Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is an important cereal grain which serves as major animal fodder crop as well as basis for malt beverages or staple food. Currently barley is ranked fourth in terms of quantity of cereal crops produced worldwide. In times of a constantly growing world population in conjunction with an unforeseeable climate change and groundwater depletion, the accumulation of knowledge concerning cereal growth and rate of yield gain is important. The Nordic Genetic Resource Center holds a major collection of barley mutants produced by irradiation or chemical treatment. One phenotypic group of barley varieties are dwarf mutants (erectoides, brachytic, semidwarf, uzu). They are characterized by a compact spike and high rate of yield while the straw is short and stiff, enhancing the lodging resistance of the plant. Obviously they are of applied interest, but they are also of scientific interest as virtually nothing is known about the genes behind the development of plant dwarfism. The aim of this project is to identify and isolate the genes carrying the mutations by using state of the art techniques for gene cloning at the Carlsberg Laboratory. The identified genes will be connected with the mutant phenotype to reveal the gene function in general. One or two genes will be overexpressed and the resulting recombinant proteins will be biochemically and structurally characterized. The insights how the mutation effects the protein will display the protein function in particular. Identified genes and their mutant alleles will be tested in the barley breeding program of the Carlsberg brewery.
Magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) on microcosm soil cores (200 mm Ø) used for CeMiX, comprising naturally stacked subsoil down to 700 mm plus topsoil from CeFiT, will be implemented at a laterally partially open Split 1.5 T magnet, with intended final in-plane spatial resolution of 200 Micro m. Three-dimensional biopore distributions and dynamics of their formation within the cores will be determined non-invasively and compared to complementing CT analyses of SP 2. One major aim is a non-invasive differentiation of the biopores into earthworm- and root system-originating ones and currently air-, water-, root- and earthwormfilled ones, based on NMR relaxation parameters. Attempts will additionally be made to classify different wall coatings of the biopores with regard to their water affinity. Dynamics of water distribution within the microcosm core and its biopore structures, starting from initial values taken from CeFiT (SP 3), will be documented with an in-plane resolution of 5 mm, in parallel to measurements of root growth dynamics for calculation of biomass and root surface area. Special emphasis will be put on the role of the plant root system for a re-distribution of water/D2O (and solutes) between different soil layers. Finally we will attempt MRT-controlled sample collection from the microcosm cores, to get - together with our research unit partners of SPs 4-8 - repeated access to minimally invasively acquired data on nutrient and microorganism distributions in concert with non-invasively collected water and root distribution data as a basis for dynamic modelling of water and solute circuits in SP 10. Beside the microcosm cores, flat rhizotrons as used in SP 3 will be employed to enable measurements of root and shoot hydrostatic pressure profiles with pressure probes, in addition to MRT measurements. In this way water distributions and corresponding driving forces and growth dynamics will be measured altogether in a minimally invasive manner.
Boron (B) is an essential microelement for plants. Despite the use of modern fertilization methods, B deficiency still causes losses in agricultural plant production. Even though many positive effects of B on plant growth and physiology have been reported, a large majority of B functions and the regulatory mechanisms controlling the B nutritional status remain unknown. The main objective of this project is to elucidate how the greatly B deficiency-sensitive Brassica crop plants process and regulate their B status during vegetative and reproductive growth. In this context, the project aims at identifying the mode of action of B in mechanisms regulating the B status itself and uncovering those mechanisms contributing to B efficiency in different genotypes. Plant species subjected to investigation will be the agronomically important oilseed and vegetable plant Brassica napus (rapeseed) and its close relative the genetic and molecular model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Questions addressed within the scope of this project should lead to a detailed understanding of mechanisms controlling B uptake and allocation from the level of the whole plant down to the cellular level. B transport routes and rates will be determined in sink- and source tissues and in developmental periods with a particularly high B demand. A special focus will be on the identification of B transport bottlenecks and the analysis of B deficiency-sensitive transport processes to and within the highly B-demanding reproductive organs. Recent studies in Arabidopsis suggest that Nodulin26-like Intrinsic Proteins (NIPs), which belong to the aquaporin channel protein family, are essential for plant B uptake and distribution. The systematic focus on the molecular and physiological characterization of B. napus NIPs will clarify their role in B transport and will identify novel NIP-associated mechanisms playing key roles in the B response network.To further resolve the mostly unknown impact of the B nutritional status on gene regulation and metabolism, a transcript and metabolite profile of B-sufficient and B-deficient rapeseed plants will be generated. Additionally, an Arabidopsis transcription factor knockout collection (greater 300 lines) will be screened for abnormalities in responses to the B nutritional status. This will identify yet unknown B-responsive genes (transcription factors and their targets) and gene products (enzymes or metabolite variations) playing key roles in signalling pathways and mechanisms regulating the B homeostasis. Boron (in form of boric acid) and arsenite (As) share in all likelihood the same NIP-mediated transport pathways. To assess the consequences of this dual transport pathway the so far unstudied impact of the plants B nutritional status on the accumulation and distribution of As will be investigated in B. napus. Moreover, the current dimension of the As contamination of Brassica-based food products, to which consumers are exposed to, will be analyzed. usw.
