Publications
NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.
2009
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
The soil is considered to be the major Carbon (C) sink in boreal forests, thus determination of soil carbon fluxes is essential for reliable C budgets. Especially partitioning of soil and root respiration is a major challenge. Soil respiration (Rs) consists of autotrophic respiration (Ra, respiration of plant roots and of microorganisms living on root-derived organic C in the rhizosphere) and heterotrophic respiration (Rh, respiration of free-living microorganisms during their decomposition of soil organic matter. In our study we attempted to estimate the contribution of roots to soil respiration by a girdling experiment. The study was established in two Norway spruce (Picea abies) stands, 35 and 65 year old, at Nordmoen, southeast Norway. Four quadratic plots (21m x 21m) were chosen within each of the two stands in spring 2006 and within two plots all trees were girdled. To estimate the contribution of root respiration, we measured CO2 efflux within each plot with a PP EGM-4 gas monitor for CO2, at permanently marked spots during two years (2006 and 2007). In the youngest stand in 2006, Rs in the control plots was higher than in the girdled plots at all measurement occasions. During this period, the mean Rs in the girdled plots was 64.9 % of the mean Rs in the control plots. In 2007, the Rs was highest in the girdled plots on most occasions, but the difference was never significant. In the oldest stand, Rs was also highest in the control plots in 2006 and highest in the girdled stand in most cases in 2007, but the difference was never significant. The implications will be discussed.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Tree and understorey fine root growth and longevity was determined by minirhizotrone research in northern Finland. The study was made in a 70-year-old Norway spruce stand, growing on a mesic mineral soil site in the Kivalo experimental forest. Three replicate plots were established, and three vertical minirhizotron tubes installed in June 2003 in soil of each of the three plots. The images were taken at monthly intervals (altogether 11 sessions) during the growing seasons 2004, 2005 and 2006. The lengths, diameters and status (new, living, dead, disappeared) of Norway spruce and understorey (mainly shrub) fine roots were recorded. Our data indicates that there were more new roots growing in the upper soil depths (the organic layer) than in the lower soil depths (mineral soil). Roots in the organic layer, however, elongated less than roots in the upper mineral soil. The growth rate was highest in late summer and early autumn. Regarding root longevity, both trees and understorey showed the same trends by root order and soil depth; the average longevity was 14-16 months. The time from death to disappearance was 6-8 months for trees and 2-7 months for understorey. Furthermore, monthly trends of new roots born versus their death and/or disappearance by soil depth are also presented.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
To identify differentially expressed genes of the white-rot fungus Heterobasidion parviporum subtractive cDNA libraries were constructed using suppressive subtraction hybridization (SSH) technique with RNA extracted from an advanced stage of decay area and from colonization front next to the reaction zone of the stem of a mature Norway spruce trees. Besides cytochrome P450s and proteins with unknown function, the SSH libraries constructed contained genes involved in basic cellular processes, andcell wall degradation. To examine the role of selected candidate genes three trees, showing a variable degree of wood decay, were used for real-time RT-PCR profiling of candidate genes. In the decay transition areas the study revealed activity centers that showed remarkable similarity in the transcript profiles of monitored genes.
Authors
Åke Olson Mikael Brandström Kajsa Himmelstrand Mårten Lind Magnus Karlsson K. Lunden Kerstin Dalman Heriberto Vélëz Björn Canbäck Francis Martin Halvor Solheim Carl Gunnar Fossdal Pierre Rouzé Yao-Cheng Lin Matteo Garbelotto Ursula Kües Igor V. Grigoriev Andrea Aerts Erika Lindquist Jeremy Schmutz Jan StenlidAbstract
The genome sequence of the conifer rot root pathogen Heterobasidion annosum was generated at JGI with 8.23 X coverage. The nuclear genome assembles in 39 scaffolds of total 33.7 Mbp estimated to cover 98.1% of the complete genome. We predicted 12,270 genes with an average length of 1,617 bp and exon number and length of 5.54 and 250 bp respectively. About 50% (5999) of the predicted genes could be validated by EST support with the 40,807 EST´s generated with in the project. The genome has a GC content of 52.0% and very little repetitive sequences with 2,895 SSR per mega base. The physical genome is congruent with the genetic linkage map, and most of the linkage groups have been possible to anchor to the 18 largest scaffolds.
