BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Memento EPFL//
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Molecular Approaches to Bioremediation
DTSTART:20090223T161500
DTSTAMP:20260531T141336Z
UID:bc7f5cb2827edeffe02d2772dfb194eeb5d0816b738d746d7483146e
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof.  Leigh Ackland\, Deakin University\, Australia\nWidespre
 ad heavy metal pollution in China and other countries is a severe threat a
 nd has resulted health problems and displacement of farmers from their lan
 d. There is a need to develop inexpensive\, high-efficiency and environmen
 tally-friendly techniques to remediate contaminated soil and water. Plant-
 based technologies are potential tools for remediation\, however more know
 ledge is required to understanding the underlying cellular mechanisms invo
 lved. Deakin University\, Australia is collaborating with the Institute of
  Applied Ecology\, Chinese Academy of Sciences\, Shenyang\, China on a pro
 ject funded by the International Science Linkage scheme. This involves fie
 ld trials on cadmium-contaminated soils in China in conjunction with labor
 atory studies in Australia to develop plants for extracting metals from so
 ils. The aims of the Australian team are firstly to establish the identity
  of cellular transporters for zinc and cadmium\, that are present in hyper
 -accumulating plants\, secondly\, to confirm the role of these transporter
 s in heavy metal accumulation and thirdly to develop genetic tests that ca
 n be used to indicate the capacity of different plants to accumulate heavy
  metals. Several important families of transporters for zinc and cadmium i
 ncluding solute carrier 39 (SLC39)\, solute carrier 30 (SLC30)\, ABC trans
 porters and the ATPases are found across many different organisms. Approac
 hes to identify heavy metal transporter genes and proteins include quantit
 ative PCR\, comparative genomics and comparative proteomics. We are using 
 Brassica rapa and Solanum nigrum as candidate plants. Using real time PCR 
 we have identified two genes\, MTP1\, a member of the SLC30 family and Nra
 mp\, that are expressed in both roots and shoots of these plants. We have 
 measured the changes in expression of the genes following exposure of plan
 ts to zinc and cadmium concentrations and correlated this with the levels 
 of zinc and cadmium accumulated in the shoots and roots. To identify unkno
 wn transporters that may be involved in heavy metal hyper-accumulation\, w
 e are using differential gene expression and proteomics. These techniques 
 provide information about the relative changes in RNA and proteins in resp
 onse to treatment of plants with zinc and cadmium. In these ways we hope t
 o provide a greater understanding of how molecular transporters participat
 e in hyper-accumulation or resistance of plants to heavy metals.
LOCATION:GR B 30
STATUS:CONFIRMED
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR