Agnet Dec. 16/03 -- II
Iowa leads
the nation in GMO crop
Farmers'
group ready to seek GM canola probe
Summer
training camp for anti-GE protestors
Brazil has
land to fuel soy boom into next decade
Groundbreaking
for new horticultural research facility
Thioredoxin-linked
processes in cyanobacteria are as numerous as in chloroplasts, but targets are
different
Arabidopsis
CHL27, located in both envelope and thylakoid membranes, is required for the
synthesis of protochlorophyllide
High-affinity
salicylic acid-binding protein 2 is required for plant innate immunity and has
salicylic acid-stimulated lipase activity
Chemocyanin,
a small basic protein from the lily stigma, induces pollen tube chemotropism
Fungal
endophytes limit pathogen damage in a tropical tree
A
comprehensive analysis of hydrogen peroxide-induced gene expression in tobacco
Differential
survival of solitary and aggregated bacterial cells promotes aggregate formation
on leaf surfaces
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Iowa
leads the nation in GMO crop
December 16, 2003
wisconsin ag connection
http://www.wisconsinagconnection.com/story-national.cfm?Id=1354&yr=2003
Iowa leads the nation in garnering value from genetically modified crops, but
Nebraska isn't far behind. GM technology creates high-paying science jobs in
states where farmers plant more biotech crops, and that is an impetus to push
the economic impact of biotechnology beyond the farm.
"We know that these states are leading the way in creating jobs for biotech
and food scientists," said Ford Runge, a professor at the University of
Minnesota and the author of the report. Runge is the director of the
university's Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy. Financial
supporters of the center include two of the nation's largest food-processing
companies: Cargill Inc. and Archer Daniels Midland Co.
Based on the 2002 crop, Runge's study showed that biotech varieties of soybeans,
corn, canola and cotton account for $20 billion in value, about half the total
value the four crops generate in the United States. Iowa led nationally, with
$3.8 billion in value, while Nebraska was fourth with $1.8 billion in value,
according to the report. Midwest farmers have embraced GM crops, particularly in
soybeans and corn. GM soybeans, were first planted in 1996, and now account for
81% of the total crop. In Nebraska, 86% of the soybean crop is GM, and about 84%
of Iowa's soybeans are biotech varieties.
Farmers'
group ready to seek GM canola probe
December 16, 2003
ABC News (Australia)
The Network of Concerned Farmers was cited as saying it will call for a
parliamentary inquiry if a second variety of genetically modified (GM) canola is
approved for commercial release.
The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator is expected to announce the approval
for the licence of Monsanto's Round-up Ready Canola this week.
It has already approved the release of Bayer Crop Science's hybrid canola.
The Network's South Australian spokeswoman, Felicity Martin, says the regulator
has ignored submissions and that it will also be calling for a review of the
employment of the gene technology regulator.
She says the market is not ready for GM crops and that they could seriously
damage regional communities.
"The big issues would be the litigation issues and the problem of
harvesting contractors who might decide for legal reasons they don't want to
harvest GM crops and [it] just adds that extra burden," she said.
Summer
training camp for anti-GE protestors
December 16, 2003
New Zealand Herald
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/latestnewsstory.cfm?storyID=3539716&thesection=news&thesubsection=general
A group of anti-genetic engineering lobbyists was cited as saying it is planning
to train members of the public in "non-violent direct action" at a
summer camp near Motueka at the top of the South Island.
The camp will take place at Mountain Valley School near Motueka on January 2-4.
Lenka Rochford, a spokeswoman for the People's Moratorium Enforcement Agency,
was quoted as saying, "After five years of campaigning using conventional
tactics, we are still being ignored by the Government. … Direct action is now
all we have left to enforce the will of the people." The camp would equip
people with "the necessary tools to stop the contamination of our fields
and food with genetically engineered organisms."
Ms Rochford was involved in an anti-GE protest at Parliament in October, when
anti-GE protesters who set up about 20 tents on a grass road verge near
Parliament left after being told it was illegal to camp in central Wellington.
Details of the camp have been posted on the Internet at www.pmea.org.nz.
Brazil
has land to fuel soy boom into next decade
December 16, 2003
Reuters
Reese Ewing
CUIABA, Brazil - Brazil's top soy producing state, Mato Grosso, has enough
pasture land to more than double its growing area in the next decade, which
should, according to this story, allow Brazil to surpass the United States as
the world's top soybean grower.
State agriculture officials were cited as saying that growth in soy output in
the center-west state, which is almost the size of Alaska, should make Brazil
the world's No. 1 soybean grower in roughly four years.
