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Advances
Issue 9
JOHN INNES CENTRE and SAINSBURY LABORATORY
AUTUMN 2007
E X C E L L E N C E IN R E S E A R C H AND TRAI NI NG I N PLANT AND MI CROBIA L SCI E N CE
Understanding flowering plant evolution
Moss genes provided fuse
for plant life explosion
How plants learned to
respond to changing
environments
The clubmoss Selaginella
kraussiana is a member of
the group Lycophyta, which
diverged from other land
plants around 400 million
years ago
The genes that control the
development of root hairs on
plants are also found in moss,
a finding that changes our
understanding of how the
plants we see today evolved
over 400 Million years ago.
Plants use roots to anchor
themselves, and to absorb
nutrients. Root hairs are
single cells that grow from
the roots and greatly increase
the root’s surface area.
In a paper published in
Science, Liam Dolan’s team
describe the discovery of a
pair of genes that are required
for root hairs to grow. When
these genes were turned off,
plants produced hairless roots.
Continued on next page
Physcomitrella patens
- the plant on the right has had its rooting genes turned off
Plants adapt their growth, including key steps in their life cycle
such as germination and flowering, to take advantage of
environmental conditions. They can also repress growth when
their environment is
not favourable.
This involves many
complex signalling
pathways which are
integrated by the plant
growth hormone,
gibberellin.
Nick Harberd’s group
examined the genes
Post-doctoral scientist Yuki Yasumura, with PhD students
involved in the
Matilda Crumpton-Taylor and Sara Fuentes – collaborators
gibberellin signalling with Nick Harberd, who has recently moved to the the
University of Oxford to take up the role of Sibthorpian
pathway in a wide
Professor of Plant Sciences, in succession to Professor Chris
Leaver (a member of JIC Council)
range of plants and,
in a paper in Current Biology have described how they
discovered that it was not until flowering plants evolved 300
Million years ago that plants gained the ability to repress
growth in response to environmental cues.
Continued on next page
w w w . j i c . a c . u k
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Comment
JIC and TSL are powerhouses
for the training of the next
generation of bioscience
researchers. Securing and
further developing the skills
base is a key element of our
mission, and our holistic
approach to training is
highlighted in the central
feature.
One of the lead scientists at the
Sainsbury Laboratory since its
foundation in 1988, David
Baulcombe, has taken up the
Chair in Botany at the
University of Cambridge. His
contribution has been
outstanding and our
collaborations in the
burgeoning field of epigenetics
will continue to flourish.
It is vitally important that we
capture our breakthroughs and
put them to use. Important
patents for enhancing disease
resistance have been granted to
Plant Bioscience Ltd (PBL) in
the USA. Several other patents
have been assigned to PBL,
who have also supported the
setting up of another spin-out
company, Procarta Biosystems
with the intellectual resource of
microbiologists Michael
McArthur and Mervyn Bibb.
The new Earth and Life
Systems Alliance between JIC
and the University of East
Anglia has an initial focus on
the genetic basis of diversity,
agricultural transitions and
geochemical cycles, with the
potential to make a massive,
agenda-setting change to the
Grand Challenge of Living
with Climate Change. The
alliance has quickly generated
substantial enthusiasm and
engagement from a cadre of
outstanding researchers.
Seeding new developments as
ideas emerge and momentum
increases is the optimal path for
world-class new science.
Significant resources from both
UEA and JIC will back the
initiative.
Chris Lamb, Director JIC
Scientists find
Continued from page 1
stem cell
switch
How plants learned
to respond to
changing
environments
Poor soil structure is a problem in
tropical agriculture, where soil
becomes compact as it dries out.
Liam Dolan’s group have
discovered how the stem cells in
plant roots detect soil structure and
whether it is favourable for growth.
They describe in a paper in Science
that the hormone, ethylene, regulates
cell division in root stem cells in the
model plant Arabidopsis. Ethylene is
known to play a role in perceiving and
communicating environmental cues.
