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ÖGGGT Newsletter Oct 2008 VBC Seminars online MFPL Seminars Salzburg Seminars

Research Reports

MFPL (Max F. Perutz Laboratories): Report 2007

IMBA (Institute of Molecular Biotechnology - Academy of Sciences) Reports 2004-2007

IMP (Research Institute of Molecular Pathology Reports 2002-2007

CeMM (Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Acedemy of Sciences) Report 2008

Press Releases

Salad & Salmonella - Food Poisoning as a Side Dish

Salmonella can also infect plant cells and successfully evade all the defence mechanisms of plants. As a result, cleaning the surfaces of raw fruits and vegetables, e.g. by washing, is not sufficient to protect against food poisoning. This surprising discovery, made during a project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, has been published today. The results of the project are based on a model plant, which also represents the ideal basis for future development work on treatment and testing systems in the area of food safety.

1.5 billion (!) cases of food poisoning are caused by Salmonella bacteria each year (World Health Organisation). If the bacteria survive particularly well in a person, they can even infect intestinal cells and persist for longer. Previously, the only known sources of infection were infected meat products and plants that had come into contact with contaminated water. However, work by the Unité de Recherche en Génomique Végétale (URGV) in Evry, France, and the Max F. Perutz Laboratories (MFPL) in Vienna, Austria, has now shown that this is not entirely true.

Fruit & Veggies & Bacteria
Work carried out by a team led by geneticist Prof. Heribert Hirt, and published today in PloS ONE, shows that the strain of bacteria known as Salmonella typhimurium can also invade, and multiply inside, plant cells. It is already known that Salmonella can survive for up to 900 days in contaminated soils, which creates a rich source of infection for plant material. However, Prof. Hirt's team can now show that bacteria from such a source can actively achieve the infection of plant cells, thereby disproving the previous assumption that infection was coincidental and - as regards the bacteria - passive.

Full Publication

Cell’s secrets coming to light –

Microscopy in 3D, multicolor and ultra high resolution

Munich, June 2008

Light microscopy is a key technology in modern cell biology and allows – especially in combination with fluorescent dyes – the specific localization of nearly all cellular components. A fundamental limitation, though, of all these techniques is the low resolution of optical microscopy relative to the scale of subcellular structures. An international research team under the lead of Professor Heinrich Leonhardt at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München and Professor John W. Sedat at the University of California in San Francisco, have now found a way to circumvent this so-called Abbe limit. As reported online in the “Science” journal they applied three-dimensional structured illumination microscopy or 3D-SIM to study the nucleus of a mammalian cell – and detected several features that escape detection by conventional microscopy. “Some details have been seen previously only by electron microscopy,” says Leonhardt. “Multicolor 3D-SIM therefore opens new and facile possibilities for all fields of life sciences, from basic to biomedical research. This new technique allows to reconstruct a three dimensional image with an ultra high resolution below the Abbe limit. We expect that commercial models will be available within a year.”

Leonhardt Lab »

Original Publication: Science (pdf) »

Genome Biology publishes a key resource for pea genetics

The field of pea genetics received a boost today with the publication of a resource of pea mutants in Genome Biology.

The pea, Pisum sativum, is one of the most famous tools used in genetics: school children today learn that the 19th century monk Gregor Mendel studied the pea - for example, whether the seeds are wrinkled or not - and showed that this and other traits are inherited in a predictable way.

Peas have kept many of their other genetic clues secret, however, as they are unsuited to the genetic modification techniques that are commonly used to work with plants. Scientists, led by Abdelhafid Bendahmane, at the french Plant Genomics Research Unit (URGV) used an early flowering pea cultivar, called Caméor, to study mutant plants at different developmental stages (from seedling through to fruit maturation). The team studied DNA samples from 4,704 plants and identified many essential genes. From this they created a database called UTILLdb, which describes each mutant plant at each developmental stage studied, and incorporates digital images of the plants. UTILLdb contains phenotypic as well as sequence information on mutant genes, and can be searched plant traits of interest.

This new tool has implications for both basic science and for crop improvement, and the authors hope that it will fulfill the expectation of crop breeders and scientists who use the pea.

The full article was published 26 February in Genome Biology and has received considerable attention in the media. The London Times features both a news item on the science, and a lead editorial celebrating the preeminent role of the humble pea in the progress of scientific understanding.

UTILLdb, a Pisum sativum in silico forward and reverse genetics tool (Full pdf Version)

Wittgenstein Award 2008

Wittgenstein Award Laureate 2008 Univ. Prof. Dr. Markus Arndt »

FWF Press Release »

Bacteria Use Plant Defence for Genetic Modification

October 2007

Bacteria that cause tumours in plants modify plant genomes by skilfully exploiting the plants' first line of defence. Utilising the plant's own proteins, bacterial genes infiltrate first the nucleus then the plant genome, where they reprogramme the plant's metabolism to suit their own needs. This process was recently discovered as part of an Austrian Science Fund FWF project and was published today (Oct 19, 2007) in SCIENCE.

The genetic manipulation of plants is both, a subject of great controversy in Europe and a tactic already practiced by certain bacteria. The soil bacterium known as crown-gall bacterium (Agrobacterium) manipulates the genetic make-up of plants by inserting its own DNA into the nuclei and, consequently, into the genetic material of the plant cells. The genetically modified plants are then reprogrammed to ensure uninhibited cell division and produce nutrients to feed the bacteria. What was not previously understood is exactly how bacteria genes infiltrate the cell's nucleus - particularly as the defence mechanisms of plant cells react so rapidly to bacterial invasion. read more

Original Publication: Trojan horse strategy in Agrobacterium transformation - Abusing MAPK-targeted VIP1 defence signalling Armin Djamei, Andrea Pitzschke, Hirofumi Nakagami, Iva Rajh, Heribert Hirt, Science 318, 453 (2007).

Radical Research Results on the Oxidation of Vitamin E

FWF News Article

Vienna, Sept 24, 2007

Recent research results have challenged conventional understanding of the oxidation of the "radical scavenger", vitamin E. Cutting-edge analysis methods have revealed that the intermediates commonly believed to be involved in the process do not occur. This surprising finding has been systematically documented and published as part of a project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF. The new findings are also extremely important for a follow-up project that is focusing on the synthesis of "super antioxidants" based on a polymeric vitamin E.
ACS Publications

Conferences

2009

Bionanotechnology II: from biomolecular assembly to applications

Jan 07 - 09 | 2009 | Robinson College | Cambridge | UK

Plant Abiotic Stress Tolerance
International Conference
Early Registration Deadline Nov 14, 2008
Abstract Submission Deadline Nov 10, 2008
Feb 08 - 11 | 2009 | Vienna | Austria