Brazil's soy sector has been the shining gem in an otherwise lackluster economy
in recent years, and the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is
relying on the sector to create jobs and trade revenue.
Groundbreaking
for new horticultural research facility
December 16, 2003
ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
MIAMI, Fla. --The U.S. Department of Agriculture broke ground at 10 a.m. today
for a new state-of-the-art facility for the Subtropical Horticulture Research
Station (SHRS) operated here by the Agricultural Research Service, USDA's chief
intramural scientific research agency. The new building will replace a number of
smaller, outdated buildings used by SHRS at Chapman Field, a former military
base. The $6.8 million funding for the new facility came from the Hurricane
Andrew relief fund as a result of extensive damage done to SHRS by Andrew in
1992.
The new facility, located south of Coral Gables and adjacent to Deering Bay in
Metro Dade County, Fla., is scheduled to open in June 2005. The station's
mission is to conduct and support environmentally sound research on tropical and
subtropical crops. SHRS research activities include collecting, evaluating and
developing improved commercial plants, and developing methods for managing
exotic insect pests.
The new laboratory building will house agronomy, chemistry, entomology,
hydro-physics, molecular genetics and tissue culture laboratories, as well as a
library, conference rooms and general administrative space. The building will be
constructed primarily of reinforced concrete, with both its structure and roof
designed to withstand hurricane-strength winds.
The SHRS site encompasses approximately 197 acres--primarily fields and test
plots dedicated to horticultural research--and more than 40 structures. In
addition to construction of the new building, the project will also include
renovations to an existing laboratory building. The new two-story building will
provide 16,383 square feet of space per floor.
Thioredoxin-linked
processes in cyanobacteria are as numerous as in chloroplasts, but targets are
different
December 12, 2003
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.2534397100
Marika Lindahl * and Francisco J. Florencio
Instituto de Bioquímica Vegetal y Fotosíntesis, Consejo Superior de
Investigaciones Científicas, Universidad de Sevilla, Centro de Investigaciones
Científicas Isla de la Cartuja, Avenida Americo Vespucio s/n, E-410 92 Sevilla,
Spain
Edited by Bob B. Buchanan, University of California, Berkeley, CA, and approved
October 10, 2003 (received for review July 15, 2003)
Light-dependent regulation of a growing number of chloroplast enzymatic
activities has been found to occur through the reversible reduction of intra- or
intermolecular disulphides by thioredoxins. In cyanobacteria, despite their
similarity to chloroplasts, no proteins have hitherto been shown to interact
with thioredoxins, and the role of the cyanobacterial ferredoxin/thioredoxin
system has remained obscure. By using an immobilized cysteine 35-to-serine
site-directed mutant of the Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 thioredoxin TrxA as bait,
we screened the Synechocystis cytosolic and peripheral membrane protein
complements for proteins interacting with TrxA. The covalent bond between the
isolated target proteins and mutated TrxA was confirmed by nonreducing/reducing
two-dimensional SDS/PAGE. Thus, we have identified 18 cytosolic proteins and 8
membrane-associated proteins as candidate thioredoxin substrates. Twenty of
these proteins have not previously been associated with thioredoxin-mediated
regulation. Phosphoglucomutase, one of the previously uncharacterized
thioredoxin-linked enzymes, has not earlier been considered a target for
metabolic control through disulphide reduction. In this article, we show that
phosphoglucomutase is inhibited under oxidizing conditions and activated by DTT
and reduced wild-type TrxA in vitro. The results imply that thioredoxin-mediated
redox regulation is as extensive in cyanobacteria as in chloroplasts but that
the subjects of regulation are largely different.
Arabidopsis
CHL27, located in both envelope and thylakoid membranes, is required for the
synthesis of protochlorophyllide
December 12, 2003
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.2136793100
Stephen Tottey *, Maryse A. Block , Michael Allen *, Tomas Westergren *,
Catherine Albrieux , Henrik V. Scheller , Sabeeha Merchant *, and Poul Erik
Jensen
*Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Box 951569,
Los Angeles, CA 90095; Physiologie Cellulaire Végétale, Unité Mixte de
Recherche 5168 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Commissariat à
l’Energie Atomique/Université J. Fourier/Institut National de la Recherche
Agronomique, Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique-Grenoble, Départment Réponse
et Dynamique Cellulaires/Physiologie Cellulaire Végétale, 17 Rue des Martyrs,
38054 Grenoble Cedex 9, France; and Plant Biochemistry Laboratory, Department of
Plant Biology, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Thorvaldsensvej 40,
DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
Communicated by J. Clark Lagarias, University of California, Davis, CA, October
20, 2003 (received for review September 12, 2003)
CHL27, the Arabidopsis homologue to Chlamydomonas Crd1, a plastid-localized
putative diiron protein, is required for the synthesis of protochlorophyllide
and therefore is a candidate subunit of the aerobic cyclase in chlorophyll
biosynthesis. -Aminolevulinic acid-fed antisense Arabidopsis plants with reduced
amounts of Crd1/CHL27 accumulate Mg-protoporphyrin IX monomethyl ester, the
substrate of the cyclase reaction. Mutant plants have chlorotic leaves with
reduced abundance of all chlorophyll proteins. Fractionation of Arabidopsis
chloroplast membranes shows that Crd1/CHL27 is equally distributed on a
membrane-weight basis in the thylakoid and inner-envelope membranes.
