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SchoolofBiosciences
NEWSLETTER APRIL 2017
News and Events
From the Editor……
Reports of new funding for several people in
the Division in this news letter along with a
new regular report from the glasshouses
team – a view from the shed.
ROYAL ACADEMY OF BELGIUM
Professor Malcolm Bennett has recently
been elected to the Académie royale de
Belgique.
Kevin
TWONEWPROFESSORSINPLANTANDCROPSCIENCES
Intherecentannouncementsofpromo1ons,twoofourDivisional
academicswerepromotedtoProfessorialChairs;RupertFrayand
DebbieSparkes.
Professor Rupert Fray
Professor Debbie Sparkes
Chee, M.J.Y., Lycett, G.W., Khoo, T-J. and
Chin, C.F. (2017) Bioengineering of the
plant culture of Capsicum frutescens with
vanillin synthase gene for the production of
vanillin. Molecular Biotechnology, 59(1),
1-8.
Scott, G; Rupar, M; Fletcher, AGD;
Dickinson, M; Shama, G (2017)
A comparison of low intensity UV-C and
high intensity pulsed polychromatic sources
as elicitors of hormesis in tomato fruit.
Postharvest Biology and Technology
125: 52-58.
SOME RECENT PUBLICATIONS FROM
PLANT AND CROP SCIENCES STAFF
(in no particular order)
Tracy SR, Fernandez Gomez J, Sturrock
CJ, Wilson ZA, and Ferguson AC. 2017.
Non-destructive determination of floral
staging in cereals using X-ray micro
computed tomography. Plant methods 13:
DOI 10.1186/s13007-017-1062-x
Kroes, A; Broekgaarden, C; Uribe, MC;
May, S; van Loon, JJA; Dicke, M (2017)
Brevicoryne brassicae aphids interfere with
transcriptome responses of Arabidopsis
thaliana to feeding by Plutella xylostella
caterpillars in a density-dependent manner
Oecologia 183:107-120.
Townsend, TJ; Roy, J; Wilson, P; Tucker,
GA; Sparkes, DL (2017)Food and
bioenergy: Exploring ideotype traits of a
dual-purpose wheat cultivar
Field Crops Research 201:210-221.
Cheng, A; Mayes, S; Dalle, G; Demissew,
S; Massawe, F (2017) Diversifying crops for
food and nutrition security - a case of teff.
Biological Reviews 92:188-198.
Plastids in root and hypocotyl of Arabidopsis
seedling
as recently published by
Bramham L and Pyke KA (2017) Changing
plastid dynamics within early root and shoot
apical meristem-derived tissue of A. thaliana.
Bioscience Horizons 10: hzx001.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/biohorizons/
hzx001
A new monthly item bringing you news of our splendid glasshouse team…..
VIEW FROM THE SHED.
A short update of events in the glasshouses and growth rooms from the glasshouse
team.
Firstly, as some of you may not know who we are the team is made up of : Sue Flint,
Catherine Tomlinson, Mark Meacham and Tim Bonner all can be contacted through,
[email protected]
• We have introduce electrical fly traps into both G1 and 4, (see below) in an attempt
to trap more sciarid fly adults.
• Most of the supplementary lights have been switched off, we do this every spring
once the clocks go forward due to the improving natural light.
• A1 glasshouse will be opened for rice production from the end of April if you want to
grow rice please act now and contact us.
• If you come across pest or diseases please contact us early, we can’t resurrect the
dead.
• For help in planning your experiments or designing potential projects please contact
[email protected]
A1 glasshouse ready for rice production
Electrical flytraps seem efficient
killers of sciarid flies
MORE FUNDING FOR NOTTINGHAM ARABIDOPSIS STOCK CENTRE (NASC)
NASC has been awarded a substantial continuation grant of more than £1 million
from the BBSRC’s Bioinformatics and Biological Resources Fund (BBRF). This
ensures that we will continue to run (at least) until Oct 2021 with ALL of our current
functionality and services. This will see us through our 30th year of continuous
funding (22 years with the current Director). This funding success follows hot on the
heels of our 11th consecutive year of increased distribution numbers (now up to
180,000 tubes sent in the last year). Given our latest statistics on demand from the
Eurasian community - arabidopsis research clearly shows no signs of slowing down
any time soon. See you at the St Louis annual arabidopsis meeting (ICAR) if you are
going.
RECENTLY SUCCESFUL PhD STUDENTS IN THE PLANT AND CROP SCIENCES
DIVISION
Maizatul Mohamed is a member of staff at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), who
started her PhD here in Nottingham in January 2013 in Matt Dickinson’s group. She
successfully defended her thesis on the biology, detection and control of Phytophthora
palmivora, the causal agent of bud rot disease of oil palm, in March. She has now
returned to MPOB where she is continuing her work on diseases of oil palm.
Faraz Khan (supervisor Sean Mayes). Thesis entitled “ Transcriptomics studies under
water-deficit stress – Towards genetic improvement of Bambara groundnut (Vigna
subterranea (L.) Verdc.)”
Well done all!
UTE VOSS AND A NOTTINGHAM RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP
I will be starting a Nottingham Research Fellowship in October on “How
morphogen homeostasis evolved to shape land plants”:
Morphogens are signalling molecules that regulate the development of
multicellular organisms, depending on their local concentration. The most
important developmental signalling compound in land plants is auxin, a key
regulator of almost all aspects of plant development, including morphogenesis
and adaptive responses. Auxin gradients are established and maintained by a
tightly regulated interplay between homeostasis, signalling, and transport.
