NORTH-SOUTH CENTRE - ETH - North-South Centre North-South ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Characterisation of drought tolerance in Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) The majority of Kenya’s population depends on agriculture for their economic livelihood. More than one third of these people live in arid and semi-arid areas that are prone to frequent droughts. These lands have agricultural potential if adequate irrigation systems and drought-tolerant crops are available. Cassava is the fifth important staple crop after maize, rice, wheat and potato, providing food for over 800 million people in the tropics and sub-tropics. Cassava yields more than most staple crops – not only under optimal conditions but also under prolonged drought conditions. This research aims at characterising drought tolerance in cassava at the phenotypic, physiological and molecular level. In addition, it aims at developing molecular markers for drought tolerance trait introgression in cultivars preferred by farmers. We will evaluate cassava phenotypic and physiological response to drought under field and greenhouse conditions. Molecular analysis of drought tolerance involves (i) the identification of differentially expressed genes (literature) and sequences blasted onto the cassava genome in order to confirm orthologs, and (ii) the use of OMICS tools 1 to characterise the cassava transcriptome and proteome modulation. While a multi-site and multi-seasonal drought trial experiment has been set up in Kenya, a similar experiment under greenhouse conditions has been set up at the ETH Zurich. A number of contrasting cassava cultivars are being screened for drought tolerance. We will determine leaf retention, photosynthetic rates, stomatal conductance, water use efficiency, total biomass and storage root yield. Furthermore, molecular characterisation is to be carried out on selected drought-tolerant cassava genotypes. Currently, we are compiling a list of potential drought-tolerant candidate genes from the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, and from other crops. In addition, we are developing primers in order to characterise transcript modulation upon drought via qRT-PCR (quantitative Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction). In 2009, the project has been initiated with field establishment in Kenya and greenhouse experiments in Switzerland. Data collection is still in its initial phase. 1 “OMICS tools” refers to genomics, proteomics and metabolomics 80 Capacity development Research fellowships Research fellow Charles Orek, ETH Zurich, Switzerland Supervisors Wilhelm Gruissem and Herve Vanderschuren, ETH Zurich, Switzerland; Morag Ferguson, IITA, Nairobi, Kenya Collaborator Joseph Kamau, KARI, Nairobi, Kenya Duration October 2009 – October 2012 Establishment of contrasting cassava genotypes for drought tolerance screening under controlled greenhouse conditions, Switzerland
Whole genome profiling of Theileria parva isolates East Coast Fever (ECF) is a fatal bovine lympho-proliferative disease endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Twenty-eight million cattle are at risk of contracting the disease. It results in the death of at least one million cattle, causing economic losses of about 200 million dollars annually. In sub-Saharan Africa, the disease is primarily controlled by the use of chemical acaricides. However, this is becoming unsustainable due to high costs, increasing risks of emergence of acaricide-resistant tick strains, and the retention of toxic residues of the chemicals in meat, milk and the environment. The infection and treatment method (ITM) of immunisation is a medium-term sustainable method increasingly being adopted by farmers in East, Central and Southern Africa. It involves inoculation of cattle with a near-lethal dose of live sporozoites of Theileria parva – the causative agent of ECF – along with a high dose of oxytetracycline to control the infection. One mixture of T. parva stocks that is increasingly used by local farmers is the Muguga cocktail. It comprises three stocks of T. parva: Muguga, Kiambu 5 and Serengeti-transformed. In this project, we will sequence the whole genomes of eight strains of T. parva, including the components of the Muguga cocktail and two buffaloderived strains, using the high throughput 454 sequencing technology. So far, the focus of the project has been on sequencing material preparation. Genomic DNA of T. parva Uganda, Marikebuni and Uganda/Muguga recombinant have been derived successfully and are being sequenced. Samples for the T. parva Kiambu-5 isolate are being prepared at ILRI. The genome of the Serengeti-transformed isolate has recently been sequenced by the 454 method using a combination of paired-end and shotgun libraries. It has been assembled into 32 contigs using the published T. parva Muguga genome as a template. Annotation against T. parva Muguga genome using sequence comparison methods such as BLAST algorithms 1 is underway. After sequencing Kiambu-5, we will compare the three vaccine components in order to gain insight into the genes that might contribute towards the efficiency of the ITM. From the sequences we will identify (i) highly conserved and rapidly evolving genes, (ii) genes under positive selection that would relate to host-parasite interactions, and (iii) SNPs for micro-epidemiological studies. The genome sequences of the other parasite isolates will enable us to study evolutionary forces driving parasite diversity also on the level of sexual recombination. 1 Basic Local Alignment Search Tool algorithms Research fellow Sonal Patel, ILRI, Kenya 81 Supervisors Claudia Daubenberger, STI, Switzerland; Richard Bishop, ILRI, Kenya Collaborators Weihong Qi, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Etienne de Villiers, ILRI, Kenya Duration August 2009 – July 2012 Capacity development Research fellowships The infection and treatment method vaccine being administered to a pastoralist‘s calf
Page 1 and 2:
NORTH-SOUTH CENTRE Research for Dev
Page 3 and 4:
Editorial The year 2009 marked a mi
Page 5 and 6:
Table of contents Profile . . . . .
