212 research outputs found
Intergovernmental Cooperation for International Decision-making in Federal States: The Case of Sustainable Development in Belgium
No full textsponsorship: This research was partly funded by the Flemish Policy Research Centre for Sustainable Development (2007-2011). It is part of a doctoral research project (Van den Brande, 2012). An earlier version of the article was presented at the 52nd Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (16-19 March 2011, Montreal, Canada). The author thanks all members of the Belgian delegation for their co-operation to this research. Moreover, the author highly appreciates the useful comments and suggestions of Stephane Paquin and Wilfried Swenden, and of two anonymous reviewers. (Flemish Policy Research Centre for Sustainable Development)status: Publishe
Aegilops sharonensis genome-assisted identification of stem rust resistance gene Sr62
No full textAbstract The wild relatives and progenitors of wheat have been widely used as sources of disease resistance ( R ) genes. Molecular identification and characterization of these R genes facilitates their manipulation and tracking in breeding programmes. Here, we develop a reference-quality genome assembly of the wild diploid wheat relative Aegilops sharonensis and use positional mapping, mutagenesis, RNA-Seq and transgenesis to identify the stem rust resistance gene Sr62 , which has also been transferred to common wheat. This gene encodes a tandem kinase, homologues of which exist across multiple taxa in the plant kingdom. Stable Sr62 transgenic wheat lines show high levels of resistance against diverse isolates of the stem rust pathogen, highlighting the utility of Sr62 for deployment as part of a polygenic stack to maximize the durability of stem rust resistance.RCUK | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Counci
Engineering wheat with multiple stem rust resistance genes
No full textWheat is an important crop for human nutrition, providing over 20% of calories and protein in the human diet. Rust pathogens are the leading cause of crop losses to disease, accounting for 60 million tons per year. During the last two decades 48 rust resistance genes have been cloned and made publicly available. Effective and durable resistance against rust pathogens could be achieved by engineering transgenic wheats carrying multiple resistance genes. As part of a wider project developed in The Wulff Lab with the long-term aim of creating a super wheat combining HB4 drought tolerance with rust resistance gene stacks, the present work focuses on the utilization of Golden Gate cloning for producing transgenic wheats with multiple resistance genes to control Puccinia graminis fs. tritici
Good things come in pairs: Crop disease resistance from sensor–helper to sensor–executor pairs
No full textThis work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U21A20224) and the Key Research and Development Program of Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2023YFD1200402) to Z.L. and by funding from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology to B.B.H.W. We thank Dr. Keyu Zhu (Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences), for help to prepare the Figure
Breeding a fungal gene into wheat
No full textEvery year, infection of wheat by the fungus Fusarium graminearum results in losses of ∼28 million metric tons of wheat grain (1), valued at $5.6 billion. The fungus reduces yields but also contaminates harvests with trichothecene toxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON; also called vomitoxin because of its effects on mammals) that render grain too poisonous to use. The disease is becoming more prevalent because of increasing cultivation of maize (also a host for the fungus) and reduced tillage (ploughing) agriculture, which promotes fungal survival on last season's plant debris. On page 844 of this issue, Wang et al. (2) reveal the molecular identity of the Fusarium head blight 7 (Fhb7) gene, which encodes a glutathione S-transferase that detoxifies DON. This gene was acquired through a “natural” fungus-to-plant gene transfer in a wild wheat relative. This naturally occurring genetically modified (GM) wheat strain is therefore exempt from regulation and can be grown directly by farmer
Natural and artificial evolution of tomato Cf-9 resistance homologues
No full textSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DXN056888 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo
Phase Behavior in the Active Layer of Small Molecule Organic Photovoltaics: State Diagram of p-DTS(FBTTh2)(2):PC71BM
No full textA comprehensive study was undertaken to obtain a more fundamental understanding of the phase behavior of the p-DTS-(FBTTh2)(2):PC71BM system, used in small molecule organic solar cells, with a strong focus on the amorphous phase and its influence on crystallinity. Three dedicated thermal protocols were used in combination with advanced thermal analysis, solid-state NMR, and wide-angle X-ray diffraction. Rapid cooling, to avoid structure formation and gain insight in the amorphous phase, and slow cooling, to promote structure formation, were used as limiting cases to explain the intermediate behavior after device processing from solution. A complete state diagram was developed, and the glass transition (T-g)-composition relationship was determined. In the case of slow cooling and the procedure used for device processing, the rapid crystallization of p-DTS(FBTTh2)(2) leads to an enrichment of the amorphous phase in PC71BM, increasing its T-g and causing vitrification of the mixed amorphous phase before crystallization when the total amount of PC71BM exceeds 70 wt %. The common processing additive 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO) was found to lead to a lower p-DTS(FBTTh2)(2) crystallinity and smaller average crystal size. More importantly, it acts as a strong plasticizer, lowering T-g significantly and thus reducing the morphological stability of the p-DTS(FBTTh2)(2):PC71BM mixtures.The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT) (Ph.D. fellowship to M.D.) and the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO-Vlaanderen) (project G0B2718N and postdoctoral fellowship to P.V.). The XRD measurements were performed by Bart Ruttens in the group of Jan D'Haen at Hasselt University. This work is supported by Hasselt University and the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO-Vlaanderen; Hercules project GOH3816NAUHL).Van den Brande, N (reprint author), Vrije Univ Brussel, Phys Chem & Polymer Sci FYSC, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
