ant zone, they can spread to multiple parts of Australia all in one go." Mr Pianta said central Queensland's dry climate would help eradication efforts. "There isn't a lot of food for the fire ants to forage there in that location to be able to build up their densities and increase," he said. "The evidence is that these fire nests have been there for a short period of time and probably haven't spread locally, so it will be possible, I think, to eradicate them." Fire ants were first detected in Brisbane in 2001, with eradication work still underway in south-east Queensland. In early July, a nest of the species was found in central Queensland for the first time, which NFAEP officers destroyed on July 9. Follow-up aerial treatment using drones began on July 24, and a containment area was placed around the detection site. NFAEP said surveillance of the area would continue for years.
