Understanding iron homeostasis in rice for adaptation to iron toxicity and biofortification
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Project title |
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Understanding iron homeostasis in rice for adaptation to iron toxicity and biofortification |
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Short description |
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Iron is truly and IRONic element: on the one hand it is an essential nutrient for humans and plants, on the other hand is highly toxic in excess. Rice plants typically grow in flooded, highly reduced soils, and therefore take up excessive amounts of iron into their vegetative tissue, which causes oxidative stress and yield losses. However, iron concentrations are typically very low in rice grains. This leads to widespread dietary iron deficiency (anemia) in populations depending on rice as a staple food. In this project, we aim to understand mechanisms that help rice plants to tolerate high levels of iron and to investigate mechanisms of iron translocation to the grain. The ultimate aim is to develop novel crop varieties that combine stress tolerance with enhanced nutritional quality. In this project we collaborate with partners from areas where iron toxicity poses a major challenge to farmers, especially in Africa and Brazil. |
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Project duration |
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Since 2011 |
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Staff involved |
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Michael Frei, Linbo Wu |
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Collaboration partners |
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Laboratoire des Radioisotopes, Antananarivo, Madagascar Africa Rice Center, Ivory Coast Universidad Federal de Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre (Brazil) Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), Japan |
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Funding |
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Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) of Japan, Foundation fiat panis |