SME / Association / Researcher

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Section 1 - Contact details

Organisation Name
(full name) / CONSIGLIO PER LA RICERCA E LA SPERIMENTAZIONE IN AGRICOLTURA Istituto per la Cerealicoltura Sop Bergamo / Contact person:
Organisation acronym
(Abbreviation) / CRA ISC Sop Bergamo / Title / Dr
Address / Via Stezzano 24 / First Name / Carlotta
Postal code / 24126 / Family Name / Balconi
City / Bergamo / Telephone / ++39 035 313132
Country / Italy / Fax / ++39 035 316054
www address / / E-mail /

Section 2 – Type of organisation

If you are an Enterprise

Enterprise type / Private Non profit
Public Other / Is your Company a Small-Medium sized Enterprise (SME)? / YES NO
if YES,
Number of Employees / < 10
> 10 and < 50
< 250
According to Article 2 of the annex of Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003, which applies from 01 January 2005, an SME (Micro, Small or Medium-sized Enterprise) is an enterprise which:
· has fewer than 250 employees,
· has an annual turnover not exceeding 50 million euro, and/or
· an annual balance-sheet total not exceeding 43 million euro.
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/enterprise_policy/sme_definition/index_en.htm
Owned by a non SME: / YES NO
Description of the organisation (max 1.000 characters):

If you are an Association

Association
type / SME Industrial
Cultural Civil society
Other: / Sector of activity
Description of the association (max 1.000 characters):

If you are a Research Organisation

Research Organisation type / Research Organisation ( Private Public)
High Education School / University / Institute ( Private Public)
Other, please specify:
Description of the organisation (max 1.000 characters):
The peculiar characteristic of the activity at the Maize Section is the integration of basic and applied research, focused on maize breeding, in the frame of national and international research programs. Agronomic trials are performed every year to test both commercial hybrids grown in Italy and new genotypes released by the Institute. The quality of the kernel (protein, starch, oil) and of the silage for forage is routinely tested in the laboratory of chemistry. The Molecular Biology laboratory is devoted to the study of gene regulation in the biochemical processes involved in maize kernel storage protein synthesis, and to describe new molecular markers useful to improve the efficiency of the traditional breeding programs. Cell culture and transfer genes conferring resistance to pathogens, finally, are bieng successfully applied to several crop species.

Section 3 – Sector of interest

FP7 Programme / Cooperation 1. Health2. Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Biotechnology3. Information Communication Technology 4. Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies and Materials5. Energy6. Environment7. Transport8. Social Sciences and Humanities9. Space10. Security (Click for choosing the Theme)
Ideas
People
Capacities 1. Research infrastructures2. Research for the benefit of SMEs 3. Regions of knowledge4. Research potential of Convergence Regions5. Science in society 6. Support to coherent develop. research policies7. International cooperation (Click for choosing type of programme)
Further information on the sector of interest
(max. 500 characters) / Source-sink relationships in maize plant. Metabolic regulation of genes involved in maize storage protein synthesis. Physiological aspects of Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) in maize. Analysis of chromosomal endoreduplication in maize endosperm during seed development and its correlation with physiological processes. Mechanisms and genes involved in determining fungal-pathogen resistance in cereal crops.
Research topic according to the work programme / - Role of the cob and pedicel-placento-chalazal tissues in the aminoacid supply to the developing endosperm and in the chromosome enodoreduplication in endosperms cells of IHP (Illinois High Protein) and ILP (Illinois Low Protein) maize strains grown "in vitro" and "in vivo".
- Nitrogen-induced changes in the metabolism of "in vitro" grown developing endosperms and kernels of "high lysine" and "defective endosperm" maize mutants.
- Accumulation and partitioning of nitrogen among plant parts in the IHP and ILP maize strains
- Variation in protein fractions and Nitrogen (N) metabolism of developing normal and opaque endosperm mutants of maize
-."In vitro" culture and genetic transformation of rice Italian cultivars
- Research associated with the anti-fungal activity of wheat puroindoline proteins
- Evaluation of increased tolerance to fungal diseases of rice plants transformed with puroindoline genes.
- Fusarium head blight evaluation in wheat transgenic plants expressing the maize b-32 anti-fungal gene
- "In vivo" and "in vitro" bioassays for testing maize resistance to "Fusarium verticillioides" and to "Aspergillus flavus" and for controlling fungus growth with maize endosperm Ribosome Inactivating Protein (RIP) b-32.
- Screening of maize genotypes for resistance to "Fusarium verticillioides" and to "Aspergillus flavus" through silk and kernel artificial inoculation methods.
- Evaluation of the level of micotoxin contamination in maize genotypes under natural and artificial inoculation.

