Eine hohe Resistenz gegen Bodenpathogene, gute Standortanpassung und Veredlungsaffinität sind die entscheidenden Merkmale von Unterlagen. Bei der Pathogenresistenz ist bei Reben die Widerstandsfähigkeit gegen die Reblaus Daktulosphaira vitifoiae essentiell, da die europäische Kulturrebe Vitis vinifera L über keinerlei Resistenzen verfügt und nur an wenigen Standorten ein wurzelechter Anbau möglich ist. Amerikanische Wildformen mit solchen Reblausresistenzen sind daher in der Unterlagenzüchtung von großer Bedeutung. Die langfristige Sicherung solcher Genotypen ist daher eine Voraussetzung für spätere Züchtungsarbeiten zur Erstellung neuer besserer Unterlagen. Daneben spielt auch die Standortanpassung eine wichtige Rolle. Vitis berlandieri ist hier am wichtigsten, da sie als einzige Art über eine hohe Kalkverträglichkeit verfügt und die Mehrheit der deutschen und europäischen Weinbaustandorte durch hohe Kalkgehalte im Boden charakterisiert sind. Kalkempfindliche Arten leiden unter Kalkchlorose mit stark vermindertem Wuchs. Aufgrund begrenzter Verfügbarkeit wurden jedoch nur wenige Pflanzen der Art in der Unterlagenzüchtung verwendet und damit nur ein Teil des Potentials der Art genutzt. In einem gemeinsamen Projekt mit dem United States Department for Agriculture wurden daher im September 2005 im ursprünglichen Verbreitungsgebiet der Art in Zentraltexas Samen von Wildformen gesammelt und die Hälfte davon in Geisenheim zur Keimung gebracht und ausgepflanzt. Derzeit werden mehr als 5000 Pflanzen in der in vivo Erhaltung. In den kommenden Jahren werden diese hinsichtlich ihrer relevanten Eigenschaften phänotypisch charakterisiert und in einem späteren Stadium auch genotypisiert, um für weitere Kreuzungs- und Selektionsarbeiten nutzbares material zu identifizieren.
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.
Eine hohe Resistenz gegen Bodenpathogene, gute Standortanpassung und Veredlungsaffinität sind die entscheidenden Merkmale von Unterlagen. Bei der Pathogenresistenz ist bei Reben die Widerstandsfähigkeit gegen die Reblaus Daktulosphaira vitifoiae essentiell, da die europäische Kulturrebe Vitis vinifera L über keinerlei Resistenzen verfügt und nur an wenigen Standorten ein wurzelechter Anbau möglich ist. Klimaveränderungen erfordern neue Unterlagen mit hoher Reblausfestigkeit und besserer Standortanpassung. Aufgrund der derzeitigen Szenarien werden sowohl Trockenresistenz als auch Toleranz gegen hohe Kalkgehalte insbesondere in Verbindung mit hohem Bodenwassergehalte zukünftig von Bedeutung sein. Hierfür werden entsprechende Kreuzungen vorgenommen, die Sämlinge aufgezogen, auf ihre Reblausfestigkeit getestet und anschießend Prüfungen der Wurzelungs- und Veredlungsfähigkeit vorgenommen. Anschließend wird die Witterungs- und Bodenanpassung der Zuchtstämme insbesondere auf Trocken- und Kalkstandorten untersucht. Ziel ist die Entwicklung verschiedener Unteralgen, die eine vollständige Reblausresistenz mit hohen Trockenheits- und/oder Kalktoleranz kombinieren.
Salinity occurs often simultaneously with drought stress. Therefore, breeding for tolerance to combined both stresses can contribute significantly to crop yield. However, classical selection in salinity has generally been unsuccessful, partly due to high variability of salt stress resulting from the different salinity and drought status. Unfortunately, the use of unrealistic stress protocols for mimicking salinity and drought stress is the norm rather than the exception in biotechnological studies. Therefore, the great challenge is to gain knowledge required to develop plants with enhanced tolerance to field conditions. Our overall hypothesis is that a realistic stress protocol simulating a field environment with combined salt and drought stress as a platform for precision phenotyping of plant tolerance to salinity may solve this problem. This study will demonstrate that highly managed stress environments can be created and key traits of plants can be characterised by using advanced non-destructive sensors that are able to identify relevant traits of plants.
