All themes

Biofortification

Biofortification takes place when plants through natural processes enrich themselves in essential elements and vitamins, most of which are beneficial for humans as well.

 

The toxic heavy metal cadmium is increasingly accumulated in the human body, and among other things, cadmium poisoning can result in damage to the nervous system, osteoporosis and cancer. Cadmium exists all around us, i.e. in water pipes and tobacco smoke as well as in basic foods such as wheat kernels and sunflower seeds, but the problem is worsened by the fact that we do not eat enough zinc. Cadmium steps in where zinc, an essential element, would normally be bound in the body. When cereals are polished, the zinc often disappears, so the common diet of refined cereals is a source of concern. Therefore, we need to know more about the mechanisms behind absorption of micronutrients in plants and to develop foods with lower toxic intake (i.e. of cadmium) and higher content of essential elements (like zinc). A strategy employed at the Department is to investigate the molecular basis for breeding strategies aiming at refining biological pumps in cereal grains so that they import zinc with higher efficiency and specificity while at the same time allow for cadmium to be exported.

 

People in many northern countries lack vitamin D. During the winter months, the sun rarely appears, and as sunlight is essential for formation of vitamin D in our skin, we are in shortage of this vitamin almost half the year. A lack of vitamin D can cause many illnesses, among others rickets, reduced immune defense and cancer. A normal diet only contains little vitamin D, with fatty fishes being the best source of vitamin D. Surprisingly, some plant species make vitamin D. In a new research project we aim to analyze the content of and capacity to produce vitamin D in a range of food and crop plants. This knowledge can be used to breed more healthy plants.

 

More info: Contact Professor Michael Gjedde Palmgren (cadmium, , tel. +45 35332592) or Associate professor Poul Erik Jensen (vitamin D, , tel. +45 35333340)

 

 

 

Bioimaging

Bioimaging’ relates to methods that visualise biological processes in real time and non-invasively in living cells. It is also referred to as ‘live-cell imaging’. Bioimaging aims at interfering as little as possible with life processes. Moreover, it is often used to get information on the 3-D structure of the observed specimen from the outside, i.e. without making physical sections.

 

In cell biology, bioimaging can be used to follow cellular processes in the living cells while they are occurring. An example is observation of a calcium wave, a propagating increase in calcium concentration that sweeps over an egg cell just after fertilization by a sperm cell. This is one signal in a series of processes that block the entrance of other sperm cells. Specially developed fluorescent dyes and advanced microscopes are used in this type of recordings.

 

In recent years an extremely fruitful coorporation between bioimaging and molecular biology has developed. It is all based on expression of genes for fluorescent proteins in different cells and organisms. For instance, fungi attacking crops like wheat or tomato can now be detected inside the plant during infection. Thereby, a better understanding of the disease can be obtained. The series of possibilities using this technique is endless: proteins of perhaps unknown function can be localized in the cell, cells expressing specific proteins can be identified, interaction between proteins can be recorded, cellular signals can be detected etc. – all in living cells.

 

More information: contact Professor Alexander Schulz (, tel. +45 35333350), Associate professor Michael Hansen (, tel. +45 35333331) and Associate professor Helle J. Martens (, tel. +45 35332193)

 

 

 

Biological control

 

Nature’s own micro-organisms can be used to replace conventional pesticides. This is desirable because many pesticides persist in the environment and find their way into the food chain.

Such useful micro-organisms are called BCA’s (Biological Control Agents), and several are already on the market.

 

Our research focuses on the micro-organism Clonostachys rosea, which is very efficient in fighting several plant disease-causing fungi (pathogens). Clonostachys rosea is a versatile and effective BCA against soil and seed-borne and foliage diseases, that cause serious losses in a number of crops.

 

Clonostachys rosea uses different mechanisms when combating pathogens:

 

· It starves the pathogen by absorbing available nutrients

· It secretes enzymes or antibiotics that inhibit or kill the pathogen

· It parasitizes or digests the pathogen,

· It stimulates the plant’s own defence mechanisms (resistance) against the pathogen.