Section 4 - Description of your expertise

Description of the expertise
(max 2.000 characters) / The study of protein and starch metabolic regulation in developing maize kernel employed "in vitro" endosperm and kernel culture methods, molecular biology analyses (southern-blot, northern-blot, western-blot) and biochemical analyses (storage proteins fractionation and electrophoresis, SDS-PAGE and 2D). Evaluation of "in vitro" methods to define the role of the cob and the pedicel-placento-chalazal tissues in the amino acid supply and in the chromosome endoreduplication level in the developing maize endosperm (the study employed 14-C-labeled -glutamine uptake experiments). The study of accumulation and partitioning of N among plant parts in the High (IHP) and Low (ILP) protein strains of maize, employed the supply of 15-N03- labeled, total nitrogen anlalyses on automated N-analyzer and 15-N-labeled concentration determined with a mass spectrometer. Nitrogen related traits (N-uptake, N translocation, N-efflux from organs, N-harvest index) have been calculated. Analyses of two enzymes N-related, (NR and GS) were conducted on leaf and stalk samples. The variation in protein fractions (SDS-PAGE, Northern blot) and N-enzymatic activities (GS, GOGAT, AS, Asase) were studied in developing normal and in five "high-lysine" mutants of maize. An investigation on "in vitro" culture response from somatic and gametic cells and plant regeneration, on 26 italian rice cultivars, was conducted. A study on the effectiveness of wheat puroindolines in enhancing fungal disease resistance in transgenic rice, was done through "in vitro" and "in vivo" pathological tests. A study indicating that maize b-32 was effective as "in vivo" antifungal protein reducing FHB symptoms in wheat lines expressing b-32, was done, through "Fusarium culmorum" single-floret-injection-artificial inoculation method. Screening of maize genotypes for resistance to "Fusarium verticilliodes" and "Aspergillus flavus" through silk and kernel artificial inoculation is under study in co-operation with maize breeders.
Keywords describing the expertise offered
(if needed more than one) / 1. Cereal crops fungal protection
2. Plant proteins Antifungal-activity
3. Nitrogen Maize Plant metabolism regulation

Section 5 – Your previous experience in FP projects

Former participation in FP European projects? / YES NO
If YES / Please chooseFP3FP4FP5FP6
Project title: Quality of life and management of living resource. Technologies for sustainable plant and animal production: building blocks for improvement. Genetic improvement of maize to enhance food safety by introducing resistance to Fusarium moniliforme. (project FP5 - ICA4-CT2000-30033)
Acronym: SAFEMAIZE
Activities performed / Research Demonstration Training
Technology Dissemination Management
Other:
Please describe briefly (max. 700 characters): / Aim of the project: develop improved maize genotypes with increased resistance to Fusarium moniliforme using traditional breeding as well as biotechnology Specific objectives: 1) to characterize Fusarium moniliforme (verticillioides) isolates from Europe and Africa 2) to develop screening methods to evaluate maize genotypes for resistance to the pathogen 3) to evaluate the effect of plant antifungal defence genes against F. moniliforme 4) to use direct evolution by DNA shuffling to develop novel and improved antifungal genes 5) to produce transgenic maize enriched with antifungal genes and evaluate resistance in the field

Section 6 – Expectations

Term commitment / Short (< 1 year) Medium (1 to 3 years) Long (more than 3 years)
Commitment offered / Research Demonstration Training
Technology Dissemination Management
Other:
Proposed role in the project / Coordinator Work package leader Partner
Other role:
Expected results for your organisation
(max 500 characters) / 1) develop transgenic maize lines expressing anti-fungal proteins 2) analyse at molecular and genetic level the transgenic lines 3) to compare the transgenic lines expressing the anti-fungal maize gene b-32 , with maize genotypes displaying resistance against Fusarium taken from germoplasm collections 4) develop reliable and reproducible tools for disease resistance evaluation 5) identification of resistant genotypes among commercial hybrids and inbred lines to be useful for breeding programmes

Section 7 – International cooperation

Are you interested in international cooperation? / YES NO
If YES,
please specify the geographical area(s) of interest / Mediterranean area
Balkan area
Russia and NIS (Newly independent States)
Asia
Africa
South America
Other: North America-Central America

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