They predict that this is the mechanism
plants use to detect how tough or soft the
soil is around them.
As in humans, the defining characteristics
of stem cells are that they are able to either
regenerate themselves or produce other
Arabidopsis root meristem
types of cells. Every spring, the growth in
showing extra divisions in the
quiescent centre after ethylene
our gardens is the result of the function of
treatment
stem cells. Stem cells in buds are activated
to divide and give rise to the growth for that
season. In roots, the team found that the division of
stem cells is regulated by ethylene and they suggest that
ethylene provides signals from the environment to activate cell
division when the conditions are right.
We believe this is a first step towards understanding
how plants respond to soil compaction. Armed with
this understanding we can start to devise ways to
tackle it”
Continued from page 1
Fuse for plant life explosion
Not all plants have roots. Evolutionarily ancient
plants such as mosses instead grow cells called
caulonema and rhizoids. Caulonemal cells increase
the surface area for nutrient absorption, and
rhizoids provide anchorage. The team found that the
genes that control root hair growth are very similar
to the genes that regulate the development of
caulonema and rhizoids in the moss Physcomitrella
patens. In fact, they were able to replace the genes they
turned off in plants with the equivalent genes from
moss, and produce hairy roots.
This study shows that genes from one stage in the life
cycle were recruited by their descendants into another
part of the life cycle. The development of root hairs
helped the evolution of larger plants by increasing their
nutrient uptake ability and anchorage. The results give us
a model for the genetic changes that underpinned the
dramatic changes in plant stature that occurred during the
Devonian explosion 400 Million years ago.
The technology has been assigned to and is the subject of patent
applications filed by PBL www.pbltechnology.com
2
All land plants evolved from an
aquatic ancestor, and it was
after colonisation of the land
that the gibberellin mechanism
evolved. The earliest land
plants to evolve were the
bryophyte group, which
includes liverworts, hornworts
and ancestral mosses, many of
which still exist today. The
ancestral mosses have their
own copies of the genes, but
the proteins they make do not
interact with each other and
can’t repress growth.
However, the moss proteins
work the same as their more
recently evolved counterparts
when transferred into modern
flowering plants.
The lycophyte group, which
evolved 400 Million years ago,
were the first plants to evolve
vascular tissues for transporting
water and nutrients. They also
have the genes involved in the
gibberellin signalling
mechanism, and the products
of their genes are able to
interact with each other, and
the hormone gibberellin.
However, this still does not
result in growth repression.
Not until the evolution of the
gymnosperms 300 Million
years ago are these interacting
proteins able to repress growth.
The angiosperms (flowering
plants) also possess the
gibberellin growth repression
system. This group of plants
became the most dominant,
and make up the majority of
plant species we see today.
Evolution of this growth
control mechanism appears to
have happened in a series of
steps, which this study
associates with major stages in
the evolution of today’s
flowering plants. It also
involves two types of
evolutionary change. As well
as structural changes, that
allow the proteins to interact,
flowering plants have also
changed the range of genes that
are turned on and off in
response to these proteins.
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SCIENTIFIC
PAPERS
Moss Genes
Potential for
engineering anthocyanins
An ancient mechanism controls the
development of cells with a rooting
function in land plants. Benoit Menand
et al. (2007) Science 316 1477-1480
A collaborative study between JIC and the Institute of Food Research (IFR) has used
pioneering functional genomic techniques to investigate anthocyanin production. Jie
Luo, a JIC Post Doctoral Training Fellow, worked with IFR Post Doctoral scientists
Christine Fuell and Katherine Elliott to identify enzymes able to beneficially modify
anthocyanins - pigments found in plants that give some flowers, leaves and fruits their
colours. Plants use this colouration to attract pollinators and as protection against
various environmental stresses. Stabilised anthocyanins could have important uses as
natural food colourants. At present, their use is limited because they are degraded, and
become discoloured. Stable anthocyanins could replace many of the artificial colours
used in a variety of foods, with the added benefit of the health-promoting activities
associated with anthocyanins.