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The metric tun : standardisation, quantification and industrialisation in the British brewing industry, 1760-1830
No full textThis thesis considers the British beer-brewing industry around 1800 as a case study exploring current themes in the history of science and technology: the imposition of
reliable standards, the use of instruments and quantities, and the nature of industrial growth. I begin by addressing Michael Combrune, author of the first thermometric
brewing account, showing the influence of Boerhaavian fermentation theory and the eighteenth-century agenda for "commercial chemistry" on his work: Combrune's
fellow brewers, however, did not generally rely on the chemical scheme of management he had established, developing instead highly localised thermometric
operations which did not challenge established understandings. Next, I consider the determination of beer strength, focusing here on the brewer John Richardson's
innovation of the saccharometer, a gravimetric philosophical instrument. I show how Richardson presented both the device and the quantity in which it was scaled, later termed the `brewer's pound, ' as offering brewery-specific advantages, in order to ensure its acceptance whilst at the same time denying its roots in the disputatious field of spirits hydrometry. Richardson did not achieve his wider goal of monopolist control over the device, but his project of saccharometric determination was widely taken up, contributing to a significant change in the composition of beer, as brewers moved from using traditional brown- malts to the saccharometrically preferable pales. This development is then reviewed in the context of an analysis of the identity of London porter, the staple brown beer of London: I investigate the relationship of porter's identity to the uniquely vast and industrialised plants which produced it. Finally, I highlight the ambiguous nature of appeals to `science' or `chemistry' before 1830 by discussing the widespread contemporary panic over adulteration, popularly assumed to
be practised by those who associated with chemists and did not pursue a `traditional' approach to brewing. This controversy was settled, I contend, only with the later
development of a common laboratory-analytical context between brewers, pharmacists and public analysts who were able to redefine the concept of adulteration itself
Discovering candidate gene loci for grain traits using Rice (Oryza sativa) pan-genomic approaches
No full textRice is the staple food for half the world’s population, necessitating the production of at least 100M metric tons annually by 2050 to meet rising demand. Breeding rice varieties with high yield, better quality, and stress resistance is essential for food security. Genomic studies, such as the 3K-RGP, significantly contributed to understanding adaptation, genetic conservation, and gene mapping using the IRGSP RefSeq. However, a single reference cannot capture the extensive genetic diversity of the 3K-RGP, highlighting the need for a pan-genome approach. In this study, I detected SNPs and conducted GWAS using 16 PSRefSeqs, representing the genetic diversity of the 3K- RGP. Comparative genome analysis showed that ~36.5Mb of sequence is absent in a single genome but present in at least one of the other 15 PSRefSeqs. To fully discover the genetic variants of the 3K-RGP, the whole dataset was aligned against the 16 PSRefSeqs and identified 438.4M SNPs, averaging 27.3M variants per genome. Among these, 1.3M SNPs were novel and absent in IRGSP. GWAS was conducted for grain length, width, and weight using the LD pruned dataset and each PSRefSeq as reference. IRGSP identified 5, 10, and 12 associations, while the other 15 PSRefSeqs identified an additional 19, 5, and 7 associations for grain length, weight, and width, respectively. This highlights the importance of using subpopulation-aware references for comprehensive genetic mapping. Lastly, to validate the candidate peaks, I conducted candidate region-based GWAS using an unpruned dataset. A total of 16, 4, and 5 out of 19, 5, and 7 peaks revealed more associations without pruning in grain length, weight, and width, respectively. For example, a unique association was identified for grain length on Chr12:10784520 (1 SNP) using cAus1:N22 after LD pruning, whereas analysis without pruning identified seven associations on Chr12:10,818,211-11,636,314. Comparative gene analysis in this region revealed that ten genomes from the PSRefSeq panel have unique genes present, but the association was only observed in cAus1:N22, where a single unique gene, OsN22_12G009891, was found. The function of this gene was identified as hypothetical and requires functional validation. This study demonstrates the advantage of detecting natural variants and conducting GWAS using a pan-genome over a single reference genome (GJ-temp:IRGSP)
Engineering and Functional Assessment of Native and Pruned Versions of the Sr26 Stem Rust Resistance Gene in Wheat
No full textBread Wheat (Triticum aestivum) represents one of the four principal crops in the world including maize and rice. It comprises 20% of the calorific intake and protein in our diet and is also an important source of minerals. However, wheat is greatly impacted by pests and abiotic stressors. This, in turn, poses a threat to wheat yield. One way to improve disease resistance is to engineer resistance (R) genes into domesticated wheat from wild relatives of wheat. From first principle, the introduction of multi-R gene stacks promises to confer more durable (long lasting) resistance. However, in their native state, R genes tend to be large (typically 8 to 15 kb).
Therefore, combining multiple R genes into a single T-DNA followed by faithful transformation of the construct into the wheat genome is challenging. The aim of the thesis is to examine the effect of shortening the stem rust resistance gene Sr26 by comparing the function of a pruned (i.e. with shortened introns) and a non-pruned (i.e. full-length introns) version
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