Steven Hussey

Dr Steven Hussey

Senior Mortlock Fellow

School of Agriculture, Food and Wine

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

I'm passionate about plant developmental biology, functional genomics and bioengineering of woody perennials. I've conducted research in South Africa, the United States and Australia, mostly on the transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of wood development in Eucalyptus. I hold an affiliate position at the University of Pretoria (since 2022) and a Prestigious (P) rating with the National Research Foundation of South Africa (2020-2025).

I'm a plant molecular biologist interested in the transcriptional and epigenomic regulation of development, lignocellulosic feedstocks, (secondary) cell wall biology and synthetic biology. In previous and current research, I've aimed to understand the transcriptional regulatory networks underlying xylogenesis, uncover the biological roles of transcription factors and gene promoters, decipher and molecular mechanisms underlying traits of interest, and design synthetic circuits for the manipulation and bioengineering of plant systems. I have a wide interest in plant biotechnology and have extensive experience working with transdisciplinary teams.

I am interested in supervising Honours to PhD projects focusing on diverse aspects of plant development at the molecular level. Contact me for Honours project opportunities where you can gain hands-on experience in plant tissue culture, genomics, plant growth trials, biochemistry and much more. 

  • Journals
    Year Citation
    2023 Takawira, L. T., Hadj Bachir, I., Ployet, R., Tulloch, J., San Clemente, H., Christie, N., . . . Hussey, S. G. (2023). Functional investigation of five R2R3-MYB transcription factors associated with wood development in Eucalyptus using DAP-seq-ML. Plant Molecular Biology, 113(1-3), 33-57.
    DOI Scopus2 Europe PMC2
    2022 Karannagoda, N., Spokevicius, A., Hussey, S., Cassan-Wang, H., Grima-Pettenati, J., & Bossinger, G. (2022). Eucalyptus grandis AUX/INDOLE-3-ACETIC ACID 13 (EgrIAA13) is a novel transcriptional regulator of xylogenesis. Plant Molecular Biology, 109(1-2), 51-65.
    DOI Scopus4 Europe PMC2
    2020 Karannagoda, N., Spokevicius, A., Hussey, S., & Bossinger, G. (2020). Microanalytical techniques for phenotyping secondary xylem. IAWA Journal, 41(3), 356-389.
    DOI Scopus5
    2020 Lyall, R., Schlebusch, S. A., Proctor, J., Prag, M., Hussey, S. G., Ingle, R. A., & Illing, N. (2020). Vegetative desiccation tolerance in the resurrection plant Xerophyta humilis has not evolved through reactivation of the seed canonical LAFL regulatory network. Plant Journal, 101(6), 1349-1367.
    DOI Scopus19 Europe PMC17
    2020 Yang, X., Medford, J. I., Markel, K., Shih, P. M., De Paoli, H. C., Trinh, C. T., . . . Tuskan, G. A. (2020). Plant Biosystems Design Research Roadmap 1.0. BioDesign Research, 2020, 8051764.
    DOI Scopus23 Europe PMC12
    2019 Tonfack, L. B., Hussey, S. G., Veale, A., Myburg, A. A., & Mizrachi, E. (2019). Analysis of orthologous SECONDARY WALL-ASSOCIATED NAC DOMAIN1 (SND1) promotor activity in herbaceous and woody angiosperms. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 20(18), E4623.
    DOI Scopus2 Europe PMC2
    2019 Brown, K., Takawira, L. T., O'Neill, M. M., Mizrachi, E., Myburg, A. A., & Hussey, S. G. (2019). Identification and functional evaluation of accessible chromatin associated with wood formation in Eucalyptus grandis. New Phytologist, 223(4), 1937-1951.
    DOI Scopus12 Europe PMC8
    2019 Hussey, S. G., Grima-Pettenati, J., Myburg, A. A., Mizrachi, E., Brady, S. M., Yoshikuni, Y., & Deutsch, S. (2019). A Standardized Synthetic Eucalyptus Transcription Factor and Promoter Panel for Re-engineering Secondary Cell Wall Regulation in Biomass and Bioenergy Crops. ACS Synthetic Biology, 8(2), 463-465.
    DOI Scopus15 Europe PMC7
    2018 Laubscher, M., Brown, K., Tonfack, L. B., Myburg, A. A., Mizrachi, E., & Hussey, S. G. (2018). Temporal analysis of Arabidopsis genes activated by Eucalyptus grandis NAC transcription factors associated with xylem fibre and vessel development. Scientific Reports, 8(1), 14 pages.
    DOI Scopus16 Europe PMC13
    2018 Lu, Q., Shao, F., Macmillan, C., Wilson, I. W., van der Merwe, K., Hussey, S. G., . . . Qiu, D. (2018). Genomewide analysis of the lateral organ boundaries domain gene family in Eucalyptus grandis reveals members that differentially impact secondary growth. Plant Biotechnology Journal, 16(1), 124-136.
    DOI Scopus58 Europe PMC37
    2017 Hussey, S. G., Loots, M. T., Van Der Merwe, K., Mizrachi, E., & Myburg, A. A. (2017). Integrated analysis and transcript abundance modelling of H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 in developing secondary xylem. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 14 pages.
    DOI Scopus24 Europe PMC19
    2015 Hussey, S. G., Saïdi, M. N., Hefer, C. A., Myburg, A. A., & Grima-Pettenati, J. (2015). Structural, evolutionary and functional analysis of the NAC domain protein family in Eucalyptus. New Phytologist, 206(4), 1337-1350.
    DOI Scopus59 Europe PMC40
    2015 Hussey, S. G., Mizrachi, E., Groover, A., Berger, D. K., & Myburg, A. A. (2015). Genome-wide mapping of histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation in Eucalyptus grandis developing xylem. BMC Plant Biology, 15(1), 14 pages.
    DOI Scopus29 Europe PMC16
    2014 Myburg, A. A., Grattapaglia, D., Tuskan, G. A., Hellsten, U., Hayes, R. D., Grimwood, J., . . . Schmutz, J. (2014). The genome of Eucalyptus grandis. Nature, 510(7505), 356-362.
    DOI Scopus703 Europe PMC442
    2013 Hussey, S. G., Mizrachi, E., Creux, N. M., & Myburg, A. A. (2013). Navigating the transcriptional roadmap regulating plant secondary cell wall deposition. Frontiers in Plant Science, 4(AUG), 21 pages.
    DOI Scopus133 Europe PMC85
    2011 Botha, J., Pinard, D., Creux, N., Hussey, S., Maritz-Olivier, C., Spokevicius, A., . . . Myburg, A. (2011). Characterising the role of the Eucalyptus grandis SND2 promoter in secondary cell wall biosynthesis. BMC proceedings, 5(Suppl 7), P105.
    DOI Europe PMC1
    2011 Hussey, S. G., Mizrachi, E., Spokevicius, A. V., Bossinger, G., Berger, D. K., & Myburg, A. A. (2011). SND2, a NAC transcription factor gene, regulates genes involved in secondary cell wall development in Arabidopsis fibres and increases fibre cell area in Eucalyptus. BMC Plant Biology, 11(1), 17 pages.
    DOI Scopus144 Europe PMC99
    2011 Hussey, S., Mizrachi, E., Berger, D., & Myburg, A. (2011). The role of SND2 in the regulation of Arabidopsis fibre secondary cell wall formation. BMC proceedings, 5(Suppl 7), P114.
    DOI

