IN THIS ISSUE Successful transformation of Physiologia Plantarum Announcing the XVth FESPB Congress in Lyon Prepare for the next SPPS PhD conference Scandinavian research institute: Lund University, Sweden BROWSE ISSUES NEWS FROM PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM Published monthly on behalf of SPPS by Wiley-Blackwell. Nicotine-free tobacco with a zest of tomato Crossing potatoes and tomatoes never turned out well, but a chimeric tobacco and tomato plant may prove more successful. Tobacco is susceptible to salt and soil salinity is an increasing problem in some tobacco growing regions of Southern Europe. Tomato is, however, much more salt tolerant and this prompted Juan Ruiz and colleagues from University of Granada, Spain to graft tobacco scions on tomato rootstocks. The results were promising, the grafted tobacco plants yielded up to 54% more foliar biomass than non-grafted plants when grown in 100 mM NaCl. In normal tobacco plants, nicotine is synthesized in the root, so it turned out that the chimeric tobacco plants - in addition to being salt tolerant - virtually lacked any nicotine in the leaves. With 99% reduced nicotine levels, tobacco grafted on tomato rootstocks might be an alternative for reducing the harmful effects of cigarette smoking. Read full article free: Ruiz et al (August 2005) Physiologia Plantarum 124: 465-475 NEWS IN BRIEF FROM OTHER JOURNALS Natural kanamycin resistance-gene in Arabidopsis Source: Mentewab & Stewart Jr (September 2005) Nature Biotechnology 23: 1177-1180 Phytate-free seeds good for animals and environment Source: Stevenson-Paulik et al (30 August 2005) PNAS 102: 12612-12617 Sponsored links:				Scandinavian research institute: Lund University, Sweden   Lund University is the largest university in Scandinavia. Modified from http://www.lu.se by Gorm Palmgren. When Denmark gave up Skåne, Halland and Blekinge - the southernmost provinces of modern Sweden - in 1658, the Swedish government decided to celebrate the reunion by establishing a university in the region, so as to minimize the Danish influence. Lund University is now Scandinavia's largest unified institution of higher learning with 42,500 students and 6,000 employees. It is a very internationally oriented university which receives 1600 exchange students and sends 800 abroad every year, and its researchers participates at the moment in around 200 EU research and education programmes, 54 of which are coordinated in Lund. Research in plant biology at Lund University is carried on at three departments within the Faculty of Science. At each department, the plant research is further organized under different sections and research groups. However, the institutions are located within walking distance of each other and cooperate extensively. An overview of the organization of plant biology at Lund University is given below. To directly access the departments' homepages, just click their names. Department of Cell and Organism Biology Genetics Genetics and evolution of adaptive traits in plant populations Plant Biology Communication between plants and microorganisms Cytoskeleton and plasma membranes in plants Effects of ultraviolet radiation on biological systems Molecular physiology of plant respiratory NAD(P)H dehydrogenases Department of Chemistry Biochemistry Structure and function of the thylakoid membrane Heat shock proteins Enzymatic insertion of metals into tetrapyrroles Functional genomics with barley mutants Plant Biochemistry The plasma membrane proton pump Aquaporins channel water through membranes Lipid-based signal transduction Photosynthesis under stress Phophoproteins and redox signalling Pure and Applied biochemistry Protein engineering Peptide libraries Plant molecular biology Department of Ecology Plant Ecology and Systematics Plants, Soil and Nutrients Plant Evolution and Systematics Reproductive Biology and Seed Ecology Biodiversity, Community Ecology and Conservation Biology At Department of Ecology, plant research is both within basic research and problems related to conservation biology and environmental management. In a recent study published in American Journal of Botany, Dr Stefan Andersson addressed the basic question whether it pays off to spend time on your looks.   Too much beauty doesn't pay. From http://usuarios.arsystel.com It seems, at least in Nigella sativa, that it does not. Stefan Andersson made the plant much less attractive by stripping the flower for petals and nectaries at the bud stage. In respons, Nigella invested all the energy it saved from not decorating the flowers into making the seeds larger and richer in carbon and nitrogen. This indicates, that small flowers might be evolutionary beneficial. Molecular and biochemical techniques are extensively used at the Department of Cell and Organism Biology to study the function and organization of plant cells. Professor Susanne Widell from the Plant Biology group has, together with colleagues, developed a model system that allows her to monitor metabolic pathways within the cell.   Alamethicin permeabilizes the plasma membrane yet allows vacuolar accumulation of acridine orange. Photo courtesy Susanne Widell. The method was recently published in Biochemical Journal and utilizes the ion channel-forming peptide alamethicin. When applied to suspension cultured tobacco cells, the peptide permeabilizes the plasma membrane and the mitochondria without affecting the tonoplast surrounding the vacuoles. Used in low concentrations, alamethicin allows influx of cofactors and substrates without killing or seriously disturbing growth of the cell. In this way, the scientists can directly study activities of cytosolic and mitochondrial enzymes in vivo.   Aquaporins form water channels through the plasma membrane. From http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org Another kind of channels through the plasma membrane is studied by Professor Per Kjellbom at the plant biochemistry group at Department of Chemistry. This is the aquaporins that allow water to flow in and out of cells. This group of proteins was first discovered in 1992 and until then water was believed to move across membranes only by diffusion. Per Kjellbom has studied the tissue specific expression of the plant aquaporin gene family, which consists of approximately 35 members. Results recently published in Biology of the Cell show that two abundant aquaporin isoforms of the PIP1 subfamily have specific roles in phloem loading, transport and unloading, and in stomatal movements. You can find more information about plant research at Lund University by clicking the department names in the overview above.
Design and technical solution © 2004 Palmgren kommunikation. SPPS Newsletter is edited by Gorm Palmgren. All articles - unless otherwise stated - are written by Gorm Palmgren.