20 research outputs found
Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Issues (Intellectual Property in the 21st Century Series)
No full textDeepthi Kolady (with W. Lesser) is a contributing author, Plant Intellectual Property Rights and Impacts on Agricultural Research and Development, and Crop Productivity. (p. 63 - 84) and Economic Effects of Geographical Indications on Developing Countries. (p.163-180)
Technology licensing is an important element of conduct in many industries and has attracted a fair amount of attention in recent years. Considering fixed-fee licensing, the authors show that upstream and downstream markets play important roles for a profitable licensing.https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/econ_book/1006/thumbnail.jp
The role of SENSITIVE TO FREEZING6 in plant tolerance to stress
No full textThe current rate of climate change predicts that plants will become subject to increasing extremes of enviro nmental stress. Rapid population increases in developing countries also demand higher yield from crop production, often from sub-optimal agricultural areas. Genetic engineering can help meet these needs through the development of crops with greater stress tolerance. Identification of Arabidopsis mutants unable to tolerate stress is a powerful approach
to investigate the molecular basis of stress tolerance in plants and so identify targets for modification. The Arabido
psis mutant sfr6 (sensitive to freezing6) is unable to tolerate freezing stress, due to failure of CBF transcription factors to activate downstream cold responsive (COR) gene expression.
In this study, I assessed the suitability of using SFR6 as a molecular tool to improve low temperature tolerance of crop plants. These results show that complementation of sfr6 with the wild type SFR6 gene restores COR gene expression and freezing tolerance; however over-expression of the gene in wild type has no effect. This suggests that SFR6 is essential but not sufficient to initiate COR gene expression controlled by CBF transcription factors. At4g04920, the gene encoding SFR6, has been identified as a component of the multi-subunit transcriptional co-activator, known as mediator, which controls eukaryotic inducible gene expression, which explains these findings.
A homologue of SFR6 was cloned from rice (OsSFR6) and over-
expression of OsSFR6 in the sfr6-1 mutant led to complementation, demonstrating orthology. Rice is a freezing-intolerant species, and therefore the presence of a functional SFR6 orthologue in rice capable of restoring Arabidopsis CBF function suggests that OsSFR6 may play a role in chilling tolerance in rice analogous to that of CBF/DREB1 in other chilling sensitive species.
The responses of sfr6 mutants to a range of biotic and abiotic stress stimuli revealed a hypersensitivity to both UV radiation and infection by both virulent and avirulent Psuedomonas syringae DC3000. This reduced tolerance correlates in sfr6 with reduced mRNA levels of UV irradiance and pathogen infection response genes, including META CASPASE8 (MC8), PATHOGENESIS RELATED1 (PR1) and ENHANCED DISEASE SUSCEPTIBILITY5 (EDS5)
Financial Inclusion, Innovation, and Investments: Biotechnology and Capital Markets Working for the Poor
No full textDeepthi Kolady (with W. Lesser) is a contributing author, Developing County Options Under TRIPS: Choices to Maximize Biotech Transfer.