 

 

The three-way interaction interface between BCAs, pathogens and plants is also an exciting place to look for new and novel enzymes with industrial potential, i.e. for use in detergents, biofuel or fermenting of foods. We are involved in such a project.

 

More info: Associate professor Birgit Jensen (, tel. +45 35333305)

 

 

 

Biological pumps

 

All living creatures – humans as well as plants – have biological pumps. These pumps are proteins located in biological membranes surrounding the cell or cellular compartments, and whose function it is to pump substances across these membranes. Biological pumps are marvelous machines in miniature: about a million of them can be lined up on a millimeter.

 

In plants, the function of such pumps is of vital importance for the plant’s wellbeing and ability to grow under adverse conditions. By learning more about pumps it is probable that in the future we can produce crops that require less fertilization and, compared to existing cultivated plants, are able to better tolerate rough environmental conditions – for example cold, drought or lack of nutrients.

 

The Danish National Research Foundation Centre of Excellence PUMPKIN (Membrane pumps in cells and disease; www.pumpkin.au.dk) has a major branch at the Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology devoted to the study of plant pumps.

 

More info: contact Professor Michael Gjedde Palmgren (, tel. +45 35332592)

 

 

 

Cancer and biomedicine

 

Plants produce substances that function as a deterrent against enemies such as plant eaters and harmful microorganisms, protect the plant against stress and perform many other functions. Some of these natural plant products are also effective against certain diseases, cancer being one of them. The family Brassicales, that include cabbage such as broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts as well as other cruciferous plants like rape, mustard, rocket, radishes, and watercress, produce the natural plant products glucosinolates. When eaten, glucosinolates release the cancer fighting drug sulforaphane that increases the body’s ability to discard of cancer-inducing compounds. We have identified the genes responsible for producing these glucosinolates, and at the moment, we are working on producing a super rocket that contains even more glucosinolates, through gene modification. One can also imagine that other plants could be engineered to be rich sources of glucosinolates to be taken as supplement to the daily diet.

 

Other disease fighting natural plant products that form part of the Department’s research are thapsigargin as well as rhodiocyanosides and cyanogenic glucosides and their effect on allergy, lung and skin diseases.

 

More info: contact Professor Barbara Ann Halkier (glucosinolates, , tel. +45 35333342) or Professor Birger Lindberg Møller (rhodiocyanosides and cyanogenic glucosides, , tel. +45 35333352)

 

 

 

Food quality and fungi

 

We see fungal attack on our food almost every day, without even thinking about them. The strawberry in the box which has gone bad, mould on the carrots in the fridge, the apple with a brown patch – all these are caused by fungi. They are not necessarily dangerous to eat, but fungi destroy an overwhelming part of crops and food every day, all over the world. About half of all the fungicides used in Danish agriculture is used solely to protect potatoes against late blight. Therefore, it is important to study fungi and their interactions with plants in order to avoid or reduce losses. In addition to the destruction of plant tissues, some fungi also produce toxins such as the mycotoxins caused by fungi called Fusarium and Penicillium. High doses can make you vomit, while long time exposure to even small amounts in your food can cause cancer.

 

More info: Contact Professor David B. Collinge (, tel. +45 35333356)

 

 

 

 

Healthier cassava

 

Cassava is a very important food crop in the tropical part of the world, where the roots, and sometimes the leaves, are part of the daily meal for millions of people. However, the roots contain cyanogenic glucosides, namely cyanide compounds that turn into cyanide when the root is being processed for eating. Therefore, the roots are shredded, washed, boiled and dried to remove the toxins, this proces ufortunately also removes the little vitamins and most of the proteins that were in the root. And you are left with – starch. In our research, we have succeeded in producing a genetically improved cassava plant with a greater level of proteins, and with the genes responsible for producing the cyanide compounds being repressed in cassava plants with a high content of vitamin A This plant is now ready to be tested in outdoor facilities, and if it proves to be suited for ordinary cultivation, it could improve the nutritional state for millions of people worldwide.