  • Book Chapters
    Year Citation
    2022 Hussey, S. G. (2022). Transcriptional regulation of secondary cell wall formation and lignification. In J. C. Kader, & M. Delseny (Eds.), Advances in Botanical Research (Vol. 104, pp. 317-361). Elsevier.
    DOI Scopus5
    2016 Hussey, S. G., Wegrzyn, J. L., & Vasquez-Gross, H. A. (2016). Evolutionary Histories of Gene Families in Angiosperm Trees. In Plant Genetics and Genomics: Crops and Models (pp. 121-137). Springer International Publishing.
    DOI

  • Conference Papers
    Year Citation
    2018 Takawira, L. T., Mizrachi, E., Myburg, A. A., & Hussey, S. G. (2018). Inferring secondary cell wall-associated transcriptional regulatory networks in <i>Eucalyptus grandis</i> through high-throughput DNA affinity purification sequencing. In SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY Vol. 115 (pp. 329-330). ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV.
    DOI
    2012 Singh, P., Hussey, S. G., Maritz-Olivier, C., Mizrachi, E., & Myburg, A. A. (2012). Expression and characterisation of <i>Egr</i>SND2, a <i>Eucalyptus grandis</i> transcription factor potentially involved in secondary cell wall regulation. In SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY Vol. 79 (pp. 238). ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV.
    2012 Botha, J., Pinard, D., Creux, N., Hussey, S., Maritz-Olivier, C., Mizrachi, E., & Myburg, A. A. (2012). Promoter analysis of the <i>Eucalyptus grandis</i> secondary cell wall related <i>SND2</i> transcription factor gene. In SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY Vol. 79 (pp. 226). ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV.
  Sources Total for year
2014 DST, NRF, Sappi, Mondi, THRIP ZAR560,000
2015 DST, NRF, Sappi, Mondi, THRIP ZAR560,000
2016 DOE-JGI, DST, NRF, Sappi, Mondi, THRIP, UP, NSTF, Inqaba Biotec, Whitehead Scientific, Thermo Scientific, ACGT, UP ZAR1,870,000
2017 DOE-JGI, UP, Australia Awards, THRIP, Sappi, Mondi ZAR1,040,000
2018 DOE-JGI, UP, GCRF, THRIP, Sappi, Mondi ZAR1,600,000
2019 DST-TIA, UP, GCRF, Sappi, Mondi ZAR2,000,000
2020 DST-TIA, UP, GCRF, Sappi, Mondi ZAR1,830,000
2021 NRF, GCRF, DSI, TIA ZAR1,925,000
2022 NRF, DSI, TIA ZAR1,200,000
2023 NRF, DSI, TIA ZAR950,000
  TOTAL ZAR13,535,000 (~A$1.1M)

2021    Module coordinator and lecturer: Eukaryotic Gene Regulation 351

            Module coordinator: Molecular and Cell Biology 721 (Honours course)

 

2020    Module coordinator and lecturer: Eukaryotic Gene Regulation 351

            Module coordinator: Molecular and Cell Biology 721 (Honours course)

 

2019    Lecturer for Eukaryotic Gene Regulation 351

            Module coordinator: Molecular and Cell Biology 721 (Honours course)

            Guest lecturer: Plant Genetics and Crop Biotechnology 361

            Lecturer: Spring School on Solar Energy and Photosynthesis

2018    Lecturer for Plant Genetics and Crop Biotechnology 361

            Lecturer for Molecular and Cell Biology 721 (Honours course)

            Lecturer: Spring School on Solar Energy and Photosynthesis

  • Position: Senior Mortlock Fellow
  • Phone: 83136162
  • Email: steven.hussey@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: Waite
  • Org Unit: School of Agriculture, Food and Wine
Connect With Me
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