Funding: Natural Environment
Research Council, Human Frontier
Science Program Organization, BBSRC
Core Strategic Grant; European
Molecular Biology Organisation &
Marie Curie Fellowships; Marie Curie
TIPNET Network; Joint Scholarship
between the University of East Anglia,
China Scholarship Council & HFSPO
Collaboration: University of Lausanne
and Zhejiang University, Hangzhou,
P.R.China
There are hundreds of different anthocyanins found in nature, differing from each other
by small chemical modifications. The research groups, led by Cathie Martin at JIC and
Tony Michael at IFR, looked at acyltransferases, a
group of enzymes which transfer acyl groups onto the
anthocyanins. Only a few of these enzymes have been
characterised, but many more must exist because of the
great range of anthocyanins.
Changing
Environments
Step-by-step acquisition of the
gibberellin-DELLA growth-regulatory
mechanism during land-plant evolution.
Yuki Yasumura, Matilda CrumptonTaylor, Sara Fuentes & Nicholas P.
Harberd (2007) Current Biology 17
1225-1230
The enzymes are very versatile in their substrate
specificity, and are thought to be able to evolve rapidly.
Very similar enzymes appear to have evolved
independently, and hence are structurally different, but
function almost identically. This convergent evolution
has hindered conventional approaches to identifying
new genes, so a modified strategy was required.
Funding: BBSRC Core Strategic Grant
Stem Cell Switch
Ethylene modulates stem cell division
in the Arabidopsis thaliana root. Olga
Ortega-Martínez, Monica Pernas,
Rachel Carol & Liam Dolan (2007)
Science 317 (no. 5837) 507 - 510
Kath Elliott and
Christine Fuell
Funding: BBSRC Core Strategic
Grant, a John Innes Foundation
studentship (OO-M) and a postdoctoral
fellowship from the Spanish Ministerio
de Educacion y Ciencia (MP)
Engineering
Anthocyanins
Convergent evolution in the BAHD
family of acyl transferases:
identification and characterization of
anthocyanin acyl transferases from
Arabidopsis thaliana. Jie Luo et al.
(2007) The Plant Journal 50 678-695
Below: Jie Luo
In collaboration with Japanese research groups, they looked at the chemical structure of
the major anthocyanin in Arabidopsis, and identified the exact type of acyltransferases
needed to make the necessary structural modifications. Acyltransferases are part of a
distinct enzyme group, which has 88 members in Arabidopsis. Analysing the genetic
sequence of these 88 genes found no good candidates for the specific acyltransferases
required. Instead, they looked at which of these genes were turned on when the plants
were making anthocyanins in response to stress. This identified a smaller number of
candidate genes.
Biochemical analysis showed that the candidates could make the necessary
modifications to synthesise the major Arabidopsis anthocyanin. Enzymes functions
were confirmed when the genes were transferred into tobacco. The acylation of
tobacco anthocyanins caused a slight change in the colour of the tobacco flowers. The
acylated anthocyanins were also more stable.
Funding: BBSRC AgriFood
Committee (to JIC and the Institute of
Food Research), BBSRC Core Strategic
Grant, Ministry of Education, Japan and
Japan Science & Technology Agency
CREST
Collaboration: RIKEN Plant Sciences
Center, Chiba University, Suntory Ltd,
Shinshu University, and Ehime
Women’s College, all in Japan
Rhizobia Review
(article on page 6)
Quorum-sensing regulation in
rhizobia and its role in symbiotic
interactions with legumes. Maria
Sanchez-Contreras et al. (2007)
Philosophical Transaction of the Royal
Society B 362 1149-1163
Funding: Research on rhizobia at JIC
is funded by the BBSRC
3
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plant and microbial scientists, both in the UK
and internationally. Many of our student and
post-doctoral intake choose the Centre either
because they have read high-impact papers in
major journals, or because their supervisors
and department heads are linked to JIC and
The Sainsbury Laboratory through their own
training and research collaboration networks.