From the inside flap:
This book is a state-of-the-art discussion of what has succeeded (and failed) in the design and implementation of projects and institutions to assist the poor in developing country economies. In Africa especially, far too many people are still living under conditions of extreme poverty. The goal of the book is twofold: (1) to identify and assess the key processes through which markets affect the livelihoods of the rural poor; and (2) to propose micro- and macro-level policies and innovations to address the problems of inclusion that arise. Featuring contributions from leading scholars and professionals in the field, this volume is timely to all those involved in designing innovative institutions that transfer capital and technologies to low-income countries facing the challenges of poverty alleviation and economic development.https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/econ_book/1005/thumbnail.jp
OsSFR6 is a functional rice orthologue of SENSITIVE TO FREEZING‐6 and can act as a regulator of <i>COR</i> gene expression, osmotic stress and freezing tolerance in Arabidopsis
No full textThe Arabidopsis protein SENSITIVE TO FREEZING-6 (AtSFR6) is required for cold- and drought-inducible expression of COLD-ON REGULATED (COR) genes and, as a consequence, AtSFR6 is essential for osmotic stress and freezing tolerance in Arabidopsis. Therefore, orthologues of AtSFR6 in crop species represent important candidate targets for future manipulation of stress tolerance. We identified and cloned a homologue of AtSFR6 from rice (Oryza sativa), OsSFR6, and confirmed its orthology in Arabidopsis. OsSFR6 was identified by homology searches, and a full-length coding region isolated using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from Oryza sativa cDNA. To test for orthology, OsSFR6 was expressed in an Arabidopsis sfr6 loss-of-function mutant background, and restoration of wild-type phenotypes was assessed. Searching the rice genome revealed a single homologue of AtSFR6. Cloning and sequencing the OsSFR6 coding region showed OsSFR6 to have 61.7% identity and 71.1% similarity to AtSFR6 at the predicted protein sequence level. Expression of OsSFR6 in the atsfr6 mutant background restored the wild-type visible phenotype, as well as restoring wild-type levels of COR gene expression and tolerance of osmotic and freezing stresses. OsSFR6 is an orthologue of AtSFR6, and thus a target for future manipulation to improve tolerance to osmotic and other abiotic stresses
Teaching adults to read better and faster : results from an experiment in Burkina Faso
No full textTwo cognitively oriented methods were tested in Burkina Faso to help illiterates learn to read more efficiently. These were (a) speeded reading of increasingly larger word units and (b) phonological awareness training to help connect letters to speech. Learners were given reading tests and a computerized reaction time test. Although the literacy courses were shortened by the arrival of rains and government delays, the piloted methods helped adults read better than those in the standard"control"classes. Learners enrolled in the experimental classes performed better on the outcome tests than did learners enrolled in control classes. Ninety percent of the possible comparisons between treatment classes and control classes favored classes receiving treatments, and 72 percent of the measurements in favor of treatments were statistically significant. The evidence suggests that phonological awareness training is particularly effective in situations where the training period was short, and that rapid reading was more advantageous in longer training situations. Overall, the results are indicative of the potential that scientifically backed methods have in making adult literacy instruction more effective. However, due to the short duration of the classes (3-4 months) learners apparently did not receive sufficient practice to consolidate skills. Literacy skills may still be prone to being forgotten if readers do not learn to read automatically and if opportunities to read are few.Curriculum&Instruction,Teaching and Learning,Nonformal Education,Primary Education,ICT Policy and Strategies,Nonformal Education,ICT Policy and Strategies,Primary Education,Teaching and Learning,Curriculum&Instruction
ERF5 and ERF6 play redundant roles as positive regulators of JA/Et-mediated defense against botrytis cinerea in arabidopsis
