NEWS FROM
PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM
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Published monthly on behalf of SPPS by Wiley-Blackwell.
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Shedding light in the canopy
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Since plants get most of their light from above, photosynthetic activity is highest in the upper part of the canopy. Applying light directly into the canopy might, accordingly, contribute to a more uniform photosynthetic profile and could potentially increase overall photosynthesis leading to higher yield of crops. This hypothesis has now been tested by Dutch researchers from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. They supplied cucumber plants grown in the greenhouse with 38% of their light from LEDs within the canopy and compared them with controls that got all the light from above. Light from within the canopy significantly increased photosynthesis in the lower leaf layers, however, this was not followed by a concomitant increase in overall biomass and fruit yield. This was apparently caused by a more stunted growth when less light came from above and because the LEDs seemingly caused the leaves to curl and thus reduced light interception.
Read full article free: Trouwborst et al (March 2010) Physiologia Plantarum 138: 289Š300
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NEWS IN BRIEF
FROM OTHER JOURNALS
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Male olives have access to more females
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In hermaphroditic plants - having both male and female function - genetic mutations can sometimes lead to female sterilization, leaving some plants as male-only. Since these individuals only have half the fertilization capacity their population should remain relatively small. This is, however, not always the case and in the evergreen shrub Phillyrea angustifolia of the olive family there are many more males-only than there should be. Now researchers from Lille University of Science and Technology in France think they know why. The normal hermaphrodites are divided into two self-incompatibility groups, i.e. plants within the same group can not pollinate each other successfully. The male-only plants can, however, fertilize both self-incompatibility groups and this advantage apparently outbalances the reproductive disadvantage that they would normally face without their female half.
Source: Saumitou-Laprade et al (26 March 2010) Science 327: 1648-1650
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Lowering atmospheric with algae may contaminate ocean
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It has been proposed to reduce atmospheric CO2-levels - and thus help mitigate global climate change - by stimulating oceanic algal growth with iron fertilization. Low concentrations of iron is a limiting factor in many oceanic high-nitrate, low-chlorophyll environments and iron fertilization is accordingly believed to boost the number of CO2-consuming organisms living in the oceanÕs surface waters. Experiments to test this approach have now been conducted by Trick and co-workers at University of Western Ontario in London, Canada and they suggest that the method might lead to toxic diatom production. The researchers found that iron enrichment in the subarctic North Pacific Ocean doubled the population of Pseudo nitzschia, which produces the neurotoxin domoic acid that causes Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning. In addition, iron supplement increased the amount of neurotoxin produced by individual organisms. The neurotoxin is already now having detrimental effects on marine ecosystems during natural algae bloomings and the experiment raises serious concern over the net benefit and sustainability of large-scale iron fertilizations.
Source: Trick et al (15 March 2010) PNAS doi:10.1073/pnas.0910579107
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Registration is now open for the 6th SPPS PhD Student Conference
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The on-line registration form is now available at www.phd-spps.com/registrationform.html
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Registration for the upcoming 6th SPPS PhD Conference is now open and the on-line registration form can be accessed here - the link is written in the figure legend to the right. The deadline for registration is 31 May 2010, but students are encouraged to register early, as only a limited number of rooms are available. Please remember to make full payment (see how on the registration form) no later than two weeks after you have registered - otherwise your registration will be cancelled.
You do not have to be a member of SPPS to join the conference, but members enjoy a 80€-110€ reduction in the registration fee as well as the opportunity to obtain a travel grant. For more information about SPPS membership, please see the SPPS homepage. The conference registration fees depend on your choice of accomodation (SPPS member/non member):- 400€/510€: Double room
- 500€/580€: Single room
- 300€/380€: Without accomodation
The 6th SPPS PhD Student Conference takes place during 2-5 September 2010 in Espoo, Finland. Former SPPS PhD conferences have been very popular and attracts 50-70 students from several countries in Scandinavia, Europe and the rest of the World. You can read proceedings from the most recent conferences here: 2008 - Haslev, Denmark; 2006 - Lycksele, Sweden; and 2004 - Asker (Oslo), Norway.
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Help us writing the history of SPPS
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A book about The History of SPPS is planed for publishing in 2012. Illustration by Gorm Palmgren.
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In 2012, Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society will celebrate its 65th anniversary and the board has decided to mark the event by publishing a book about the history of SPPS. You can help us writing the history of SPPS by sharing with us photos and memories about the society's early times. The Board will collect documents and other written material and will interview present and former members of SPPS about their experiences and memories of SPPS. In the case you would also like to contribute to the history of SPPS and want to be contacted, please do not hesitate to contact the SPPS secretary at spps@helsinki.fi.
