Münster researchers involved in new biotechnology project

It might be the perfect summer weather for many people, but for plants hot dry conditions are a real challenge. How does a plant react when it doesn't rain and the temperatures start to soar? "From an agricultural point of view that's an important question," says Prof. Jörg Kudla, "because a large part of the harvest can be lost as a result of such stress factors. But it's also a fascinating topic for anyone doing basic research." And that's why Kudla, who works at the Botanical Institute at Münster University, is currently looking at the question together with a pan-European consortium of researchers.

The new biotechnology project "ADYSARC" is part of a transnational research programme called "Plant KBBE" which the Ministries of Research in Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and Canada have joined together to collaborate on. ADYSARC combines basic research with applied research and is receiving funding of 812,000 euros in Germany, for three years, from the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as well as from private companies. Six partners from Germany, France and Spain are involved in the project headed by BASF Plant Science.

Plants react to their environment. When it is dry, for example, they close the tiny apertures in their leaves necessary for the exchange of gas. This minimizes the water evaporation. When it is hot, these pores open wide to produce a cooling effect by evaporation. "The way this regulation works for each individual environmental factor on the genetic level has already been pretty well researched," Kudla explains. "But in nature it is often hot and dry at the same time. How does a plant solve this dilemma? We're still at the beginning of our research on this." The scientists aim to answer this question using rice as an example. To this end they are looking for genes which are particularly active when it is hot and dry at the same time - because this would be an indication that these genes might play an important role in coping with stress. The researchers hope that the results can be applied later to other crops such as wheat or corn.

As soon as they have found the most important "stress genes" the scientists want to use conventional methods to breed plants in which these genes work at full tilt when it's hot and dry, enabling them to cope particularly well with these difficult environmental conditions. The aim is to thereby reduce yield losses. "Spanish tomato growers, for example, are also involved in our project," says Jörg Kudla. "Better adaptation to hot, dry summers would be a good thing especially in the case of tomatoes, which need particularly large amounts of water."This new project is one of a total now of four international Plant KBBE projects which Münster biologists are involved in. "The BMBF is currently funding 22 such projects - so Münster University is well represented. It reflects the fact that the University has strongly improved its position in plant biotechnology in Germany in recent years," Kudla points out.

Links:    * AG Kudla
http://www.uni-muenster.de/Biologie.Botanik/agkudla/index.html

Contact:
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Christina Heimken
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christina.heimken@uni-muenster.de