High school students
...get ‘Inside Science’
Science degree courses have
declined in popularity over the
last 20 years in the UK,
threatening our world-class
research base. Business leaders
have warned that a growing
skills shortage will have serious
implications for the health of
the economy.
The Norwich BioScience
Institutes hosted a three day
Mass spectrometry with Lionel Hill
workshop in September for
gifted and talented high school students, to introduce them to careers in science.
As well as hearing from leading scientists working in fields such as food allergy,
genetics, crop science and microbiology, they had the opportunity to get hands-on
with hi-tech equipment such as electron microscopes and mass spectrometers.
Hannah Norman won the prize for the best interpretation of ‘Perceptions of Science’
(see page 7).We will be tracking their progress to establish the impact of early
exposure to the campus.
…undertake their first
research project
Each year, pre-university high school students also compete for the chance to
undertake 4 week research projects at the centre, part of a national programme
funded by the Nuffield Foundation. At the end of their projects, each student
has to prepare and deliver a 5 minute Powerpoint presentation to a science
audience, and answer their questions. A total of 13 students spent the summer
on campus this year.
Nuffield students and their supervisors
4
Securing the skills base
The Centre has a pre-eminent role in training
The next stages
Funding is available from a variety of
sources to support bench-based
training whilst students are at
university in the UK. JIC welcomes
funded students onto campus during
the vacation between their 2nd and 3rd
year – but competition is fierce and
places are limited.
Over the years we have trained and
nurtured a substantial number of the
world’s best plant and microbial
scientists and the Centre provides a
dynamic, stimulating and friendly
environment for PhD training amongst
a thriving research community. In
October each year the arrival of the
post-graduate student intake gives new
impetus to our science. For many of
our alumni, their association with us
starts when they arrive as PhD
students. In total we welcomed 16
newcomers to JIC and the Sainsbury
Laboratory this October.
Webpages:
www.jic.ac.uk/STUDENTS/index.htm
We offer two distinct PhD routes, one
of which is the prestigious 4 year
Rotation in which students take three
mini research projects in their first year
to provide a strong research base from
which to undertake their chosen
research project. In addition to a broad
range of scientific skills, students
achieve a Certificate in Professional
Studies after attending an 8-module
course on issues such as science
communication and time management.
Dr Mike Merrick (Chair of Graduate Studies Committee)
with two of the 2007 PhD students
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PhD student profiles
Nicole Steinmetz studied at the
Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische
Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen,
Germany, prior to joining JIC as a
Marie Curie EST Fellow where she
studied the Cowpea mosaic virus and
its potential for the development of
novel materials or devices at the
nanoscale.
“Although I was not previously trained in chemistry or
materials science I have enjoyed the challenges of mastering a
new area of study. During the past three years I have published
or submitted seven papers and two review articles.”
Whilst at JIC, she won the Bryan Harrison Award at the
International Conference on Advances in Plant Virology,
participated in the Meeting of Nobel prize winners in Lindau,
Germany, was a Finalist in the European Young Chemists
Award, and won the Biosciences Federation Science
Communication ‘New Researcher’Award.
Nicole’s next appointment is as a post-doctoral scientist in the
Dept. of Cell Biology at the Scripps Research Institute in
California, using viral nanoparticles as tools for bioimaging
and targeted drug delivery.
Matilda Crumpton-Taylor and Sara Fuentes are PhD student
co-authors of a paper in Current Biology featured in this issue of
Advances.
Olga Ortega-Martínez (undertaking a PhD supported by the
John Innes Foundation) is lead author on the paper on stem cell
switching published in Science, and featured in this edition of
Advances.
Amy Strange won the prize for the best
talk at the 13th European Meeting of
PhD Students in Evolutionary Ecology in
Lund, Sweden this August. The five day
meeting was attended by over 60
students from all over Europe, each of
whom gave a 10 minute talk on their
project and answered 5 minutes of
questions.
