UV research at the 19th Congress of the European Society for Photobiology

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The 19th Congress of the European Society for Photobiology, which took place virtually at Salzburg from August 30 to September 3, 2021 provided a possibility to exchange knowledge and data between UV – interested plant researchers. Among numerous sessions, three of them were especially interesting for UV4Plants Members. The first one, led by Javier Martínez-Abaigar and Pirjo Huovinen depicted responses of non-flowering plants to UV radiation” and included Cyanobacteria, green macroalgae, diatoms, lichens, and bryophytes. The second session entitled “Interactions of UV and other environmental factors in regulating plant growth and development” was chaired by Marcel A.K. Jansen & Éva Hideg. Crosstalk between UV signaling and several environmental factors, such as drought, cold, salt stress as well as the presence of insects and endophytes were discussed. In the last session, Gareth Jenkins guided the participants through updates on plant UVB photoreceptors. UV4Plants Members could also participate in a social mixer with a mystery game through an internet communication platform. Young UV4Plants Members were supported by the Association by receiving bursaries for attendance.

 

Call for collaborators from Industry

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CAV, Centro Attività Vivaistiche, is an Italian cooperative of commercial nurseries established in 1982 to assure production of healthy plant material of high quality. It has quarantine (i.e. screen houses) and field facilities for pre-base material conservation and the production of post-assay and indexed healthy base (mother) plants for its associated partners and outside customers, in compliance with national, EU and international certification standards and schemes.

Cav also has a laboratory performing phytopathological analysis. According to the D.R. 8750, 07/09/1998 and 1329, 22/02/2001, CAV’s lab is equipped for microbiological tests (isolation and identification), for serological analysis (direct and indirect ELISA and IFAS) and for molecular tests (PCR, RT-PCR and Real Time PCR). These accreditations include testing for:

-mites, insect pests, phytoplasmas, bacteria, fungi, viruses and viroids of fruit, vegetable and ornamental plants, including their propagation material;

– fruit and vegetable cultivar identity;

– grapevine health for clone registration (D.M. 25/10/2006). Our lab is authorized to conduct plant health assays for certification and registration of grapevine clones.

The operative sphere of CAV concerns strawberry and other soft fruits, olive, grapevine, citrus fruits, artichoke, nut, walnut, pistachio, pomegranate, actinidia and other horticultural plants. In 2005 CAV was recognized by the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies (MIPAAF) through the D.M. 07/09/2005 (n° 30243 and n° 30252) as the centre for Quarantine and Pre-propagation of stone, pome, olive, and strawberry plants. With the D.M. 25/10/2006, MIPAAF authorizes CAV to perform virus indexing as specified by the provisions in D.M. 02/07/1991 n° 290 and controls listed in Allegato (appendix) IV of D.M. 08/02/2005 for grapevine propagation.

Since 2009 the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries (formerly Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry) has accredited CAV as a pre-quarantine station for virus-indexing of pome- and stone-fruit plants imported from New Zealand as authorized by MAF Standard Accreditation of Offshore Plant Quarantine Facilities and Operator. The process, in compliance to the national (DM 19 March 2019) and European (DDG 6 December 2016) laws, allows CAV to produce plants which are genetically and sanitary certified, under the supervision of the Emilia – Romagna Regional Plant Protection Service.

The conservation and production of the plants take place in screen-houses, where CAV stores and produces pre-basic and basic material. CAV produces base material for its associated partners and national and international trade customers. Plants are subjected to annual checks (both visual and laboratory tests) for all the pathogens indicated in the ministerial regulation. Once all the tests are completed and if no pathogen is detected, the material can be passed on to partners or customers. Tests are performed by qualified internal staff and, randomly, by the public authority (Regional Plant Protection Service).

The CAV’s priority is to store the vegetative material under the best agronomic and sanitary conditions possible. Maximum attention is paid to the prevention of any pathogen that would invalidate the sanitary status of the stored material, and this applies particularly to bacterial and fungal infections. For this reason, CAV is constantly looking for research and innovative systems able to support the conservation and production of pathogen-free, vegetative material in screen-houses.

CAV is interested to collaborate with researchers that have experimented with UV technology for the purpose of eliminating bacteria and fungi in crop plants in greenhouses.

If interested to engage with CAV, please contact Pierluigi Lucchi or Clara Contaldo at lucchi@cavtebano.it and contaldo@cavtebano.it.

4th Network Meeting of the UV4Plants Association, 4th – 6th July 2022

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Dear colleagues,

The International Association of Plant UV Research has the pleasure to invite you to the 4th Network Meeting of the UV4Plants Association, from 4th to 6th July 2022 in Kraków, Poland.

We hope that the difficult experience of COVID-19 Pandemics will be ceased so that our next meeting will be hosted in Kraków in vivo. Following the examples of former conferences, we will provide time and space for discussions and the exchange of scientific ideas with colleagues in a friendly atmosphere. As usual, the meeting will be preceded by a Training School held on 2nd and 3rd July 2022. Information about registration, the program, and deadlines will follow in a first circular later this year.

Looking forward to seeing you in Kraków

For the local organizing committee: Justyna Łabuz, Agnieszka Katarzyna Banaś, Wojciech Strzałka

For UV4Plants Association: Prof. Gareth I. Jenkins, President

19th Congress of the European Society for Photobiology

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The UV4Plants Association is pleased to encourage Members to attend the virtual 19th Congress of the European Society for Photobiology, held from August 30 to September 3, 2021. In particular, we would like to encourage Early Stage Researchers to participate in the Congress. Thus we are offering Bursaries of 50 Euro to facilitate payment of the attendance fee, for the first 25 ESRs who will submit an abstract to the Congress by the 31st of May and pay the UV4Plants Membership fee by the 30th of June 2021. PhD students and ESRs (up to 7 years after obtaining their PhD degree) are eligible to apply for the bursary. Please send the copy of the email message received after the abstract submission to the Secretary (secretary@uv4plants.org).

The following sessions of The Congress are organized by members of the UV4Plants Association. Abstracts for oral or poster presentation are welcomed and should be submitted via the Congress website (https://salzburg2021.photobiology.eu).

The Plant UV Photoreceptors symposium is chaired by Gareth Jenkins. The Interactions of UV and other environmental factors in regulating plant growth and development symposium is chaired by Éva Hideg and Marcel Jansen. The Responses of non-flowering plants to UV radiation symposium is chaired by Javier Martinez Abaigar and Pirjo Huovinen.