High-affinity
salicylic acid-binding protein 2 is required for plant innate immunity and has
salicylic acid-stimulated lipase activity
December 12, 2003
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.0307162100
Dhirendra Kumar and Daniel F. Klessig *
Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Tower Road, Ithaca, NY 14853
Communicated by June B. Nasrallah, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, November 4,
2003 (received for review October 12, 2003)
Salicylic acid (SA) is a critical hormone for signaling innate immunity in
plants. Here we present the purification and characterization of SA-binding
protein 2 (SABP2), a tobacco protein that is present in low abundance and
specifically binds SA with high affinity. Sequence analysis predicted that SABP2
is a lipase belonging to the / fold hydrolase super family. Confirming this
prediction, recombinant SABP2 exhibited lipase activity against several
synthetic substrates. Moreover, this lipase activity was stimulated by SA
binding and may generate a lipid-derived signal. Silencing of SABP2 expression
suppressed local resistance to tobacco mosaic virus, induction of
pathogenesis-related 1 (PR-1) gene expression by SA, and development of systemic
acquired resistance. Together, these results suggest that SABP2 is an SA
receptor that is required for the plant immune response. We further propose that
SABP2 belongs to a large class of ligand-stimulated hydrolases involved in
stress hormone-mediated signal transduction.
Chemocyanin,
a small basic protein from the lily stigma, induces pollen tube chemotropism
December 11, 2003
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.2533800100
Sunran Kim *, Jean-Claude Mollet *, Juan Dong *, Kangling Zhang , Sang-Youl Park
*, and Elizabeth M. Lord *¶
*Center for Plant Cell Biology, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, and
Mass Spectrometry Facility, Department of Chemistry, University of California,
Riverside, CA 92521
Edited by June B. Nasrallah, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and approved
October 24, 2003 (received for review June 19, 2003)
In plant reproduction, pollination is an essential process that delivers the
sperm through specialized extracellular matrices (ECM) of the pistil to the
ovule. Although specific mechanisms of guidance for pollen tubes through the
pistil are not known, the female tissues play a critical role in this event.
Many studies have documented the existence of diffusible chemotropic factors in
the lily stigma that can induce pollen tube chemotropism in vitro, but no
molecules have been isolated to date. In this study, we identified a chemotropic
compound from the stigma by use of biochemical methods. We purified a lily
stigma protein that is active in an in vitro chemotropism assay by using cation
exchange, gel filtration, and HPLC. Tryptic digestion of the protein yielded
peptides that identified the protein as a plantacyanin (basic blue protein), and
this was confirmed by cloning the cDNA from the lily stigma. Plantacyanins are
small cell wall proteins of unknown function. The measured molecular mass by
electrospray ionization ion source MS is 9,898 Da, and the molecular mass of the
mature protein (calculated from the cDNA) is 9,900.2 Da. Activity of the lily
plantacyanin (named chemocyanin) is enhanced in the presence of stigma/stylar
cysteine-rich adhesin, previously identified as a pollen tube adhesin in the
lily style.
S.K. and J.-C.M. contributed equally to this work.
Present address: Laboratoire de Glycobiologie et Physiologie Végétale, Faculté
Jean Perrin, Université d’Artois, SP 18, Rue Souvraz, 62307 Lens Cedex,
France.