Im April 2012 führte PUMA das Rücknahmesystem Bring Me Back ein. Seither können Kunden in PUMA Stores weltweit gebrauchte Produkte zurückgeben, die dann durch die Firma I:CO der Weiterverwendung und Verwertung zugeführt werden. Auch die Produkte der neuen recyclefähigen und biologisch abbaubaren PUMA-InCycle-Kollektion, die seit März 2013 auf dem Markt sind, werden so erfasst. Hierzu gehört etwa das recycelbare PUMA Track Jacket, das zu 98 Prozent aus Polyester aus gebrauchten PET-Flaschen besteht. Der PUMA-Rucksack aus Polypropylen wird nach Gebrauch an den ursprünglichen Hersteller zurückgegeben, der das Material wieder zu neuen Rucksäcken verarbeitet. Durch solche Neuentwicklungen will PUMA seine Planungs- und Entscheidungsbasis verbessern. Deshalb hat sie bifa mit der Analyse abfallwirtschaftlicher Optionen für gebrauchte PUMA Produkte beauftragt. bifa untersuchte hierzu Referenzprodukte und Optionen für die Erfassung und Sortierung von Produkten und Materialien. 35 Pfade mit unterschiedlichen Verwertungs- und Beseitigungsansätzen wurden entwickelt und bewertet. Die Realisierungschancen der Pfade wurden dann dem zu erwartenden Nutzen insbes. für die Umwelt gegenübergestellt. Dabei wurde zwischen gut entwickelten und wenig entwickelten Abfallwirtschaften (Waste-Picking-Szenario W-P-Szenario) unterschieden. Es zeigte sich, dass Pfade, die im Szenario Abfallwirtschaft ökologisch nachteilig sind, im W-P-Szenario durchaus vorteilhaft sein können. Im W-P-Szenario sind zudem Pfade realisierbar, die in entwickelten Abfallwirtschaften keine Chance hätten. Die moderne Abfallverbrennung ist für W-P-Szenarien ökologisch vorteilhaft, aber dennoch eine schwierige Option. In entwickelten Abfallwirtschaften sollten Sammlung und Wiedereinsatz gebrauchter Schuhe und Textilien weiterentwickelt werden. Die folgenden generellen Empfehlungen wurden gegeben: - Der Einsatz von Recyclingmaterialien in PUMA-Produkten ist aus ökologischer Sicht zu empfehlen. Diese Erkenntnis wird auch durch die Ergebnisse der ersten ökologischen Gewinn-und-Verlust-Rechnung von PUMA belegt. Über die Hälfte aller Umweltauswirkungen entlang der gesamten Produktions- und Lieferkette des Unternehmens werden bei der Herstellung von Rohmaterialien verursacht - Das Produktdesign sollte auch für bestehende Verwertungspfade optimiert werden, da realistischerweise nur ein Teil der Produkte über das Sammelsystem erfasst werden kann - Die ökologischen Vorteile von Produkten, die aus nur einem Material bestehen, kommen nur dann zum Tragen, wenn das Produkt nach Gebrauch aussortiert und das Material tatsächlich recycelt wird - Biol. abbaubare Produkte können auch Nachteile haben, zum Beispiel die schnellere Entwicklung von klimaschädlichem Methan bei ungeordneter Deponierung - Eine Verlängerung der Produktlebensdauer über den gesamten Lebenszyklus einschl. der Verwendung als Gebrauchtprodukt ist der effektivste Weg, Umweltlasten zu reduzieren. Meth. Ökobilanzierung und Systemanalyse (Text gekürzt)
In many plant species, FLOWERING LOCUS T and related proteins are the mobile signal that communicates information on photoperiod from the leaves to the shoots, where the transition to flowering is realized. FT expression is tightly controlled at the transcriptional level so that it is restricted to leaves, occurs only in appropriate photoperiods, and integrates ambient temperature and developmental cues, as well as information on biotic and abiotic stress. We previously established that FT transcription in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana requires proximal promoter cis-elements and a distal enhancer, both evolutionary conserved among Brassicacea species. In addition, FT transcription is blocked prior vernalization in biannual accessions and vernalization-dependency of FT is controlled through a CArG-box located in the first intron that binds the transcriptional repressor FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). Chromatin-mediated repression by the Polycomb Group (PcG) pathway is required for photoperiod-dependent FT regulation and participates in FT expression level modulation in response to other cues.In this project, I propose to explore the available sequence data from the 1001 genome project in Arabidopsis to evaluate how often changes in regulatory cis-elements at FT have occurred and how these translate into an adaptive value. Allele-specific FT expression pattern will be measured in F1 hybrids of different accessions in response to varying environmental conditions. FT alleles that show cis-regulatory variation will be further analyzed to pinpoint the causal regulatory changes and study their effect in more detail. The allotetrapolyploid species Brassica napus is a hybrid of two Brassiceae species belonging to the A- and C-type genome, which are in turn mesopolyploid due to a genome triplication that occurred ca. 10x106 years ago. We will determine allele-specific expression of FT paralogs from both genomes of a collection of B. napus accessions. The plants will be grown in the field in changing environmental conditions to maximize the chance to detect expression variation of the paralogs. We will compare the contribution of the founder genomes to the regulation of flowering time and asses variation in this contribution. A particular focus will be to study the impact of chromatin-mediated repression on allele selection in B. napus.
