Objective Parasitic weeds are among the most damaging agricultural pests. The Orobanche spp. (broomrapes) are holoparasites and parasitise important agricultural crops such as tomato, legumes, cruciferes, sunflower, hemp and tobacco in large parts of Europe, North A merica, Middle East, and India. These parasitic plants can grow rapidly and cause tremendous agricultural losses. Although the different genera of parasitic plants parasitise a whole range of different hosts in different parts of the world, their lifecycle s are broadly similar. One of the most important features in the host-parasitic plant interaction is signalling which occurs in many steps of this lifecycle. The first of these signals is the secretion of secondary metabolites from the roots of hosts that induce the germination of the seeds of the parasites. Although different parasitic plants parasitise different hosts in different parts of the world, their germination stimulants all belong to one class of compounds, the strigolactones such as strigol, ale ctrol and orobanchol. Recent work in the host group has shown that these germination stimulants are derived from the carotenoid/ABA pathway. In this project we will study the genes encoding enzymes involved in the biosynthetic pathways of the germinatio n stimulants produced by tomato. Hereto, we will characterise tomato carotenoid/ABA mutans and study their capacity to biosynthesise germination stimulants using germination bioassays. To find genes involved in the so far unknown part of the pathway, we wi ll screen a mutant population of tomato for mutants disturbed in the induction of germination. In addition, we will use molecular techniques to isolate and characterise cDNAs encoding relevant pathway enzymes. These genes will be used to generate transgeni c tomato plants, by both antisense and sense constructs, with altered expression of these genes to evaluate and compare with wild type plants for their susceptibility for O. ramosa and O. aegyptiaca. Fields of science engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensorsoptical sensorsagricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturegrains and oilseedsoilseedsnatural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsenzymesagricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturegrains and oilseedslegumes Keywords Orobanche interaction Tomato Programme(s) FP6-MOBILITY - Human resources and Mobility in the specific programme for research, technological development and demonstration "Structuring the European Research Area" under the Sixth Framework Programme 2002-2006 Topic(s) MOBILITY-2.1 - Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships (EIF) Call for proposal FP6-2004-MOBILITY-5 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme EIF - Marie Curie actions-Intra-European Fellowships Coordinator PLANT RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL B. V. Address Droevendaalsesteeg 1 Wageningen Netherlands See on map Links Website Opens in new window EU contribution € 0,00