SPPS emerged during the end of the 1940's when Nordic plant physiologists faced difficulties in getting their work published in international journals. Professor M. G. Stålfelt from Stockholms Högskola realized that the plant science community in Scandinavia needed their own organization and journal, so he arranged a meeting in Copenhagen 27-28 October 1947 with representatives from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. It was then decided to establish the organization Societas Physiologia Plantarum Scandinavica and that it should arrange regular scientific conferences and publish the journal Physiologia Plantarum.
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Benefit from the new Open Positions and Posted Meetings sections
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Open Positions are easy to share and a great place to improve your carrier. From www.spps.fi
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The two new sections on the SPPS homepage - Open Positions and Posted Meetings - is a great way to improve your carrier. It helps you find the most talented candidate, the most challenging job or the most inspiring conference to attend. It is our ambition, that the two new marketplaces will grow to be the preferred sites for plant scientists to interact and benefit from each other.
However, we need your help to meet our goals and make the new initiative succesfull, so you are strongly encouraged to post your open positions and any meetings you can recommend. It is easy to join the services (check out how) and it will cost you nothing but a few minutes to be within reach of the whole plant science community.
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Protecting new plant varieties: Patents vs. Breeders' rights
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The number of plant patent applications has increased sharply in the USA. From www.landscapegardeningplants.com
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LIke any other inventor, plant breeders have the right to protect their inventions, namely new plant varieties. Whereas most inventions are protected through patents or trademarks, plants have traditionally been secured for the breeder by another set of legislation known as plant breeders' rights. In 1961, a number of countries gathered in Paris and formed the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants or UPOV, which has since grown to include 67 countries all over the World.
UPOV grants the breeders certain rights but in some ways also limits their ability to secure exclusivity over new varieties. Accordingly, an emerging trend is that breeders turn to the conventional patent system and patent a new variety like any other invention. While the two methods of securing intellectual property rights overlap in many respects there are also basic differences. This has led to litigation in some cases and have raised concern over the breeders ability to operate freely.
E.g. UPOV grant any plant breeder the right to use a protected variety for experimental purposes or for breeding other varieties and likewise any farmer can grow a protected variety for subsistence farming, i.e. for private non-monetary benefit. These rights are challenged by plant patents and critics have claimed that small breeders and farmers in developing countries are consequently put under pressure from large, multinational breeding corporations.
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Scandinavian research institute:
Department of Botany, Stockholm University, Sweden
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The Department of Botany is situated in green surroundings in Lilla Frescati in central Stockholm. From www.su.se
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Plant biology has a very prominent position at Stockholm University where around 100 scientist are engaged at the Department of Botany. The department is situated in what used to be King Karl XI's royal game park and the area - now known as Lilla Frescati named after the Italian city of Frascati - is still an urban park. The first plant scientists moved in in 1964 and have since expanded their activities considerably.
The department is now divided into three research areas each of which is headed by a responsible professor: - Plant ecology - Prof. Johan Ehrlén
- Plant physiology - Prof. Birgitta Bergman
- Plant systematics - Prof. Birgitta Bremer
Within these three research areas a large number of projects have been established, but still the overall focus is kept tight so coherence and synergy is ensured.
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Reprinted from the last edition of SPPS Newsletter: The Global Plant Council - Research to save the planet
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Sixteen signatures signed the establishment of the Global Plant Council. From http://www.smb.org.mx
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The following article was added late to the last years December edition of SPPS Newsletter and was not included in the e-mail version. In case anybody missed out on it, the article is hereby being reprinted in its full form.
Representatives for 16 plant science societies met this summer in Honolulu, Hawaii and established the Global Plant Council, which has the ambitious goal to deliver research to save the planet. Among the plant societies taking this demanding step was SPPS, so we take the liberty to present the new Global Plant Council under our regular section Scandinavian research institute. SPPS was represented by council member Tom Hamborg Nielsen who is associate professor at University of Copenhagen, and SPPS Newsletter had the chance to meet him. You can read the interview below, but first we will give you a brief description of the thoughts that laid the ground for the Global Plant Council.
The founders of Global Plant Council believe that plants are central to solve many of the fundamental problems that the world is currently facing: hunger, energy, climate change, health and well-being, sustainability and environmental protection. FAO projects that we have to double the global food production by 2050 in order to meet demand, and at the same time we have to produce the food on less space as agricultural land is lost to urbanization and soil degradation. This calls for development of new and improved crops with higher yield but also with higher nutritional value, since the most common staple food crops, like rice, are poor sources of essential nutrients such as vitamin A, C, E, iron, zinc.
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