Post-Doctoral Training Fellows
The next stage of training at JIC is the BBSRC’s Post-Doctoral
Opportunities Scheme, aimed at the most exceptional post-doctoral
candidates who would be credible candidates for fellowships from EMBO,
Marie Curie, the Human Frontiers Science Program or similar international
or national programmes. We would expect, for example, that a recent PhD
graduate would have one or more papers with a significant impact in their
field. The ethos of the scheme is to help new scientists develop the
knowledge and skills (field-specific, analytical and transferable) necessary
for their development as a research scientist, whilst allowing them the
opportunities to attain personal development pertinent to their chosen
career pathways.
PDTFs Benoit Menand and Jie Luo are first authors
of two papers featured in this edition of Advances.
Jie’s first year at JIC was funded by a visiting
scholarship from China Scholarship Council and he
currently has leave of absence from his permanent
position in China at Huazhong University of Science
and Technology to continue his fellowship. Benoit is
Benoit Menand
leaving JIC this Autumn, to start work as a young
group leader at the Laboratoire de Génétique et Biophysique des Plantes
(Luminy University, Marseille) funded by CNRS (Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique). He will be working on the evolution of signalling
pathways that control plant growth and development in response to abiotic
stress (particularly nutrient starvation) in land plants. Monica Pernas and
Rachel Carol, co-authors of the recent paper on stem cell switching
published in Science, were also PDTFs at JIC.
We keep in touch with ‘leavers’ via our world-wide alumni network.
INTERNATIONAL MENTORING
JIC is keen to encourage science and mentor outstanding scientists from
less developed countries, and a programme is being established that will
allow an expansion of our involvement in collaborative projects that
support international development. Scientist-in-charge, Lesley Boyd
envisages that, through external funding, scientists from less developed
countries will be able to spend time working on a project that addresses a
problem of relevance to their home country, supported by one or more
research groups working within a similar research area at the centre.
Bringing scientists together
As part of our commitment to post-graduate education and training we
organise and contribute to courses all over the world. This year JIC jointly
sponsored the first of an annual series of summer schools on Applied
Molecular Microbiology with the Rudjer Bosković Institute in Zagreb.
Thirty-eight PhD students and early post-doctoral researchers, representing
twenty nationalities, attended the course entitled “Microbial Genomics and
Secondary Metabolites” at the Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences.
^
Advances 9G
The course consisted of lively poster sessions, and a series of lectures.
This included a review of metagenomics by JIC’s Mervyn Bibb, who
illustrated the concepts of DNA isolation, heterologous expression and
product detection with some of the experiences of biotechnology company
Diversa (now part of the Verenium Corporation) in searching for novel
antibiotics. David Hopwood reviewed recent advances in the total
synthesis and expression of unnatural polyketide synthase gene clusters to
make novel molecules. Following on from this year’s success, planning is
underway for next year’s course.
5
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Important patents
for enhancing disease
resistance
Plant Bioscience Ltd (PBL) have recently been granted a US patent
on a gene, cloned by Anne Osbourn with co-workers at the
Sainsbury Laboratory. The gene, Sad1, encodes the first step in a
pathway producing antimicrobial compounds in oats, called
avenacins. These compounds are only found in oats and confer broad
spectrum disease resistance on the plant. Transferred to other species,
these genes may be able to confer resistance to plants that are unable
to produce avenacins, such as wheat and barley, and so protect them
from diseases including take-all (an important fungal disease that
infects roots, disrupting their ability to take up nutrients and water
and so severely reducing yield).
Avenacins belong to a group of chemicals called triterpenoids, which
have a variety of functions in plants including pest resistance and
palatability to animals. Some have also been found to have important
pharmaceutical, nutritional and anti-cancer properties. PBL have
recently applied for two other patents covering further genes in the
oat avenacin synthesis pathway that may be useful as tools for
altering the chemical structure of triterpenoids. These modified
triterpenoids may also improve the plant’s flavour or increase its
nutritional value.
