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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.

2022

Sammendrag

Defense priming, the sensitization of inducible defenses, has been extensively studied in annual angiosperms. However, we are just beginning to explore defense priming in woody, long-lived plants. The natural compound methyl jasmonate (MeJA) has been used for over 20 years to study spruce inducible defenses. Recently, it was discovered that MeJA not only directly induces defense, but also primes defense responses in spruce. Metabolite and transcriptional analyses of mature trees treated with MeJA and subsequently wounded showed that while terpenes accumulate at the wound site in a primed manner, terpene biosynthesis genes are directly induced by MeJA. Pathogen resistance (PR) genes, on the other hand, are primed. Sequencing of miRNAs suggests that miRNAs have a regulatory role in MeJA-induced defenses in spruce. Additionally, a detailed transcriptional time course of 2- year-old spruce treated with MeJA indicated that the RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathway is involved in the establishment and maintenance of primed defenses. When comparing mechanisms of defense priming in spruce to those in Arabidopsis, it seems that many mechanisms are conserved. However, some aspects, such as jasmonic acid-salicylic acid crosstalk, may be different. Identifying these differences and how they affect forest species is important for practical application of defense priming in forest management.

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Sammendrag

The use of Bayesian networks (BN) for environmental risk assessment has increased in recent years as they offer a more transparent way to characterize risk and evaluate uncertainty than the traditional risk assessment paradigms. In this study, a novel probabilistic approach applying a BN for risk calculation was further developed and explored by linking the calculation a risk quotient to alternative future scenarios. This extended version of the BN model uses predictions from a process-based pesticide exposure model (World Integrated System for Pesticide Exposure - WISPE) in the exposure characterization and toxicity test data in the effect characterization. The probability distributions for exposure and effect are combined into a risk characterization (i.e. the probability distribution of a risk quotient), a common measure of the exceedance of an environmentally safe exposure threshold. The BN model was used to account for variabilities of the predicted pesticide exposure in agricultural streams, and inter-species variability in sensitivity to the pesticide among freshwater species. In Northern Europe, future climate scenarios typically predict increased temperature and precipitation, which can be expected to cause an increase in weed infestations, plant disease and insect pests. Such climate-related changes in pest pressure in turn can give rise to altered agricultural practices, such as increased pesticide application rates, as an adaptation to climate change. The WISPE model was used to link a set of scenarios consisting of two climate models, three pesticide application scenarios and three periods (year ranges), for a case study in South-East Norway. The model was set up for the case study by specifying environmental factors such as soil properties and field slope together with chemical properties of pesticides to predict the pesticide exposure in streams adjacent to the agricultural fields. The model was parameterized and evaluated for five selected pesticides: the three herbicides clopyralid, fluroxypyr-meptyl, and 2-(4-chloro-2-methylphenoxy) acetic acid (MCPA), and the two fungicides prothiocanzole and trifloxystrobin. This approach enabled the calculation and visualization of probability distribution of the risk quotients for the future time horizons 2050 and 2085. The risk posed by the pesticides were in general low for this case study, with highest probability of the risk quotient exceeding 1 for the two herbicides fluroxypyr-meptyl and MCPA. The future climate projections used here resulted in only minor changes in predicted exposure concentrations and thereby future risk. However, a stronger increase in risk was predicted for the scenarios with increased pesticide application, which can represent an adaptation to a future climate with higher pest pressures. In the current study, the specific BN model predictions were constrained by an existing set of climate projections which represented only one IPCC scenario (A1B) and two climate models. Further advancement of the BN modelling demonstrated herein, including more recent climate scenarios and a larger set of climate models, is anticipated to result in more relevant risk characterization also for future climate conditions. This probabilistic approach will have the potential to aid targeted management of ecological risks in support of future research, industry and regulatory needs.

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Sammendrag

Until recently, genotypes of Phytophthora infestans were regionally distributed in Europe, with populations in western Europe being dominated by clonal lineages and those in northern Europe being genetically diverse because of frequent sexual reproduction. However, since 2013 a new clonal lineage (EU_41_A2) has successfully established itself and expanded in the sexually recombining P. infestans populations of northern Europe. The objective of this study was to study phenotypic traits of the new clonal lineage of P. infestans, which may explain its successful establishment and expansion within sexually recombining populations. Fungicide sensitivity, aggressiveness, and virulence profiles of isolates of EU_41_A2 were analyzed and compared with those of the local sexual populations from Denmark, Norway, and Estonia. None of the phenotypic data obtained from the isolates collected from Denmark, Estonia, and Norway independently explained the invasive success of EU_41_A2 within sexual Nordic populations. Therefore, we hypothesize that the expansion of this new genotype could result from a combination of fitness traits and more favorable environmental conditions that have emerged in response to climate change.

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Sammendrag

Some common ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior) show tolerance towards shoot dieback caused by the invasive ascomycete Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. Leaf petioles are considered to serve as a pathogen colonization route to the shoots. We compared four common ash clones with variation in disease tolerance, and included the native host, Manchurian ash (Fraxinus mandshurica), as a reference. Tissue colonization, following rachis inoculation by H. fraxineus, was monitored by histochemical observations and a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay specific to H. fraxineus. Axial spread of the pathogen towards the petiole base occurred primarily within the phloem and parenchyma, tissues rich in starch in healthy petioles. In inoculated petioles, a high content of phenolics surrounded the hyphae, presumably a host defense response. There was a relationship between field performance and susceptibility to leaf infection in three of the four studied common ash clones, i.e., good field performance was associated with a low petiole colonization level and vice versa. Low susceptibility to leaf infection may counteract leaf-to-shoot spread of the pathogen in common ash, but the limited number of clones studied warrants caution and a larger study. The Manchurian ash clone had the highest petiole colonization level, which may suggest that this native host has evolved additional mechanisms to avoid shoot infection.

Sammendrag

A significant challenge in medical diagnostics is the development of simple but efficient tools for the detection/quantification of several biomarkers simultaneously using non-invasive sampling techniques. In this regard, the analysis of proteins (proteomics) is essential for understanding cellular processes and biomarker discovery. However, proteins vary greatly in terms of concentration levels and chemical properties in biological materials. Further, low sample sizes of modern biological models (e.g., patient-derived cell cultures, exosomes, and organoids) remain a big analytical challenge. The present work has focused on the brain cancer glioblastoma, which is in great need of increased knowledge and non-invasive sampling techniques. In addition, human organoids, which could act as a future in vitro model for disease modeling and personalized medicine, have been investigated. We have used high-resolution mass spectrometry for protein identification, exploring a selection of miniaturized liquid chromatography formats (for separation) and sample preparation techniques. By implementing these techniques, we have been able to study exosomes, 2D/3D cell cultures, and organoids, identifying over 6300 proteins in a single run using less than 5 µg of protein. The work has provided important insight into the possibilities and challenges of several novel models. It represents a development toward deeper proteomic profiling focusing on maintaining a high protein yield and time efficiency.