Fungal
endophytes limit pathogen damage in a tropical tree
December 11, 2003
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.2533483100
A. Elizabeth Arnold *, Luis Carlos Mejía , Damond Kyllo , Enith I. Rojas ,
Zuleyka Maynard , Nancy Robbins , and Edward Allen Herre
*Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson,
AZ 85721; and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 2072, Balboa,
Republic of Panama
Edited by G. David Tilman, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, and approved
October 23, 2003 (received for review June 7, 2003)
Every plant species examined to date harbors endophytic fungi within its
asymptomatic aerial tissues, such that endophytes represent a ubiquitous, yet
cryptic, component of terrestrial plant communities. Fungal endophytes
associated with leaves of woody angiosperms are especially diverse; yet,
fundamental aspects of their interactions with hosts are unknown. In contrast to
the relatively species-poor endophytes that are vertically transmitted and act
as defensive mutualists of some temperate grasses, the diverse, horizontally
transmitted endophytes of woody angiosperms are thought to contribute little to
host defense. Here, we document high diversity, spatial structure, and host
affinity among foliar endophytes associated with a tropical tree (Theobroma
cacao, Malvaceae) across lowland Panama. We then show that inoculation of
endophyte-free leaves with endophytes isolated frequently from naturally
infected, asymptomatic hosts significantly decreases both leaf necrosis and leaf
mortality when T. cacao seedlings are challenged with a major pathogen (Phytophthora
sp.). In contrast to reports of fungal inoculation inducing systemic defense, we
found that protection was primarily localized to endophyte-infected tissues.
Further, endophyte-mediated protection was greater in mature leaves, which bear
less intrinsic defense against fungal pathogens than do young leaves. In vitro
studies suggest that host affinity is mediated by leaf chemistry, and that
protection may be mediated by direct interactions of endophytes with foliar
pathogens. Together, these data demonstrate the capacity of diverse,
horizontally transmitted endophytes of woody angiosperms to play an important
but previously unappreciated role in host defense.
A
comprehensive analysis of hydrogen peroxide-induced gene expression in tobacco
December 11, 2003
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.2136610100
Steven Vandenabeele *, Katrien Van Der Kelen *, James Dat *, Ilya Gadjev *, Tom
Boonefaes , Stijn Morsa *, Pieter Rottiers , Luit Slooten ¶, Marc Van Montagu
*, Marc Zabeau *, Dirk Inzé *||, and Frank Van Breusegem *
*Department of Plant Systems Biology and Department for Molecular Biomedical
Research, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology, Ghent
University, Technologiepark 927, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium; and ¶Laboratorium voor
Biofysica, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
Contributed by Marc Van Montagu, October 13, 2003
Hydrogen peroxide plays a central role in launching the defense response during
stress in plants. To establish a molecular profile provoked by a sustained
increase in hydrogen peroxide levels, catalase-deficient tobacco plants (CAT1AS)
were exposed to high light (HL) intensities over a detailed time course. The
expression kinetics of >14,000 genes were monitored by using transcript
profiling technology based on cDNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism.
Clustering and sequence analysis of 713 differentially expressed transcript
fragments revealed a transcriptional response that mimicked that reported during
both biotic and abiotic stresses, including the up-regulation of genes involved
in the hypersensitive response, vesicular transport, posttranscriptional
processes, biosynthesis of ethylene and jasmonic acid, proteolysis,
mitochondrial metabolism, and cell death, and was accompanied by a very rapid
up-regulation of several signal transduction components. Expression profiling
corroborated by functional experiments showed that HL induced photoinhibition in
CAT1AS plants and that a short-term HL exposure of CAT1AS plants triggered an
increased tolerance against a subsequent severe oxidative stress.
Differential
survival of solitary and aggregated bacterial cells promotes aggregate formation
on leaf surfaces
December 9, 2003
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.2436560100
J. -M. Monier * and S. E. Lindow
Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley,
CA 94720
Contributed by S. E. Lindow, October 10, 2003
The survival of individual Pseudomonas syringae cells was determined on bean
leaf surfaces maintained under humid conditions or periodically exposed to
desiccation stress. Cells of P. syringae strain B728a harboring a GFP marker
gene were visualized by epifluorescence microscopy, either directly in situ or
after recovery from leaves, and dead cells were identified as those that were
stained with propidium iodide in such populations. Under moist, conducive
conditions on plants, the proportion of total live cells was always high,
irrespective of their aggregated state. In contrast, the proportion of the total
cells that remained alive on leaves that were periodically exposed to
desiccation stress decreased through time and was only 15% after 5 days.
However, the fraction of cells in large aggregates that were alive on such
plants in both condition was much higher than more solitary cells. Immediately
after inoculation, cells were randomly distributed over the leaf surface and no
aggregates were observed. However, a very aggregated pattern of colonization was
apparent within 7 days, and >90% of the living cells were located in
aggregates of 100 cells or more. Our results strongly suggest that, although
conducive conditions favor aggregate formation, such cells are much more capable
of tolerating environmental stresses, and the preferential survival of cells in
aggregates promotes a highly clustered spatial distribution of bacteria on leaf
surfaces.
*Present address: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut des
Sciences du Végétal, Bâtiment 23, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette,
France.
To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Department of Plant and Microbial
Biology, 111 Koshland Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3102.
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