Capturing
breakthroughs
Oats produce avenacins specifically in the epidermal cells of the root
tip and lateral roots. This localised production is brought about by
tightly regulating the expression of the genes in the avenacin
synthesis pathway. The gene promoter, which controls the gene
expression, is the subject of a fourth patent application assigned to
PBL. This root-specific promoter was shown to be effective when
transferred into Arabidopsis and rice, and so could be used as a
genetic tool for targeting gene expression to the roots in transgenic
plants.
Any interested parties should contact Lars von Borke at PBL –
[email protected]
H3C
Avenacin A-1
β-υ-glucose (1,2)
β-υ-glucose (1,4)
Procarta Biosystems
Molecular microbiologists Michael McArthur and Mervyn Bibb
are the scientific co-founders of Procarta Biosystems Ltd.
The new company, based in our bioincubator, offers strain
improvement services
based on technology
developed at JIC, which
enables efficient genetic
optimisation of metabolic pathways. Procarta will also be
developing new proprietary therapeutic agents for overcoming
antibiotic resistance in pathogenic microorganisms, widely
recognised as an extremely serious problem for the healthcare
industry. Procarta has received financial backing from PBL.
6
CH3
α-L-arabinose-O
H3C
OH
O
CH3
CH3
CO
O
CH3
O
HNCH3
OH
GIMA awards
19 July 2007
The Vital Earth™ product range was runner-up in the 2007
Garden Industry Manufacturer’s Association Awards –
Growing Aids category. The composts, endorsed by the
John Innes Foundation, are based on UK sourced
environmentally sustainable materials.
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Perceptions
of Science
Earth and Life Systems
– the new Alliance
Science. A scary thought
Labs and chemicals, all toxic
Out of control Meddling in things we
should leave alone.
The Earth and Life Systems Alliance
(ELSA) is a unique multi-disciplinary
Alliance integrating world-class
expertise in biological, earth and social sciences to
tackle the challenges posed by a changing climate.
ELSA is a major strategic collaboration between
JIC and the School of Environmental Science at
UEA, Norwich.
The research agenda of the Alliance is focussed
around three research ‘pillars’ which are fully
described on the new website.
Science. The wonder of the world
Living, breathing, multiplying
Watch with baited breath and widened eye
But do not touch.
Science. A power to be harnessed
Starting wars and saving lives
To learn the secrets it holds.
Science. Bewildering and Beautiful
Frightening and Familiar
Perceptions of science.
What’s yours?
Biodiversity in the face of global
environmental change
Agricultural transitions under climate
change
Elemental systems that sustain life and
the planet
Discussions with UEA, led by Caroline Dean, and
development of the pillars has been underway for
most of this year. The first formal meeting of ELSA
scientists took place at JIC in September.
Hannah Norman, a year 11 pupil at Sir John Leman School,
Beccles
ELSA – www.elsa-uk.net - pioneering research
for a changing environment
COMMUNICATION
in Rhizobia
In a critical review, Allan Downie and
colleagues have examined how rhizobia can
communicate with each other using low
molecular weight signals (N-acyl homoserine
lactones) to optimise their ability to form
nitrogen-fixing nodules on legumes. Much
of this work was done at JIC and forms a
critical component of the research
knowledge.
However in
addition they
reviewed the
evidence from
work at JIC
and elsewhere
that the plant
‘tunes in’ to
this
conversation
and seems to A single Rhizobium colony (in white)
inducing a streak of a biosensor
be able to
bacterium (a modified
respond to the Chromobacterium violaceum strain) to
produce a purple pigment due to
same signals rhizobially-made quorum-sensing
signals
that the
bacteria use for their conversation. There is
even some evidence that the plant may be
able to make equivalent (but chemically
different) signals that can be detected by the
bacterial communication systems and in
some cases can even interfere with the
bacterial conversations.
This year we were guests on the National
Institute of Botany stand as part of the
JIC/NIAB Alliance, and demonstrated to
visitors the wide ranging effects of mutation
on phenotype in the spring wheat Paragon,
and how research at JIC uses this
information in research to produce
improved wheat for the 21st Century.
