NEWS FROM
PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM
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Published monthly on behalf of SPPS by Wiley-Blackwell.
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Transgenic wheat overcome drought in field tests
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Six consecutive years of field-testing in Egypt suggest that transgenic spring wheat expressing the HVA1 gene have enhanced tolerance to drought. The transgene encodes a member of the group 3 late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins from barley aleurone, which naturally accumulates during seed desiccation. Enhanced drought resistance from the transgene varied between transformants and also within transformants from year to year. In one of the best lines, 111/1, yield increases ranged from only 1% up to 44% under drought conditions depending on the year. The scientists are now pursuing commercialization of the transgenic wheat seeds.
Read full article free: Bahieldin et al (April 2005) Physiologia Plantarum 123: 421-427
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NEWS IN BRIEF
FROM OTHER JOURNALS
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Skipping a generation
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Source: Lolle et al (24 March 2005) Nature 434: 505-509
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Leaves and origami
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Source: Mahadevan & Rica (18 March 2005) Science 307: 1740
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Scandinavian research institute:
The NTNU Plant Genetics Group, Trondheim
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Professor Atle M. Bones is head of the 9 scientists, 7 students and 1 technician that make up the Plant Genetics Group at NTNU. Photo courtesy of Atle Bones.
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Well below the polar circle, where Norway narrows into a thin land strip, in the city of Trondheim, is the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU. Despite the city has only 150.000 inhabitants, the university has around 20.000 students and 3500 employees.
Almost 20 of them reside at the Plant Genetics Group that belongs to the Department of Biology, and their scientific interests are devoted to molecular and biochemical analysis of a large collection of Arabidopsis mutants. The two major research projects are:- The myrosinase-glucosinolate plant defence system
- Cell signal transduction through RAC GTPases
Both projects have been under way for several years and have resulted in numerous publications in international journals.
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NAPP mutants (below) disrupt the actin cytoskeleton causing malformation of trichomes. Photo courtesy of Atle Bones.
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Professor Atle M. Bones, head of the Plant Genetics Group, initiated the RAC GTPase project in 1995 and by 2000 the group had characterized the complete RAC gene family, comprising 11 genes, in Arabidopsis. RAC GTPases function as molecular switches that turn signal transduction pathways on or off. In plants, they are involved in regulation of the cytoskeleton and cell polarity as well as in activation of the defence related oxidative burst.
Utilizing their collection of several hundred mutant lines, the group has investigated the genomic and evolutionary relationship between the genes, and their functional characteristics. Such efforts led to the very recent discovery in Arabidopsis of the individual elements that form a homolog of a regulatory protein complex, which in mammals is known to control actin nucleation in the cytoskeleton. Transgenic plants with mutations in these genes had distorted trichomes similar to mutants known to be defective in assembling the cytoskeleton.
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The TGG1 myrosinase promoter drives developmental and cell specific expression in Arabidopsis seedlings. Photo courtesy of Atle Bones.
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Though ten years experience in a research field might seem impressive, Atle Bones has dug even further into the myrosinase-glucosinolate defence system. It has occupied him for over 20 years and he was among the first to publish sequences of the members of the myrosinase gene family. Myrosinases catalyze the hydrolysis of glucosinolates to various breakdown products with a sharp and distinctive taste characteristic of many crucifers and with widespread biological properties, e.g. as herbivore and pathogen repellents.
Myrosinase enzymes are localized to specific cells and are only released upon cell damage. In a recent publication Atle Bones and his colleagues have fused myrosinase genetic elements to the GUS reporter gene and have shown that they are responsible for both cell and developmental specific gene expression and for subcellular localization of the protein. The work also showed that while there are many similarities between the myrosinase system in Arabidopsis and Brassica napus, Arabidopsis seems to represent a simpler version that probably reflects it shorter life span.
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The NTNU Plant Genetics Group is part of the Norwegian Arabidopsis Research Center, NARC. Photo courtesy of NARC.
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The Plant Genetics Group also hosts the National Arabidopsis Research Center, NARC, which is one of ten national functional genomics platforms funded by the Norwegian Functional Genomics (FUGE) initiative of the Norwegian Research Council. NARC is a collaboration between scientists from NTNU, University of Oslo and Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Oslo that share a common interest in the Arabidopsis thaliana model system.
The centre provides knowledge and services that allows scientists all over Norway to utilize the powerful tools of functional genomics. These are often very costly and require a great amount of time to establish so by offering a single service platform, NARC will help promote the quality of Norwegian plant science. From RNA, DNA or protein samples shipped in on dry ice, the Center will perform DNA microarray analyses, in situ hybridisations, yeast two-hybrid analyses or plant transformations.
You can find more information about the Plant Genetics Group on its official website.
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