Tackling pollution by organic farming is capable of increasing fortified foods.

The global pollution stage is poisoning the biosphere and causing global temperatures to rise, necessitating a drastic change in the way man is dealing with nature. One change that may produce many beneficial effects on the biosphere and human health is the use of specific organic farming to produce food in a more integrated way in nature and to increase the capacity of man's own response. Despite many experts' opinion another way to deal with environmental contamination is possible: organic farming, which can increase man's ability to fortify foods.

Transcript and metabolite profiling for the evaluation of tobacco tree and poplar as feedstock for the bio-based industry.

The global demand for food, feed, energy and water poses extraordinary challenges for future generations. It is evident that robust platforms for the exploration of renewable resources are necessary to overcome these challenges. Within the multinational framework MultiBioPro we are developing biorefinery pipelines to maximize the use of plant biomass.

Identification of As accumulation plant species growing on highly contaminated soils.

Soils from the alluvial flats of the Turia River, Valencia, Spain, which were highly contaminated by decades of industrial activity, were surveyed for native plant species that could be candidates useful in phytoremediation. Concentrations of heavy metals and arsenic (As) in soils reached 25,000 mg Kg(-1) Pb, 12,000 mg Kg(-1) Zn, 70 mg Kg(-1) Cd, and 13500 mg Kg(-1) As. The predominant vegetation was collected and species identified.

Using phytoremediation technologies to upgrade waste water treatment in Europe.

Goal, Scope And Background: One of the burning problems of our industrial society is the high consumption of water and the high demand for clean drinking water. Numerous approaches have been taken to reduce water consumption, but in the long run it seems only possible to recycle waste water into high quality water. It seems timely to discuss alternative water remediation technologies that are fit for industrial as well as less developed countries to ensure a high quality of drinking water throughout Europe.

An engineered plant that accumulates higher levels of heavy metals than Thlaspi caerulescens, with yields of 100 times more biomass in mine soils.

Nicotiana glauca transformed with TaPCS1 was tested for its application in phytoremediation. When plantlets were grown in mine soils containing Cu, Zn, and Pb (42, 2600, and 1500 mg kg(-1)) the plant showed high levels of accumulation especially of Zn and Pb. Adult plants growing in mine soils containing different heavy metal concentrations showed a greater accumulation as well as an extension to a wider range of elements, including Cd, Ni and B.

Role of a Ca2+-ATPase induced by ABA and IAA in the generation of specific Ca2+ signals.

The control of the Ca(2+)-ATPase gene (LCA1) that encodes two different membrane-located isoforms by two antagonic phytohormones, ABA and IAA, has been investigated. Strikingly both the growth regulators induce the LCA1 expression. By using a protoplast transient system, the cis-acting DNA elements responding to both, abiotic stress (ABA) and normal development (IAA), are dissected.

Do untranslated introns control Ca2+-ATPase isoform dependence on CaM, found in TN and PM?

Transcript splicing characterization of tomato Ca(2+)-ATPase (LCA1 gene) mRNA indicates that two main transcripts are differentiated in the 3(') terminal region. One of them contains a sequence of about 90bp that could correspond to an untranslated intron that displays sequence homology to calmodulin-binding regions. Calmodulin-binding experiments demonstrate that only one of the two isoforms encoded by LCA1 binds to calmodulin.

A plant genetically modified that accumulates Pb is especially promising for phytoremediation.

From a number of wild plant species growing on soils highly contaminated by heavy metals in Eastern Spain, Nicotiana glauca R. Graham (shrub tobacco) was selected for biotechnological modification, because it showed the most appropriate properties for phytoremediation. This plant has a wide geographic distribution, is fast-growing with a high biomass, and is repulsive to herbivores.

Yeast inositol mono- and trisphosphate levels are modulated by inositol monophosphatase activity and nutrients.

Yeast lithium-sensitive inositol monophosphatase (IMPase) is encoded by a non-essential gene pair (IMP1 and IMP2). Inhibition of IMPase with either Li(+) or Na(+) or a double null mutation imp1 imp2 causes increased levels of inositol monophosphates and reduced level of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate. Overexpression of the IMP2 gene has the opposite effects and these results suggest that IMPase activity is limiting for the inositol cycle.

A proposal for nomenclature of aldehyde dehydrogenases in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and characterization of the stress-inducible ALD2 and ALD3 genes.

The complete sequencing of the genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae indicated that this organism contains five genes encoding aldehyde dehydrogenases. YOR374w and YER073w correspond to the mitochondrial isoforms and we propose as gene names ALD4 and ALD5, respectively. YPL061w has been described as the cytoplasmic constitutive isoform and named ALD6.

Alternative transcription initiation sites generate two LCA1 Ca2+-ATPase mRNA transcripts in tomato roots.

The tomato LCA1 gene encodes a Ca2+-ATPase and gives rise to two major mRNA transcripts and two distinct protein products of different size in tomato roots. The basis of the transcript size difference was investigated to assess whether the mRNA transcripts encoded distinct protein products. Primer extension and S1 nuclease analysis identified two transcription initiation sites at -72 and -1392 from the start of translation.

The yeast inositol monophosphatase is a lithium- and sodium-sensitive enzyme encoded by a non-essential gene pair.

Inositol monophosphatases (IMPases) are lithium-sensitive enzymes that participate in the inositol cycle of calcium signalling and in inositol biosynthesis. Two open reading frames (YHR046c and YDR287w) with homology to animal and plant IMPases are present in the yeast genome. The two recombinant purified proteins were shown to catalyse inositol-1-phosphate hydrolysis sensitive to lithium and sodium.

A major isoform of the maize plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase: characterization and induction by auxin in coleoptiles.

The plasma membrane (PM) H(+)-ATPase has been proposed to play important transport and regulatory roles in plant physiology, including its participation in auxin-induced acidification in coleoptile segments. This enzyme is encoded by a family of genes differing in tissue distribution, regulation, and expression level. A major expressed isoform of the maize PM H(+)-ATPase (MHA2) has been characterized.

Tandem transcription termination sites in the dnaN gene of Escherichia coli.

The dnaN gene of Escherichia coli encodes the beta-subunit of DNA polymerase III and maps between the dnaA and recF genes. We demonstrated previously that dnaN and recF constitute a transcriptional unit under control of the dnaN promoters. However, the recF gene has its own promoter region located in the middle of the dnaN structural gene.

Positive and negative regulatory elements in the dnaA-dnaN-recF operon of Escherichia coli.

The recF gene of E coli lies within a cluster of genes which play essential roles in DNA replication; the gene order is dnaA dnaN recF gyrB. Each of these genes has its own promoters which, with the exception of dnaA promoters, reside entirely within the translated region of the respective preceding gene. In this report, we analyze the effect of the dnaA and dnaN promoters on recF expression by translational fusions between recF and the lacZ reporter gene.