Die Insektensammlung des DEI ist mit etwa 3.000.000 präparierten Objekten eine faktische Datensammlung, die kritisch erschlossen werden muss. Nur so können die in der Sammlung enthaltenen Primärinformationen sowohl auf dem Gebiet der Taxonomie als auch für andere biologische sowie zoogeographische Untersuchungen nutzbar gemacht werden. Die Neuordnung von Sammlungsteilen unter modernen wissenschaftlichen Gesichtspunkten zur Sicherstellung der internationalen Verfügbarkeit der Bestände und die Publikation damit zusammenhängender Kataloge sind wesentliche Projektbestandteile.
INFRES is a three year EU FP7 funded study focused on developing innovative technology and logistics for the forest residual biomass supply chain. The goal is to improve the overall competitiveness of forest residue biomass throughout the EU by accelerating technological (equipment and software) development and demonstrations. Following the directive for renewable energy targets in the EU, forest residue will continue to play an leading role in the renewable energy sector. This overall study focuses on the efficient collection, processing and delivery of woody feed stock for heating, power and emerging bio-refining uses. This research and demonstration project involves 23 partners, including nine research universities and organizations and 14 SMEs FELIS: FELIS will be leading Work Package 3, titled 'Business innovations and adaptations of forestry practices to bioenergy supply'. This research effort first evaluates the future customers and markets of forest biomass to 2050 and then focuses on how existing forestry practices may be modified in order to enhance and improve biomass recovery. Partnering with both software companies and regional bioenergy firms, this work task develops business and service innovations in order to improve organization efficiency, lowering cost and improving service.
The proposed RTN adopts a unified approach to a unique sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia) collection. It will provide excellent training for young researchers in evaluating traditional resources and developing novel strategies for sustainable agriculture. This is timely because of the pending CAP reforms. The RTN will offer multisectorial and multidisciplinary training at 12 first-class research institutions and 3 SMEs in 11 countries. It is based on a structured combination of research and training activities to ensure that the young researchers will achieve optimal development of professional skills for their future careers . The young researchers will greatly benefit from the vast expertise in a wide range of disciplines amongst the partners: agronomy, plant breeding, seed production and marketing, animal nutrition, veterinary science, chemical analysis, biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology. The scientific approach will develop a scientific and technical basis for animal feeding systems based on lower chemical inputs by re-popularising traditional fodder legumes for more efficient, animal- and environment-friendly farming systems. Sainfoin will be a showcase for an excellent fodder legume, which was widely grown in Europe before the use of commercial fertilisers and synthetic drugs. Currently, a considerable amount of research occurs on sainfoin but includes only a few cultivars. This prevents exploitation of its full genetic potential. The unique collection already available within this network and a concerted evaluation will lay the foundation for exploiting the full potential of this traditional forage crop in contemporary cultivation systems. Training will consist of extensive scientific education on a local and network-wide basis and include complementary skills, e.g. foreign languages, personal, social and inter-cultural skills (management skills and soft skills). The proposed RTN adopts a unified approach to a unique sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia) collection. It will provide excellent training for young researchers in evaluating traditional resources and developing novel strategies for sustainable agriculture. This is timely because of the pending CAP reforms. The RTN will offer multisectorial and multidisciplinary training at 12 first-class research institutions and 3 SMEs in 11 countries. It is based on a structured combination of research and training activities to ensure that the young researchers will achieve optimal development of professional skills for their future careers . The young researchers will greatly benefit from the vast expertise in a wide range of disciplines amongst the partners: agronomy, plant breeding, seed production and marketing, animal nutrition, veterinary science, chemical analysis, biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology...
