Das Projekt "Polyamines and drought tolerance: Cross-talk of polyamine and calcium signalling in stress tolerance of barley" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Institut für Pharmazie durchgeführt. Drought is a major limitation for crop yield, and drought-tolerant crop cultivars are a worldwide requirement. Polyamines were shown to improve tolerance and recovery from drought, and recent results place spermine at a prime position for this effect. The mechanism of action of spermine is unknown, but there is strong evidence pointing to spermine modulation of cation channels. This project aims at investigating spermine formation and action in the crop Hordeum vulgare, distinguishing spermine from the positional isomer thermospermine. The enzyme responsible for spermine biosynthesis, H. vulgare spermine synthase (HvSPMS), will be characterized and its expression in response to drought will be analysed. To clarify mechanism(s) of spermine action, effects of genetic and pharmacological alteration of spermine levels on various drought and salt stress parameters will be determined in whole plant, cell culture and epidermal strip assays. The hypothesis that spermine is intricately linked to ion homeostasis and Ca2+ signalling will be tested by recombinant reporter proteins and ion analysis. A first approach to identify direct spermine targets is made by studying proteins to which spermine specifically binds.
Das Projekt "Polyamines and drought tolerance: Cross-talk of polyamine and calcium signalling in stress tolerance of barley" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Institut für Agrar- und Ernährungswissenschaften, Professur für Pflanzenernährung durchgeführt. Drought is a major limitation for crop yield, and drought-tolerant crop cultivars are a world-wide requirement. Polyamines were shown to improve tolerance and recovery from drought, and recent results place spermine at a prime position for this effect. This project aims at investigating spermine formation and action in the crop Hordeum vulgare, distinguishing spermine from the positional isomer thermospermine. To clarify mechanism(s) of spermine action, effects of genetic and pharmacological alteration of spermine levels on various drought and salt stress parameters will be determined in whole plant, cell culture and epidermal strip assays.
Das Projekt "Priming of heat and drought tolerance in potato" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universite de Neuchatel, Institut de Biologie durchgeführt. Treatment with necrotizing pathogens, colonization of roots with beneficial microorganisms or treatment of plants with various natural and synthetic compounds enhance the capacity of plants activating defense responses to biotic and abiotic stress - a process called priming. Priming has the advantage to have only a minor impact on the fitness of the plants compared to direct induction of a protected state and does therefore not significantly affect yield and other agricultural parameters. The priming process will be analysed in potato and compared to that found in the model plant Arabidopsis. Effects of priming on heat and drought tolerance of the plant as well as on tuberization, yield and quality of tubers will be investigated. A simple in vitro system will be developed to test the priming of heat and drought tolerance in potato by natural or synthetic compounds. The test system can be utilised in development of a new generation of bio-fertilizers that can enhance heat and drought tolerance of potato and increase the profitability of potato production in the Eastern European region.
Das Projekt "Erfassung und Bewertung des Entwicklungspotentials ausgewaehlter, naturnaher, terrestrischer, semiaquatischer und aquatischer Bereiche der Niederlausitzer Bergbaufolgelandschaft und Erarbeitung von Leitbildern und Handlungskonzepten fuer deren" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg, Institut für Boden, Wasser, Luft, Lehrstuhl Bodenschutz und Rekultivierung durchgeführt.
Das Projekt "EpiCOL: Ecological and Evolutionary plant epigenetics (09-EuroEEFG-FP-048)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Bern, Departement Biologie, Institut für Pflanzenwissenschaften durchgeführt. One of the fundamental principles in biology is that evolution by natural selection, and therefore the ability of populations to adapt to changing environments, requires heritable variation, i.e. genetically-based variation in phenotypic traits that are under selection. Until recently, such heritable variation was generally thought to require underlying DNA sequence variation. Thus, populations that lack DNA sequence variation were assumed be unable to evolve. However, there is now increasing evidence that epigenetic modifications of the genome, such as DNA methylation or histone modifications - which regulate gene activity and therefore ultimately the phenotype - can be heritable, too, and that there can be epigenetic variation within and among natural populations which is independent of DNA sequence variation. Moreover, epigenetic variation can sometimes be altered direct by the environment, which suggests that such heritable epigenetic variation might be an important and hitherto overlooked component of biodiversity and an additional mechanism for organisms to respond to environmental change. Our project is part of a larger pan-European project (involving partners from the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and France) that attempts to address these exciting questions about the ecological and evolutionary relevance of epigenetic variation and epigenetic inheritance in several connected sub-projects. In our project, we will test the hypothesis that evolution by natural selection can occur even in the absence of DNA sequence variation, based on heritable epigenetic variation only. We will use selection experiments, and a recently developed, unique set of genotypically near-identical but epigenetically distinct recombinant inbred lines (epiRILs) of Arabidopsis thaliana to study epigenetic evolution 'in action'. The specific objectives of our project are (i) to characterise 100+ epiRILs with regard to their drought and pathogen resistance, (ii) to subject replicated experimental populations of these epiRILs to at least 3-4 generations of natural or artificial selection imposed by experimental drought and/or pathogens, and (iii) to quantify the response to this selection both in terms of phenotypic shifts as well as shifts in epigenotype frequencies.