Abstract
Due to the great economic losses caused by the root and butt-rot pathogen Heterobasidion annosum, development of efficient control measures is warranted. H. annosum a necrotroph colonize the Norway spruce from inside and is responsible for 100s of millions of Euros losses annually. Considerable clonal variation has been recorded for Norway spruce in resistance towards H. annosum, but the defence mechanisms contributing to host resistance against both necrotrophic and biotrophic fungi remain poorly understood. The recent genome sequencing of Populus has made the genus a model to facilitate tree genetics. Genome-wide transcript profiling of Populus tremula upon pathogen attack will now be used, and homologues of Norway spruce genes to defence genes up-regulated in Populus will be identified. Two aspen clones (23 and 72) from the SwAsp collection (Luquez 2007) were used in the present study. Plants were propagated from tissue culture and kept in greenhouse under un-manipulated conditions. To study the host defence mechanisms, the rust (Melampsora magnusiana Wagner) and a bluestain fungus were used as a biotrophic and necrotrophic fungus respectively. Melampsora spores solution was applied to the underside of the leaf. To control for sectoriality six leaves were infected on each plant. To ensure high humidity and avoid cross contamination, plastic bags were wrapped around infected leaves. Leaves above infected leaves (10, 9, and 8) were harvested respectively 1, 3 and 14 days after inoculation. Initial results from microarray data indicate a clear separation between two Aspen clone (23 and 72) lines. For line 23 the response to biotroph and necrotroph seems to be similar. Whereas the response for line 72 is divergent for the treatments as they go in opposite direction. The controls show that there is an initial difference in the 2 lines (controls are separated). What are the genes that make biotrohic and necrotrophic treatment of 72 look so different will be worked out from microarray data. Differential expression of defense genes in biotrohic and necrotrophic treatment will be verified further with quantitative real time PCR. Chemical analysis of Aspen leaves gave less phenolic compounds as plants were kept in greenhouse. HPLC will be carried out after reaching some conclusion from microarray data analysis.
Abstract
Ophiostomatoid fungi were isolated from Scolytus ratzeburgi infesting Betula pendula and B. pubescens in Norway. Fungi were identified based on morphology, DNA sequence comparison for two gene regions and phylogenetic analyses. The most abundant fungus was Ophiostoma karelicum, suggesting a specific relationship between the fungus, the vector insect and the host tree. Our results suggest that O. karelicum occurs across the geographic range of S. ratzeburgi and its close relatedness to the Dutch elm disease fungi suggests that it could be important if introduced into other parts of the world. Other fungi, only occasionally isolated from S. ratzeburgi, were identified as O. quercus and a novel taxon, described here as O. denticiliatum sp. nov.
Abstract
The root-rot causing fungus Heterobasidion annosum senso lato is the most devastating pathogen of conifers in Europe. This pathogen enter Norway spruce trees trough the roots and colonizes the tree from within, growing as a saprophyte when established within the dead heartwood and acting as a necrotroph when in contact with living host tissue. The genome of this devastating pathogen has now been sequenced in collaboration with JGI and gene annotation is ongoing and genomic work is currently in progress (Stenlid et al. work in progress). We have worked with the host Norway spruce from a molecular perspective for more than ten years. Twenty percent of the trees in Norwegian spruce stands tend to be infected and this pathogen that can colonize ten meters up inside the trunk. The tree have defences against this pathogen and the attack can be fought off by the bark and living wood but not by the hearthwood. The tree has a unique defense against this internal attack by forming a reaction zone; in this case the host defense is directed inwardly by the still living sapwood toward the central colonized wood. We have in the last years studied the host responses to infection in Norway spruce clones at the transcriptional level and found that the speed of recognition and spatial defense signalling appears to be the hallmarks of trees with high degree of resistance. We strive to study both partners in this pathosystem from a molecular perspective, and are using suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) followed by Real-Time RT PCR verification to look at differentially expressed genes(Yakovlev et al. 2008). In addition the colonization profiles are followed on extracted gDNA using quantitative Real-Time PCR (Hietala et al. 2009).