There was huge public interest with
discussions typically centred round the
recognised need for future proofing which
our research could potentially provide the
agricultural industry, and how our
Germplasm facility enables us to make use
of past variation as well as the novel forms
in our plot demonstration.
Cereals 2007
www.jic.ac.uk/GERMPLAS/
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JIC SCIENTIST NAMED Science in Society
Plant Cell Editor-in-Chief award
Cathie Martin from the Department of Metabolic Biology has been
appointed as editor-in-chief of The Plant Cell from January, 2008
succeeding University of
Arizona plant scientist,
Rich Jorgensen. The Plant
Cell is the science journal
of the American Society
of Plant Biologists, with
the highest impact factor
(9.868) of primary
research journals in plant
biology. Cathie has been a
member of the Editorial
Board since 2001. As
Editor-in-Chief, her vision
for the journal includes
maintaining and
enhancing the strength of
the editorial board,
continuing emphasis on high scientific standards and publishing
‘full stories’, broadening the scope of the journal (for example, to
include more high quality work in evolutionary development,
structural and comparative genomics, biotechnology, and studies in
non-model plant species), and expanding the publication of
reviews, commentaries, and opinion pieces.
The Science, Art and Writing
(SAW) project conceived by
JIC scientist Anne Osbourn has
received funding from BBSRC
to enable the SAW Trust to
take ten science projects into
local schools. Scientists representing different facets of science
will each assemble a collection of thought-provoking images based
on their research areas (for example, the inside of a leaf, starch
grains, photosynthesis) and will design experiments around their
chosen themes, with support from experts at the SAW Trust.
The images will also be used to brief poets and artists with
experience in working in schools on SAW projects. Each science
theme will be used to run a 1 day SAW project in a local primary
school. The scientists(s) will lead a practical science session on
their research area, using the images as an integral part of their
introduction. This will be followed by poetry and art, led by the
poets and artists. The creative output of these projects (poetry and
artwork on scientific themes) will be celebrated in an event for all
those involved and published in hard copy and on the SAW
website www.sawtrust.org
Dave Evans of the Department of Biological Chemistry has been
elected to the Dalton Council of the Royal
Society of Chemistry. Dalton Council is
responsible for setting RSC policy in areas
related to inorganic chemistry.
His term of office is initially for three
years and he hopes to use his wide
experience
to provide a viewpoint that reflects those
of scientists working in multidisciplinary
research at the interface with chemistry.
Erratum
On the cover page of the previous issue of Advances the
photograph was of a Zantedeschia, misdescribed as Aconitum
napellus. Apologies.
Updating our Contacts
If your address is incorrect, or if you would like to receive
Advances by e-mail in future, please contact the
Communications Team.
AN OUTSTANDING VENUE
FOR SCIENCE EVENTS
Our conference facilities are being marketed under the Norwich
BioScience Institutes banner at www.venue-norwich.info/ we are looking to attract more scientific conferences to the venue
and look forward to discussing possibilities, particularly for
international science conferences
Contact details:
About JIC
Data Protection
Communications Team,
Norwich BioScience
Institutes, Colney,
Norwich NR4 7UA, UK
JIC is an independent, international
centre of excellence in plant science and
microbiology. Our mission is to carry out
fundamental and strategic research, to
train scientists and to make our findings
available to society.
The mailing list is not sold or otherwise distributed outside the Norwich BioScience
Institutes.
Tel: +44 (0) 1603 255217
About TSL
E-mail:
[email protected]
The goal of the Sainsbury Laboratory is
to make fundamental discoveries about
plants and how they interact with
microbes and viruses.
Legal Statement
John Innes Centre is a company limited by guarantee.
Registered in England No. 511709 Registered Charity No. 223852.
John Innes Centre is grant aided by the Biotechnology and
Biological Sciences Research Council.
ISSN 1740-665X