U.S.-Japan Joint Seminar: Symbioses Between Plant and Microorganizms for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioremediation

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0003729SadowskyThis award supports the participation of American scientists in a U.S.-Japan seminar on symbioses between plant and microorganisms for sustainable agriculture and bioremediation, to be held in St. Paul, Minnesota from August 8-12, 2001. The co-organizers are professors Michael Sadowsky of the University of Minnesota and Professor Yoshikatsu Murooka of Osaka University in Japan. Biological nitrogen fixation continues to remain a top priority research area among scientists in the U.S. and abroad. Nitrogen fixation has been targeted for emphasis due to its enormous importance for agriculture, and its ecological significance an sustainability. This is especially true of symbiotic nitrogen fixation, the area to be covered by the seminar. Plant growth and productivity is limited by nitrogen availability. Research efforts directed towards improving the efficiency of symbiotic nitrogen fixation and to extend nitrogen fixation to other major food crops, including rice, wheat, and corn, will have a major impact on food production and population growth. In recent years significant advances have been made in our basic understanding of biological nitrogen fixation, extending far beyond potential crop improvement. The topic areas to be discussed will include information concerning both the plant host and their bacterial counterparts in the symbiotic nitrogen fixing-process. Areas to be discussed in detail are enzymology, molecular genetics, plant cell biology, whole plant physiology, molecular microbial ecology, plant genetics, and genomics. The Seminar will consist of the following topics: 1) genomics of both symbiotic partners in plant-microbe interactions; 2) molecular communications in plant-microbe interactions; and 3) applications of symbioses for sustainable agriculture and bioremediation. Seminar organizers have made a special effort to involve younger researchers and graduate students as both participants and observers. The exchange of ideas and data with Japanese experts in this field will enable U.S. participants to advance their own work, and will set the stage for future collaborative projects. Dissemination of information on the seminar will be available on the World Wide Web.