International course on «Transformation and Genome Editing in Crops»

We are excited to announce that the international course on «Transformation and Genome Editing in Crops» will be held in Valdivia (UACh) from 11 to 13 January 2023. This course, led by Dr. Sadiye Hayta and Dr. Mark A. Smedley, will provide a comprehensive overview of the most recent techniques in crop transformation and genome editing through both theoretical and practical sessions.

On Wednesday, the program will begin at 14:30h with an overview of gene editing, including guide RNA and vector. After a coffee break, the program will continue with a session on the Golden Gate assembly.

On Thursday, the program will begin at 9:30h with a session on a transformation overview and wheat transformation. After a coffee break, there will be a session on screening for gene editing.

On Friday, the program will begin at 9:30h with a session on guide design and vector assembly in silico using the ‘Benchling’ platform. This will be followed by a practical session on the preparation of donor material and isolating wheat embryos for transformation. In the afternoon, there will be a visit to the «Estación Experimental Universidad Austral de Chile.»

This course will be in English and is a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience and deepen your knowledge about genome editing in crops. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to expand your skills and advance your career.

The registration is free and aimed at doctoral students. It must be completed at the following link before January 7, 2023: https://forms.gle/bemqeFdzBXezr2y78

Enroll now and join us in Valdivia for an unforgettable learning experience!

CRISPR screening

To quickly and inexpensively detect wheat transformant plants that contain the mutation in our favorite gene generated by CRISPR, in NGPlab, we have identified restriction enzyme sites lost due to the mutation. So, if the CRISPR-Cas9 machinery managed to generate the mutation in our gene of interest, only «1 band» will be seen in an agarose gel, which cannot be digested by the restriction enzymes and will correspond to a mutant plant!!!!. This is opposite to what is observed in wild-type plants, where you will see the presence of «two bands» generated by the enzyme cutting. This way, we verify only the possible mutants by direct sequencing and optimize the lab’s resources.

Presentaciones en congresos científicos 2019 del NGP lab

Durante el año 2019 varios de los integrantes de nuestro laboratorio presentaron parte de sus investigaciones en congresos científicos nacionales e internacionales. La primera fue la Dra. Francisca Castillo quien en Julio 2019 participó del 1ST INTERNATIONAL WHEAT CONGRESS en Canada. Su presentación se tituló “Identification of a Rotamase highly inducible by heat stress treatments in wheat grains and generation of CRISPR-Cas9-induced mutants for functional analysis”. Además Francisca fue uno de los dos latinoamericanos premiados con una beca para asistir al congreso.

En el mes de Septiembre 2019, nuestro laboratorio se hizo presente en el II MOLECULAR BIOSYSTEMS CONFERENCE “EUKARYOTIC GENE REGULATION & FUNCTIONAL GENOMICS” en Puerto Varas, Chile. Allí el director del NGP lab el Dr. Javier Canales, dio una charla titulada “Transcriptomic analysis reveals tissue-specific and temporal dynamics of the sulfate starvation response in tomato plants”. Paralelamente, Carlos Lovazano (estudiante de doctorado UACh) presentó el trabajo “Nitrate transceptor NRT1.1 is involved in the coordinated regulation of nitrogen and sulfur assimilation in Arabidopsis thaliana”

PhD student Carlos Lovazano

Finalmente en Octubre de 2019 se realizó la XLII REUNIÓN ANUAL DE LA SBBMCH/ XIV REUNIÓN REBiVe en la ciudad de Iquique, Chile. Este congreso tuvo la particularidad congregar a dos sociedades científicas nacionales la Sociedad de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular de Chile junto con la Sociedad de Biología Vegetal de Chile bajo el concepto de “Una visión molecular e integradora de los sistemas biológicos”. Es así como el Dr. Carlos Henriquez expuso su trabajo “The transcription factor MYB75 modulates growth and the response to sulfate starvation in Arabidopsis thaliana” y la Dra. Anita Arenas presentó parte de su investigación “Physiological and molecular characterization of grain response to heat stress in different wheat ploidies”

Dra. Anita Arenas