The high diversity of plankton communities has early attracted the attention of plankton ecologists and been formulated as the Paradox of the plankton. Relating species and species distribution with ecophysiology is still a key problem in protist ecology and distribution. This is specifically the case for chrysomonad flagellates as they are, except for a few model strains, among the most poorly known freshwater phytoplankton. Even though pigmented chrysophytes are among the dominant mixotrophs in many habitats and colourless chrysophytes are dominant in many aquatic and soil habitats including meso- to eutrophic sites, ecophysiological studies are rare. Despite some environmental surveys based on chrysophyte scales and cysts providing some links between distribution pattern and environmental factors, knowledge is still poor specifically for non-scaled chrysophytes. Thus, the ecophysiological basis for niche separation and / or coexistence are poorly understood and mainly restricted to rough assumptions. We propose to bridge this gap for chrysomonad flagellates in an alpine gradient focussing (i) on the ecophysiolopgical characterisation of the isolated strains and (ii) on a screening of 20 lakes within the alpine gradient for dominant taxa using molecular tools to finally infer the ecophysiological basis for niche separation and coexistence in chrysophytes, respectively. The main strength of the proposed project is its broadness - the link between cultivation independent environmental surveys (including morphological and molecular surveys and physical/chemical parameters) with in-depth cultivation dependent laboratory investigations, i.e. the combination of approaches which are usually separately investigated. In concert with ivestigations of chrysophyte cysts (projects FWF P 18315; CLIM-LAND) and intraspecific ecophysiological variation (project FWF P 18676) this project will therefore reveal insights into the ecophysiological basis of niche separation and coexistence of plankton taxa (i.e. in fundamental issues in plankton ecology) which can not be covered by single approaches alone. The extensive strain collection at the Institute for Limnology in Mondsee comprising recently isolated chrysophytes originating from an environmental gradient within a regionally restricted area allow to test for specific adaptations of different taxa and ecotypes of chrysomonad flagellates. The focus of our investigations will be on thermal adaptation (i.e. the probably most obvious parameter in an alpine gradient), pH adaptation (as pH is considered to be one of the most crucial parameters for chrysophyte survival strategies) and, for selected taxa, on nutritional strategies (as the chrysophytes cover different strategies from entirely phototrophic to entirely heterotrophic).
A considerable proportion of the mountainous areas of Northern Vietnam consists of unproductive, degraded lands, the so-called 'barren hills'. Research during the first phase of the SFB aimed at (1) identifying plant communities that are indicators for the different degradation levels and thus may be useful for rapid-diagnosis purposes, and (2) exploring the potential of perennial legumes for rehabilitating such degraded areas, as an alternative to afforestation as the conventional attempt to 're-green' barren hills. Regarding the rehabilitation potential of legumes, a 24-accession core collection of the multipurpose shrub Flemingia macrophylla, assembled on the basis of the accessions' origin information, is examined for its variability with respect to morphological, agronomic, forage plant and soil-reclamation characteristics. This work has only begun in 2002 and will continue, within the proposed 2nd-phase research, until 2005. Research results of the first SFB phase (subprojects C2 and F1) suggest that a considerable portion of barren hills is used as communal grazing lands and that farmers are very interested in improvement measures to raise their productivity. Since to date there has been no research dealing with such native, communal pastures, C2.2 proposes to assess, in particularly close cooperation with A1.2 and F1.2, their role, productivity, forage value, and land use patterns leading to the development of grazing lands, by means of (1) PRA surveys and (2) primary-production and nutritive-value studies based on appropriate vegetation samplings (exclosures) on-farm during the rainy and dry seasons. Furthermore, C2.2 will test, under minimum-input conditions and by means of participatory research, a best-bet set of five 'improved' forage grasses and six 'improved' forage legumes regarding their adaptation to/production under prevailing soil and climate constraints, nutritive value, potential to persist under overgrazing conditions, and relative palatability to buffaloes and local cattle. Also this work will have close links with A1.2 and F1.2, in addition to D2.2. The expected outcome of the proposed research will be the availability of knowledge about and understanding of (1) the variability in the Flemingia macrophylla core collection regarding its forage and soil reclamation potential; (2) the influence of land use on the development of communal grazing lands and their contribution to local livestock production systems; and (3) promising pasture grass and legume species adapted to prevailing edaphic, climatic and management conditions.
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