Objective
Photosystem I (PSI) of the plant thylakoid plays a vital role in the transduction of light energy for the fixation of carbon by plants. Recently it has been suggested that photodamage of PSI by illumination at low, non-freezing temperatures has a greater impact on agricultural and forest productivity in Europe than previously realised because damaged PSI can take from several days to a week to recover. There are likely multiple mechanisms that plants employ to minimise PSI damage, the majority of these being responses to high excitation pressure rather than low temperature per se.
Our hypothesis is that the composition of the bulk thylakoid lipid matrix, rather than a response to high excitation pressure, may be the difference between cold sensitive and cold tolerant plants and maybe constitutes the major mechanism in low temperature-specific acclimation. We propose to validate this hypothesis through a unique multidisciplinary experimental approach that combines the new field of proteomics with state-of-the-art molecular biology, biochemical analysis of thylakoid lipids and biophysical techniques to investigate cold acclimation in species contrasting in their cold sensitivity.
The proposed work, to be undertaken at Prof. Norm Huner's research group at the University of Western Ontario, will provide the expert training in proteomics and PSI biophysical measurements required to advance Dr Hendrickson's skills and experience in the fields of ecophysiology, cold acclimation and comparative proteomics. Field experimentation shall be used to validate our controlled environment experiments at the world-class BIOTRON facility using both economically important crop species and several lipid-reduced mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana.
A detailed knowledge of the molecular mechanisms responsible for PSI photo-protection operating in cold tolerant plants may permit the transfer of these traits to cold-sensitive species to increase their endurance, crop yield and distribution.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins proteomics
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules lipids
- social sciences economics and business economics production economics productivity
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
- natural sciences biological sciences molecular biology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP6-2004-MOBILITY-6
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Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
OIF - Marie Curie actions-Outgoing International Fellowships
Coordinator
UMEÃ¥
Sweden
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.