NEWS FROM
PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM
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Published monthly on behalf of SPPS by Blackwell Publishing.
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Transgenic wheat overcome drought in field tests
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Six consecutive years of field-testing in Egypt suggest that transgenic spring wheat expressing the HVA1 gene have enhanced tolerance to drought. The transgene encodes a member of the group 3 late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins from barley aleurone, which naturally accumulates during seed desiccation. Enhanced drought resistance from the transgene varied between transformants and also within transformants from year to year. In one of the best lines, 111/1, yield increases ranged from only 1% up to 44% under drought conditions depending on the year. The scientists are now pursuing commercialization of the transgenic wheat seeds.
Read full article free: Bahieldin et al (April 2005) Physiologia Plantarum 123: 421-427
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NEWS IN BRIEF
FROM OTHER JOURNALS
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Skipping a generation
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Source: Lolle et al (24 March 2005) Nature 434: 505-509
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Leaves and origami
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Source: Mahadevan & Rica (18 March 2005) Science 307: 1740
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Anna Haldrup receives SPPS and KVL popularization prizes
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Associate Professor Anna Haldrup receives the prize from Rector of KVL Per Holten-Andersen. Photo by Thomas Cornelius.
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For her remarkable efforts to communicate plant science to the public, associate professor Anna Haldrup from KVL (Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen) has received not only one, but two popularization prices this spring.
The popularization prices of both SPPS and KVL make their debut this year, indicating the increasing importance of promoting natural sciences in order to legitimate public expenses on research, educate citizens in the emerging technologies and to attract new students.
Anna Haldrup has in particular succeeded in the latter by focusing her efforts to high school and 8th-9th grade students. Four years ago, she wrote an educational book on gene technology, she has contributed to the Genius teaching material, and she has developed the concept of a 'gene technology kit' that allows high school students to lay hands on actual plant transformation.
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National television in Denmark and Sweden has shown how Anna Haldrup transforms plants. Modified from www.dr.dk by Gorm Palmgren.
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The idea to develop the kit came to Anna Haldrup after she had visited several high schools to speak about biotechnology and repeatedly was faced with the question: "Can we try this for ourselves?".
She drew up the initial concept for a kit that includes everything you need to do genetic engineering on plants and then she added a book with background information and manuals.
The kit was named "Check on Biotech" - or "Tjek på Biotek" in Danish - and it comes in two versions:- Transformation of Arabidopsis plants
- Evaluation of transgenic insect resistance
In Kit #1, students transform Arabidopsis plants with a vector containing the GUS reporter gene and a selectable marker for kanamycin resistance. After whole plant transformation, seeds are screened on kanamycin containing medium and the putative transgenics are subjected to histochemical analysis to test for blue GUS-stained cells.
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Anna Haldrups kits allow students to transform plants and evaluate transgenic insect resistance. Photos courtesy of Anna Haldrup.
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Kit #2 includes plants that have already been transformed to express the natural defence chemical dhurrin. This is a cyanogenic glucoside with a sharp taste that repels insects, and its effect on flea beetles is tested in feeding chambers where the animals can choose between the transgenic and wild type leaves.
The kits have been approved by the Danish Health and Safety Inspectorate and the Ministry of Education, and they have paved the road for new national guidelines on plant transformation in schools. The kits have become very popular in Denmark and are now in demand for Sweden, Germany and USA as well.
Anna Haldrup received her M.Sc. in agronomy in 1992 and a Ph.D. in 1997. Since 1998, she has been with KVL at the Plant Biochemistry Laboratory at Department of Plant Biology.
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