No full textCopyright @ 2012 Moffat et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.The ethylene response factor (ERF) family in Arabidopsis thaliana comprises 122 members in 12 groups, yet the biological functions of the majority remain unknown. Of the group IX ERFs, the IXc subgroup has been studied the most, and includes ERF1, ERF14 and ORA59, which play roles in plant innate immunity. Here we investigate the biological functions of two members of the less studied IXb subgroup: ERF5 and ERF6. In order to identify potential targets of these transcription factors, microarray analyses were performed on plants constitutively expressing either ERF5 or ERF6. Expression of defense genes, JA/Et-responsive genes and genes containing the GCC box promoter motif were significantly upregulated in both ERF5 and ERF6 transgenic plants, suggesting that ERF5 and ERF6 may act as positive regulators of JA-mediated defense and potentially overlap in their function. Since defense against necrotrophic pathogens is generally mediated through JA/Et-signalling, resistance against the fungal necrotroph Botrytis cinerea was examined. Constitutive expression of ERF5 or ERF6 resulted in significantly increased resistance. Although no significant difference in susceptibility to B. cinerea was observed in either erf5 or erf6 mutants, the erf5 erf6 double mutant showed a significant increase in susceptibility, which was likely due to compromised JA-mediated gene expression, since JA-induced gene expression was reduced in the double mutant. Taken together these data suggest that ERF5 and ERF6 play positive but redundant roles in defense against B. cinerea. Since mutual antagonism between JA/Et and salicylic acid (SA) signalling is well known, the UV-C inducibility of an SA-inducible gene, PR-1, was examined. Reduced inducibilty in both ERF5 and ERF6 constitutive overexepressors was consistent with suppression of SA-mediated signalling, as was an increased susceptibility to avirulent Pseudomonas syringae. These data suggest that ERF5 and ERF6 may also play a role in the antagonistic crosstalk between the JA/Et and SA signalling pathways.This work was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) UK (studentship BBS/S/B/2003/12908 and BBS/S/K/2003/10126
The Mediator subunit SFR6/MED16 controls defence gene expression mediated by salicylic acid and jasmonate responsive pathways
No full textArabidopsis SENSITIVE TO FREEZING6 (SFR6) controls cold- and drought-inducible gene expression and freezing- and osmotic-stress tolerance. Its identification as a component of the MEDIATOR transcriptional co-activator complex led us to address its involvement in other transcriptional responses. • Gene expression responses to Pseudomonas syringae, ultraviolet-C (UV-C) irradiation, salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA) were investigated in three sfr6 mutant alleles by quantitative real-time PCR and susceptibility to UV-C irradiation and Pseudomonas infection were assessed. • sfr6 mutants were more susceptible to both Pseudomonas syringae infection and UV-C irradiation. They exhibited correspondingly weaker PR (pathogenesis-related) gene expression than wild-type Arabidopsis following these treatments or after direct application of SA, involved in response to both UV-C and Pseudomonas infection. Other genes, however, were induced normally in the mutants by these treatments. sfr6 mutants were severely defective in expression of plant defensin genes in response to JA; ectopic expression of defensin genes was provoked in wild-type but not sfr6 by overexpression of ERF5. • SFR6/MED16 controls both SA- and JA-mediated defence gene expression and is necessary for tolerance of Pseudomonas syringae infection and UV-C irradiation. It is not, however, a universal regulator of stress gene transcription and is likely to mediate transcriptional activation of specific regulons only.</p
Validation of microarray data by qRT-PCR.
No full text<p>Relative accumulation of (A) <i>PDF1.1</i> (At1g75830) and (B) <i>PDF1.2a</i> (At5g44420) mRNA in ten-day old seedlings of the three <i>35S:ERF5</i> and three <i>35S:ERF6</i> lines was measured by qRT-PCR. Relative Quantitation (RQ) values were calculated after normalization to <i>PEX4</i> expression levels. Each value is the mean of three technical replicates and the data are representative of three independent experiments. The RQ values of <i>ERF5</i> and <i>ERF6</i> in the empty vector lines are too low to be detected in the graph.</p
Analysis of transgene expression in <i>35S:ERF5</i> and <i>35S:ERF6</i> plants.
No full text<p>Relative accumulation of (A) <i>ERF5</i> or (B) <i>ERF6</i> mRNA in ten-day old seedlings was measured by qRT-PCR in three constitutive-expressing lines (<i>35S:ERF5</i> lines 1, 2, 4 and <i>35S:ERF6</i> lines 6, 9, 12) and in three empty vector control lines (A, B and C). Relative Quantitation (RQ) values were calculated after normalization to <i>PEX4</i> expression levels. Each value is the mean of three technical replicates and the data are representative of three independent experiments. The RQ values of <i>ERF5</i> and <i>ERF6</i> in the empty vector lines are too low to be detected in the graph.</p
Genes upregulated by constitutive expression of <i>ERF5</i> and <i>ERF6</i>.
No full text<p>Fold change in transcript levels from plants constitutively expressing <i>ERF5</i> or <i>ERF6</i> compared to control plants transformed with the empty pK2GW7 vector. Fold change values are the average of the three independently transformed lines. All genes listed had a <i>p</i>-value of ≤0.01 and displayed expression ratios >2 in all three transgenic lines analysed. Genes in bold are annotated with the Gene Ontology term GO:0006952 (defense response). Gene annotations are from TAIR (<a href="http://www.arabidopsis.org" target="_blank">www.arabidopsis.org</a>).</p
