Objective The use of genetically modified plants raises a number of scientific issues as the evaluation of modifications at genetic and metabolic level induced by the transformation. The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is a hormone-receptor transcription factor in vertebrates that is activated by gluco-corticoids, having anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive benefits. Transformants of Nicotiana langsdorffii plants containing the gr gene showed alterations in the morphology and development.A previous analysis allowed the detection of differences in the transgenes copy number but sequence homology of the transgene insertion sites. Detailed analysis suggested that the insertion of gr in the genome of Nicotiana led to qualitative differences in DNA methylation patterns that are known to regulate transcriptional activity and development. In order to better understand the effects of gr transformation in Nicotiana plants, the METRIC project aims to perform a comprehensive analysis at molecular and metabolic level of the different transformants.At the same time, plants will be exposed to environmental stress using as example heavy metals with different physiochemical property and functions. This approach will allow a preliminary understanding of the molecular and metabolic effects of the transgene insertion and its role in plant-abiotic stress interaction, gainful goals not only for the biotechnology scientific community but also for all the scientists of related fields, including plant-abiotic stress interactions. The main objective of METRIC is to reintroduce the candidate in multidisciplinary high quality scientific laboratories of the country of origin, giving training in several technical skills and benefiting of the experience acquired during the previous Marie Curie fellowship. The topic of METRIC is specifically relevant to the FP6 scientific thematic priorities "Life Sciences, genomics and biotechnology for health" and "Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems". Fields of science natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsDNAnatural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystemsnatural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsgenomes Keywords AFLP analysis Gr receptor Nicotiana langsdorffii cDNA cDNA-AFLP analysis 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-4.1 - Marie Curie European Reintegration Grants (ERG) Call for proposal FP6-2004-MOBILITY-11 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERG - Marie Curie actions-European Re-integration Grants Coordinator UNIVERSITY OF FLORENCE, ITALY, DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL BIOLOGY AND GENETICS LEO PARDI , Address Piazza san marco 4 Florence Italy See on map Links Website Opens in new window EU contribution € 0,00
