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Kebakkramat is a subdistrict in Karanganyar Regency which is one of the rice producer in Central Java. Agricultural activities can't be separated from the fertilization process using chemical fertilizers. Just little farmers know that the use of chemical fertilizer in the long term will cause the contamination of heavy metal, such as chromium. Chromium can enter the aquatic and soil environment, it takes effort to solve this pollution problem. This research aims to determine the role of chelator agent (Agrobacterium Sp. I26 and manure) to reduced the Cr content in paddy soil contaminated by Cr through bioremediation processes to support environment friendly and healthy agriculture. This research use the completely randomized block design. The results showed that the initial content of Cr is 6.61 ppm, after treatment was obtained the best treatment is treatment without chemical fertilizers and chelator Agrobacterium Sp. I26 (P0B1). Cr content decreased to 1.47 with the removal effectiveness 75.04%. Other soil parameter such as pH decreased from 6.39 to 5.88; CEC increased from 25.29 to 43.74; BO increased from 1.84 to 3.64; and total colonies microbial increased from 8 to 12.13. Treatment of P0B1 can be recommended for the realization of environment friendly and healthy agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To shorten vegetative stage and induce transition from vegetative to reproductive stage in orchids, we overexpressed Phalaenopsis amabilis Flowering LocusT (PaFT) gene under the control of Ubiquitin promoter into protocorm of Indonesian Wild Orchid Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume. The dynamic expression of vegetative gene Phalaenopsis Homeobox1 (POH1) and flowering time gene PaFT has been analyzed. Accumulation of mRNA was detected in shoot and leaves of both transgenic and non transgenic plants by using Reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) with specific gene primers for POH1 and PaFT in 24 months old plants. To analyze the POH1 and PaFT genes, three pairs of degenerate primers PaFT degF1R1, F2R2 and F3R3 that amplified 531 bp PaFT cDNA were used. We detected 700 bp PaFTcDNA from leaves and shoots of transgenic plants, but not in NT plants. POH1 mRNA was detected in plants. PaFT protein consists of Phospatidyl Ethanolamine-Binding Protein (PEBP) in interval base 73-483 and CETS family protein at base 7-519, which are important motif for transmembrane protein. We inserted Ubipro::PaFT/pGAS101 into P. amabilis protocorm using Agrobacterium. Analysis of transgenic plants showed that PaFTmRNA was accumulated in leaves of 12 months after sowing, although it is not detected in non transgeic plants. Compare to the wild type (NT plants), ectopic expression of PaFT shows alter phenotype as follows: 31% normal, 19% with short-wavy leaves, 5% form rosette leaves and 45% produced multishoots. Analysis of protein profiles of trasgenic plants showed that a putative PaFT protein (MW 19,7 kDa) was produced in 1eaves and shoots. This means that at 12 months, POH1 gene expression gradually decreased/negatively regulated, the expression of PaFT gene was activated, although there is no flower initiation yet. Some environmental factors might play a role to induce inflorescens. This experiment is in progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transgenic plant technology is an efficient tool to study the function of gene(s) in plant. The most popular and widely used technique is Agrobacterium-mediated transformation in which cocultivation was done by immersing the plant tissues/organ in overnight bacterial cultured for about 30 minutes to one hour under in vitro condition. In this experiment, we developed more easier technique that omitted the in vitro step during cocultivation with Agrobacterium, namely in planta transformation method. Pollinaria (compact pollen mass of orchid) of Phalaenopsis amabilis and Spathoglottis plicata orchids were used as target explants that were immersed into bacterial culture for 30 minutes, then dried up the pollinaria, the transformed pollinaria was used to pollinate orchid flowers. The T-DNA used for this experiments were Ubipro::PaFT/A. tumefaciens GV3101 for P. amabilis and MeEF1a2 pro::GUS/ A. tumefaciens LBA 4404 for S.plicata. Seeds that were produced from pollinated flowers were grown onto 10 mg/l hygromicin containing NP (New Phalaenopsis) medium. The existance of transgene in putative transformant protocorm (developing orchid embryo) genome was confirmed using PCR with specific primers of either PaFT or GUS genes. Histochemical GUS assay was also performed to the putative transformants. The result showed that transformation frequencies were 2.1 % in P. amabilis, and 0,53% in S. plicata. These results indicates that in planta transformation method could be used for Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation, with advantage easier and more secure work from contaminants than that of the in vitro method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rolA, rolB and rolC genes are plant oncogenes that are carried in plasmids of the plant pathogen Agrobacterium rhizogenes. Following agrobacterial infection, these genes are transferred into the plant genome and cause tumor formation and hairy root disease. We summarized recent data on the A. rhizogenes rolC and rolB genes with respect to their effects on the physiology of transformed cells. The newly discovered functions of the rol genes include the modulation of secondary metabolism, the modulation of levels of intracellular ROS and stress resistance of transformed cells and the inhibition of programmed cell death. The most-studied proteins of the RolB family are RolB, RolC and 6b. In this work, we discuss recent findings regarding these intriguing proteins, which possess a complex biological activity and have a great potential in biotechnology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For recent years, engineering plant metabolic pathways by using rol genes looks promising in several aspects. New directions of rol-gene studies are highlighted in this work underlying the unique regulatory properties of the genes. It is known that following agrobacterial infection, the Agrobacterium rhizogenes rolA, rolB and rolC genes are transferred to plant genome, causing tumor formation and hairy root disease. In this report, we show mat these oncogenes are also involved in regulation of plant defense reactions, including the production of secondary metabolites. Situations occur where the rol genes perform their own critical function to regulate secondary metabolism by bypassing upstream plant control mechanisms and directing defense reactions via a “short cut.” The rolC gene expressed in transformed plant cells is efficient in establishing an enhanced resistance of host cells to salt and temperature stresses. The emerging complexity of the rol-gene triggered effects and the involvement of signals generated by these genes in basic processes of cell biology such as calcium and ROS signaling indicate that the plant oncogenes, like some animal protooncogenes, use sophisticated strategies to affect cell growth and differentiation. The data raise the intriguing possibility that some components of plant and animal oncogene signaling pathways share common features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]