 

More info: contact Associate Professor Kirsten Jørgensen , tel. +45 35333346) or Professor Birger Lindberg Møller (, tel. +45 35333356) 

 

 

 

Healthy seed 

 

At the Danish Seed Health Centre for Developing Countries, our research is focused on seed health problems that are of immediate concern to poor farmers in developing countries. In partnership with a large number of public and private organisations across Asia and Africa, we focus on the enhancement of analytical and diagnostic capacity and upon the development of preventive and therapeutic technologies that are relevant and within reach of small-holder farmers to improve seed health.

 

Over the years, we have developed a unique global competence within the areas of seed bacteriology, mycology and virology in close cooperation with third world countries.

 

More info: contact Associate Professor Jan Torp (, tel. +45 35333353), Associate Professor Carmen Nieves Mortensen (, tel. +45 35333722), Assistant Professor Ednar Wulff (, tel. +45 35333855), and Associate Professor Ole Søgaard Lund (, tel. +45 35332632)

 

 

 

Plants as green factories

 

The deposites of fossil fuels on our planet are being depleted and we have to look elsewhere for a sustainable method of producing energy and for alternative sources for all the compounds normally manufactured in the chemical industry on the basis of fossil fuels, such as bulk chemicals, bioactive molecules and polymers. Plants have an enormous plasticity that can be used to biochemically engineer them into environmentally benign green factories.

 

Plants are in fact nature’s best chemists because they constantly produce natural products that they use to communicate with their surroundings, respond to environmental changes and protect themselves from attacks by i.e. insects or microorganisms. Some of these natural bioactive products are already being used in the medical industry such as glucosinolates, vinblastine, resveratrol, and thapsigargin against cancer (link), and more are to come.

 

The plant’s cell wall consists of important biopolymers such as cellulose, pectin and lignin that is used in our everyday life and provides important fibres in our food. At the same time, the biopolymers of the plant cell wall constitute the largest amount of biomass on Earth and is a crucial material to access, for producing bioenergy (link). A goal in our research is to develop plants that produce costly fine chemicals and which – upon harvest and subsequent disintegration of the cell by enzymatic self-processing – break down the components in the cell wall that prevent effective conversion into bioenergy.

 

More info: contact Professor Birger Lindberg Møller  (, tel. +45 35333352)

 

 

 

Resistant starch

 

Potato tubers are rich in starch providing an easily accessible source for dietary sugar. It practically gives you a sugar kick. However, recent plant technology permits us to make the potato accumulate healthy starch that is more slowly metabolised. This kind of starch is called resistant or slow starch. It has qualities reminiscent of fibres; among other things it protects against colitis and maybe even cancer, because it furthers growth of healthy bacteria in the intestine.

 

This starch can also be used for new materials such as paper and edible packing. We can produce potatoes that have very long sugar chains, amylose, with much phosphate on the chains. This type of starch can be plasticized and it forms rather hard but still compostable materials. And it is still perfectly edible, even healthy.

 

More info: contact Associate Professor Andreas Blennow (, tel. +45 35333334)

 

 

 

The versatile moss

 

The non-vascular moss Physcomitrella patens diverged from higher plants more than 450 million years ago and is highly tolerant to extreme environments like drought, osmotic and salt stress. Identifying the underlying mechanisms giving this tolerance will supply valuable information on stress tolerance in higher plants. Novel genes involved in abiotic stress protection have been already been identified in Physcomitrella and these ancient genes could hold solutions for some of problems faced by modern agriculture.

 

Physcomitrella is also good for another use. It is the ideal candidate for a large scale production of difficult accessible natural products, such as thapsigargin, that is currently being developed into a drug for prostate cancer. The wild plant that produces thapsigargin, Thapsia garganica, does not produce enough to meet the market demands, and it is very hard to cultivate. Therefore we will try to transfer the thapsigargin producing genes into Physcomitrella, which grows efficiently in a cheap and simple media and can be maintained in large quantities in biofermentors.

 

More info: contact Associate Professor Christina Lunde (stress, , tel. +45 35333317) or Associate Professor Henrik Toft Simonsen (thapsigargin, , tel. +45 35333723)