Abiotic environmental stresses are among the major factors limiting agricultural productivity in many developing countries. A common feature of various environmental stresses is the excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the leaf tissue leading to 'oxidative stress' and in turn visible leaf lesions, reduced growth, and in severe cases plant death. This project aims at identifying molecular mechanisms associated with oxidative stress tolerance in rice (Oryza sativa L.) under three different environmental conditions: (i) high tropospheric ozone concentration, (ii) zinc deficiency, and (iii) iron toxicity. This is achieved by dissecting naturally occurring genotypic variability in oxidative stress tolerance into distinct quantitative trait loci (QTL). Physiological mechanisms and genes underlying such tolerance QTL are identified by adopting an interdisciplinary approach including biochemical characterization of the antioxidant systems, transcriptome profiling, and experiments with gene knock-out mutants for candidate genes. Theoretical understanding of stress tolerance mechanisms obtained from laboratory experiments would be validated in field experiments together with international research institutions and partners in developing countries. At a later stage, the project strives to adopt emerging techniques in gene discovery such as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) based association mapping, and apply lessons learned from studying the 'model cereal crop' rice to other species such as barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). The project is expected to contribute to world-wide efforts in adapting crop production to stress environments by specifically advancing the understanding of oxidative stress tolerance.
In the mountainous regions of North Vietnam, smallholder farmers try to sustain and improve their livelihoods under conditions of growing population density and land pressure. Livestock husbandry appears as major development opportunity for them. Yet, 'mountainous regions' are heterogeneous, comprising areas near town with favourable access to markets and infrastructure but higher land pressure and remote areas, disadvantaged concerning market and infrastructure access but disposing of larger cropping and pasture areas. Low and unsteady resource availability in marginal areas limits the possibilities for intensification of livestock production. One solution is to increase production efficiency through improved resource utilisation. In animal production this can be realised through the development of sustainable livestock breeding and management programmes, using genotypes with high productive adaptability. Such programmes will have different structures depending on short- and medium-term resource availability, production objectives and production intensity of respective smallholder production systems.Based on the results of phase 1 and 2, D2.3 focuses on planning procedures for livestock breeding and management programmes for four combinations of production systems and species/genotypes, namely production of lean pork with exotic higher-yielding breeds in demand-driven systems, production of branded pork from local Ban pigs including remote, resource-driven pig producers, production of beef in farming systems of different scale, organisational set-up and remoteness, and production of goat meat as niche product in systems in transition. The four programmes will respond to the large heterogeneity of smallholder production systems in the project area. In fulfilment of its research objectives, D2.3 relies on cooperation with sub-projects E4.1 (Product marketing) concerning the design of a pork marketing and quality control system in the frame of village breeding and pork marketing programmes, G1.2 (Innovations and sustainability strategies) and C4.1 (Land use modelling) on integrated modelling concerning the identification of most sustainable development paths for farms of different production intensity, scale, organisational set-up and remoteness, F2.3 (Livelihood risks) for characterisation of smallholder farms using key indicator regarding adoption of technologies in livestock husbandry, A1.3 (Participatory research) on adoption of optimised breeding strategies by farmers, and D5.2 (Aquaculture) on conflicts and complementarities in the use of feed resources for investigated livestock species and fish/aquaculture.
Effects of anthropogenic noise on fish behaviour and development Background Anthropogenic (man-made) noise is causing an ever-increasing problem in the natural world and it penetrates through all media - air, soil, vegetation and even water -, and may therefore affect any animals with hearing abilities and for which sound plays a crucial role. Compared to terrestrial animals, however, there have been far fewer investigations of the impact of anthropogenic noise on marine and freshwater organisms; relatively little is known about how exposure to such sounds affects fish. Investigations into potentially negative influences on fish are vital because they provide a critical food resource to the burgeoning human population and form an integral link in many food webs. The need for scientifically rigorous studies examining the impacts of anthropogenic noise on fish is therefore obvious, and has been highlighted in recent academic review and by inclusion in the policies of international and national organisations. Many species live in groups, where social interactions are essential. This is especially true for cooperative breeders - species in which parents are assisted in the care of their offspring by other individuals, known as 'helpers' - which display a wide repertoire of behaviours. Cooperatively breeding fishes are frequently territorial and consequently cannot escape areas of high anthropogenic noise; they are therefore highly vulnerable to any disruptive effects of such noise on behaviour and development. However, nothing is yet known about how anthropogenic noise might impact helping behaviour and very little about its effects on fish development. Objectives This project focuses on the effects of anthropogenic noise on fish behaviour and development. Specifically, I will investigate for the first time in fish how anthropogenic noise affects cooperative behaviour. Furthermore, I will examine how any noise-induced changes in cooperative care impact on offspring development, in addition to direct effects arising from the exposure of eggs and fry to the noise itself. By combining physiological assessment of hearing thresholds, controlled experimental manipulations, detailed behavioural observations and developmental measures of a well-studied model species (the cooperatively breeding cichlid, Neolamprologus pulcher), my overall aim is to advance our understanding of the disruptiveness of man-made sound on fish. In particular, I will address the following key research questions: o Q1. Does anthropogenic noise disrupt cooperative behaviour? o Q2. How is reproductive success affected by anthropogenic noise?