Page 7 and 8:
Moving in a dynamic environment Bey
Page 9 and 10:
caused by bacteria in East African
Page 11 and 12:
topics, which cut across the four t
Page 13 and 14:
In the area of Networking and commu
Page 15 and 16:
The core of the North-South Centre
Page 17 and 18:
The North-South Centre at a glance
Page 19 and 20:
The North-South Centre at a glance
Page 21 and 22:
FOCUS: Research for development Wha
Page 23 and 24:
e direct in the sense that you have
Page 25 and 26:
Bassirou Bonfoh: I agree with you.
Page 27 and 28:
means sacrificing certain career pe
Page 29 and 30:
makers. R4D allows for explaining t
Page 31 and 32: academic community and by explicitl
Page 33 and 34: The success story In some quarters,
Page 35 and 36: Research collaboration The North-So
Page 37 and 38: Livestock systems research in suppo
Page 39 and 40: New policy mechanisms to mitigate w
Page 41 and 42: Reversing soil degradation by tropi
Page 43 and 44: Improving small ruminant productivi
Page 45 and 46: Zinc fluxes from the soil into the
Page 47 and 48: The partnership between UNEP and th
Page 49 and 50: top-down approach using globally av
Page 51 and 52: Urban Laboratory - Addis Ababa Acto
Page 53 and 54: Assessing sustainable urban develop
Page 55 and 56: Nutrient dynamics in conservation a
Page 57 and 58: Research projects related to develo
Page 59 and 60: Project leader(s) Project title Pro
Page 65 and 66: Capacity development Individual cap
Page 67 and 68: Research Fellow Partnership Program
Page 69 and 70: Understanding yam (Dioscorea spp.)
Page 71 and 72: Analysis and initial exploitation o
Page 73 and 74: Mycorrhizas and maize yields in dif
Page 75 and 76: The role of cooperativeness in adop
Page 77 and 78: Governance, collective action and d
Page 79 and 80: The importance of forest fragments
Page 81: Phosphate nutrition of crops in lix
Page 85 and 86: Farmers’ responses to climate cha
Page 87 and 88: Improving grazing systems with yak-
Page 89 and 90: Preparing a joint project at the In
Page 91 and 92: Colloquium “Selected aspects of s
Page 93 and 94: Master of Advanced Studies in Susta
Page 95 and 96: Teaching activities related to deve
Page 97 and 98: Title of course unit Lecturer(s) Ty
Page 99 and 100: Supervision of doctoral dissertatio
Page 101 and 102: Supervisor(s) Candidate Title of No
Page 107 and 108: Networking and communication Doing
Page 109 and 110: Conferences, lectures and workshops
Page 111 and 112: Environmentally forced migration an
Page 113 and 114: Networking The North-South Centre i
Page 115 and 116: As peers we interact mainly with th
Page 117 and 118: Germany. We did not only contribute
Page 119 and 120: Publications Refereed publications
Page 121 and 122: Koh, L.P., 2009: Calling Indonesia
Page 123 and 124: Frame Conditions for the Sustainabl
Page 125 and 126: Andrade de Sa, S., Palmer, C., Enge
Page 127 and 128: Clément, C., 2009: The Maca projec
Page 129 and 130: Contzen, S., 2009: Views of the rur
Page 131 and 132: components and indigenous arbuscula
Page 133 and 134:
Financial statements Administrative
Page 135 and 136:
Impressum Publisher North-South Cen
Page 137:
ETH Zurich North-South Centre HCW,
show all

NORTH-SOUTH CENTRE - ETH - North-South Centre North-South ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?