NEWS FROM
PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM
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Published monthly on behalf of SPPS by Wiley-Blackwell.
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Comforting proteins
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A dehydrin protein from Rhododendron plays a key role in freezing tolerance due to protection from cellular dehydration caused by extracellular freezing. Rajeev Arora and co-workers from Iowa State University have shown that purified RcDhn5-encoded acidic SK2 type dehydrin can protect enzyme activity against dehydration in in viro assays. When the gene was constitutively expressed in Arabidopsis, the transgenic plants exhibited increased freezing tolerance withour prior cold acclimation. With cold acclimation, however, the effect was less pronounced. This is apparently due to dilution of the Rhododendron dehydrin by less effective native dehydrins.
Read full article free: Peng et al. (December 2008) Physiologia Plantarum 134: 583-597
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NEWS IN BRIEF
FROM OTHER JOURNALS
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Aphids thrive on biofuels
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Source: Landis et al. (23 December 2008) PNAS 105: 20552-20557
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Pattern-creating microtubules
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Source: Hamant et al (12 December 2008) Science 322: 1650-1655
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News from the FESPB 2008 congress held in Tampere, Finland
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Tampere Hall was the venue for the FeSPB 2008 Congress. From www.eu2006.fi
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The Federation of the European Societies of Plant Biology (FESPB) arranges a large plant biology congress every other year. This year the congress venue was Tampere Hall in the city of Tampere in southern Finland. The congress was organized by the Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society, SPPS, during 17-22 August. In addition to the congress, Tampere hall housed two satellite meetings, MOSS 2008 and PEROXIDASE 2008. Kurt Fagerstedt from Helsinki University reports from the meeting:
Scientific excellence and originality were the main criteria for the selection of both invited and selected speakers, and this was manifested by a very high scientific standard of the speakers.The criteria were set by the Local Organizing and the Scandinavian Scientific Committees together with the International Scientific Board led by Prof. Jaakko Kangasjärvi. The first day of the congress was largely dedicated to bioenergy, and Chris Somerville, Energy Biosciences Institute, Berkeley, USA, gave an excellent introduction to the subject including a global view on cellulosic biofuels. This was followed by a 'Bioenergy and land use' discussion organized by the Society for Experimental Biology (SEB). Other presentations that gathered large audience included: 'Transgenic crops with multigenic traits' given by Paul Christou, 'Auxin transport and effects in subcellular dynamics' given by Jiri Friml, 'The molecular basis of vernalisation in Arabidopsis' given by Caroline Dean, and 'Genome meets epigenome - Uncovering genetic and epigenetic variation in Arabidopsis' given by Joseph E. Ecker.
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Stuart Casson from University of Bristol was one of the two winners of the FESPB Young Scientist Award. From www.bio.bris.ac.uk
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Stuart Casson, Univ. Bristol, UK, and Oscar Lorenzo, Univ.Salamanca, Spain, were awarded the FESPB Young Scientist Awards. Casson works with stomatal development and its regulation, and Lorenzo works with jasmonate signaling, which has raised global interest among plant scientists.
Altogether the FESPB 2008 congress with the satellite symposia gathered about 1100 participants from 60 countries, and hence the FESPB Congress has gained status as one of the most important congresses in plant biology not only in Europe but also globally. Here are some figures of the participants from selected countries: Germany 142, Finland 125, Spain 71, Czech Republic 66, UK 66, Japan 64, Sweden 59, Russia 55, Poland 46, France 44, Republic of Korea 39. Lots of young PhD students and postdocs participated, and altogether well over 700 posters were presented.
Tampere Hall was just the right venue for a congress of this size, and its staff and the Helsinki and Turku University student assistants were praised for success in the practical organization of the meeting. The delicious congress dinner was arranged at Scandic Hotel Rosendahl in a scenic spot in Tampere Pyynikinharju, and the evening programme continued till early morning hours.
You can read more about the conference on FESPB's homepage.
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