This ITN provides training multidisciplinary and multisectorial opportunities in a diversity of research approaches and methodologies for sustainable apple growing. The scientific work focuses on apple as one of the economically most important European fruit crops. It will investigate the most devastating bacterial disease (fire blight caused by Erwinia amylovora). The overall aim is to identify and exploit general resistance mechanisms and to apply them to other crop-pathogen systems. The research programme will adopt both, short- and long-term strategies, to obtain new, cost-effective and ecologically beneficial protectants and protective strategies. Short-term strategies refer to agronomic influences on disease resistance. Long-term strategies will focus on the breeding for disease resistance and, therefore, on the identification of resistance genes. The use of resistant plants will reduce the need for plant protectants and, thus, the potential risks to consumers, fruit-growers and environment. Full genome sequence information of horticultural plants (apple published 2010, pear expected this year) and their main pathogens opens completely new possibilities to develop control measures and define breeding strategies. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to develop innovative approaches. Therefore, it is necessary to provide wide-ranging opportunities to overcome institutional and disciplinary boundaries for some time and to work and obtain training on related research fields at other institutions. These cover natural defence mechanisms, host-pathogen interactions and agronomic effects. Young researchers will become familiar with modern methods in breeding, horticulture, phytopathology, analysis, biochemistry, molecular biology and bioinformatics. In addition, training in research management, communication/presentation and team management will provide key skills for public and private sector employment thereby improving employment chances of young researchers.
For effective crop improvement, breeders must be able to select on relevant phenotypic traits without compromising yield. This project proposes to investigate the evolutionary consequences of flowering time modifications on a second trait of major importance for plant breeding: immunity. This will have implications both for understanding cross-talks between flowering time and defense network and for developing efficient breeding strategies. There is clear evidence that plant maturity influences levels and effectiveness of defense. Theoretical models actually predict that changes in life-history can modulate the balance between costs and benefits of immunity. Simultaneously, actors of the immune system have often been observed to alter flowering time. Two alternative and possibly complementary hypotheses can explain this link: genetic constraints due to the pleiotropic action of players in either systems, or co-evolution, if flowering-time changes modulate the cost-benefit balance of immunity. We will conduct field assays in Arabidopsis thaliana, using constructed lines as well as recombinant inbred lines and natural accessions, to differentiate the action of the two explanatory hypotheses. Using transcriptome analyses, we will identify defense genes associating with flowering time modification (f-t-a defense genes). We will quantify their expression along the assay and test whether it varies with both flowering time and fitness. We will further test whether flowering time and immunity interact to determine yield in tomato and potato.
The time of flowering is crucial for a plant's adaptation to a given environment and has a major impact on grain yield in crop species. A large number of flowering time genes have been identified in A. thaliana, and many of them are structurally conserved across species including cereals. However, the majority of these orthologs have not been functionally characterized in barley or wheat so far. Here, we propose to conduct the first comprehensive survey on variation in flowering time candidate genes and flowering time behavior under different environmental conditions in wild barley, Hordeum spontaneum Thell. We aim at identifying novel associations between candidate genes and flowering time, and to advance the functional characterization of flowering time genes in barley. To this end we will I) characterize genetic variation at 16 candidate genes in a unique collection of 480 diverse barley lines established by the applicant, II) associate genetic variation with flowering behavior under different field and controlled conditions, and III) analyze gene expression and characterize genetic diversity in putative regulatory regions of candidate genes. The characterization of natural genetic variation at flowering time candidate genes will make an important contribution to understanding developmental genetic processes underlying adaptation and thus grain yield in barley and other grasses and increase the pool of alleles available for breeding.
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