Auxin can be inactivated by conjugation, but metabolic data suggest that auxin
oxidation is the major auxin degradation pathway. I recently identified the two
major auxin oxidising enzymes in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana:
DIOXYGENASE FOR AUXIN OXIDATION 1&2 (DAO1&2).
My research programme will answer how this novel clade of auxin degrading
enzymes contributes to plant development and how auxin degradation
contributes to the plant’s abiotic stress acclimatisation. Preliminary data
suggest that knocking-out DAO1 leads to only mild developmental defects
including altered root hair morphology. Metabolic profiling explains this,
because loss of DAO1 is compensated through induction of auxin conjugation.
I will elucidate how the interplay between auxin oxidation and conjugation
precisely regulates cellular auxin concentrations. I will focus my initial studies
of DAO function on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, for which a wealth of
genomic resources are available. Then I will explore the regulation and
function of auxin degradation in other plant species including crops and basal
land plants, to explore the evolution of this key regulatory mechanism.
Ultimately, I will transfer this knowledge into crop plants such as oilseed rape
(Brassica napus L.), a major crop of the UK arable agriculture and horticulture
industries.
Ute
UNIVERSITIES TO TACKLE ZINC DEFICIENCY THROUGH CROP STUDY
The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), in collaboration with the University
of Nottingham and Khyber Medical University in Pakistan, will run a two-year study
to examine the effectiveness and acceptability of the use of biofortified wheat to
overcome a global zinc deficiency problem prevalent in the developing world.
UCLan nutrition experts have been granted £300,000 from the Biotechnology and
Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to investigate whether a newly
developed strain of biofortified wheat, produced by HarvestPlus, could increase
dietary zinc intake in Pakistan, a country in which more than 40% of women and
children are zinc deficient.
According to the World Health Organisation, dietary zinc deficiency is a global
problem affecting 17% of the world's population, with the greatest burden in
developing countries. The most recent national survey in Pakistan indicates that
over 40% of women are zinc deficient, compared with less than 15% in Europe
and North America. The study will focus on 40 families in a North West Pakistan
rural community who will spend eight weeks eating the new strain of wheat grain
grown in zinc rich fertilizer compared to standard grain to assess whether it
increases zinc content in the body.
Professor of Nutritional Sciences at UCLan Nicola Lowe is leading the project.
She said:
“The consequences of zinc deficiency are profound and far reaching, ranging from
stunted growth and development in children, increased susceptibility to infections
in children and adults, and complications during pregnancy and childbirth. This has
a negative economic impact on the family, the community and the region. Through
a collaboration with a Pakistan based fertilizer company, we will examine the
impact of fertilization methods and soil conditions on the wheat zinc content by
adding zinc rich fertilizer to the soil and foliage during the growing season in
regions of Pakistan with contrasting soil zinc levels. The grain grown in UCLan’s
study will be analysed to measure the zinc content and also the location of the zinc
within the individual grains by plant physiologists at the University of Nottingham.
Various strategies to overcome zinc deficiency have already been attempted, but it
is difficult to achieve when looking at large populations. Dietary zinc supplements
are expensive and do not always reach the most vulnerable groups who may live
in remote or difficult to reach locations due to poor infrastructure or security
problems. In contrast, biofortification of staple foods, essentially breeding crops to
increase their nutritional value, has potential as a sustainable means of increasing
population dietary zinc intake.”
Professor Martin Broadley from the University of Nottingham said:
“We are delighted to be collaborating with Professor Lowe and her colleagues at UCLan
and in Pakistan on this exciting project. We know from work by HarvestPlus and others
that it is possible to increase the zinc concentration in the grain of wheat, using both
conventional breeding approaches and micronutrient-containing fertilizers. What this
new study will show is how effective such approaches might be in terms of improving
human health, and how likely people will be to adopt these new varieties and crop
fertilizer strategies.”
The team, supported by a local NGO, the Abaseen Foundation, will monitor the
participants by testing hair samples and blood plasma as well as exploring new
techniques to evaluate zinc levels, including a portable laser used to assess nail zinc
concentration. They will also look at how culturally acceptable biofortification is within
Pakistan.
Dr Lowe added: “This is a two-way process by which expertise is shared among the
project partners, so that young researchers in Pakistan and in the UK are better
equipped to take this important research agenda forward into the future. The findings of
this research will be shared with researchers and policy makers world-wide.”
The project will begin in May with results due to be shared in 2019.
Mr Rizwan Farooq, Field Agronomist, observing Zincol Wheat crop growth
BIOSCIENCES BAFTAR AWARDS
At the recent BAFTAR Awards in the School, our very own Jennifer Dewick won the
Administrator Award for Research Support (staff nominated). Well done Jennifer!!
Also Sonoko, who most of you will have known when she worked in the Plant
Sciences office and who now works in School administration, won the Administrator
Award for Teaching support. Well done Sonoko!
While we are on the subject of awards, both Kevin Pyke and Zinnia Gonzalez were
nominated for University Staff Oscars over the whole University (nominated by
students) for most inspirational teacher and best tutor respectively. Sadly neither
picked up a trophy but the nomination says it all!!
ThisNewsleDerwasediteden1relybyKevinPyke,soanymistakesareKevin’sfault.Itisavailable
onlineonthePlantandCropScienceswebpageatwww.noHngham.ac.uk/biosciences/subject-areas/
plantcrop/index.aspx
Contribu1onsforthenextissuebyMay21st2017tobepublishedMay22nd2017.