Caitlin Byrt

Areas of Research Interest –

Engineering crops to improve their tolerance to abiotic stress, manipulating crop membrane transport mechanisms to improve crop performance.

Expertise & Skills –

Genetic engineering, membrane biology, crop physiology, synthetic biology.

5 Key Research Papers –

• Byrt, C.S., Platten, J.D., Spielmeyer, W., James, R.A., Lagudah, E.S., Dennis, E.S., Tester, M. and Munns, R., 2007. HKT1; 5-like cation transporters linked to Na+ exclusion loci in wheat, Nax2 and Kna1. Plant Physiology, 143(4), pp.1918-1928. https://academic.oup.com/plphys/article/143/4/1918/6106880?login=true
• Byrt, C.S., Xu, B., Krishnan, M., Lightfoot, D.J., Athman, A., Jacobs, A.K., Watson‐Haigh, N.S., Plett, D., Munns, R., Tester, M. and Gilliham, M., 2014. The Na+ transporter, Ta HKT 1; 5‐D, limits shoot Na+ accumulation in bread wheat. The Plant Journal, 80(3), pp.516-526. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tpj.12651
• Byrt, C.S., Zhao, M., Kourghi, M., Bose, J., Henderson, S.W., Qiu, J., Gilliham, M., Schultz, C., Schwarz, M., Ramesh, S.A. and Yool, A., 2017. Non‐selective cation channel activity of aquaporin AtPIP2; 1 regulated by Ca2+ and pH. Plant, cell & environment, 40(6), pp.802-815. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pce.12832
• Qiu, J., McGaughey, S.A., Groszmann, M., Tyerman, S.D. and Byrt, C.S., 2020. Phosphorylation influences water and ion channel function of AtPIP2; 1. Plant, cell & environment, 43(10), pp.2428-2442. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pce.13851 Tyerman, S.D., McGaughey, S.A., Qiu, J., Yool, A.J. and Byrt, C.S., 2021. Adaptable and multifunctional ion-conducting aquaporins. Annual Review of Plant Biology, 72, pp.703-736. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-arplant-081720-013608

Available Research Projects –

PhD projects available involving engineering water and ion membrane transport proteins to develop novel mechanisms for improving crop performance.