Plant Biotechnology Unit
at the DBT, BOKU
General Information
Muthgasse 18 Haus B, A-1190 Vienna, Austria
Tel.: (+43 1) 47654-79010
Fax: (+43 1) 47654-79009
Email: margit.laimer@boku.ac.at
The Plant Biotechnology Unit on at the DBT is engaged in the in vitro conservation of genetic resources of local fruit species, the improvement of the phytosanitary state and the development of new breeding tools allowing the direct integration of desired traits, especially resistance to pathogens, into woody crop species.
Over 100 cultivars of stone and pome fruit trees are established and cultivated in vitro, freed from viruses by in-vitro-thermotherapy and meristem preparation and finally conserved as virusfree motherplants in an insect-proof screenhouse and as an in vitro genebank. Detection methods for fruit tree viruses and phytoplasmas are adapted to the needs of in-vitro material allowing an efficient early screening.
Methods for genetic transformation and somatic hybridization are elaborated. Target plants
currently are fruit trees and grapevine, with the aim to induce in stone fruits resistance
to Sharka disease, caused by Plum Pox Virus, and in grapevines resistance to grapevine fanleaf disease
and some woody disorders of viral origin. Furthermore attempts are made to achieve resistance against
fungal diseases in grapevine and apple.
Special care is devoted to biosafety aspects with regard to the release of transgenic plants
into the field.
Developmental processes (root induction, organogenesis, embryogenesis) are being studied by
histological, physiological and molecular approaches.
The identification and characterization of Mald1, the gene coding for the major apple allergen, and its promoter in different apple cultivars is being compared at an EU level. The potential use of the promoter as a pathogen-inducible regulatory sequence is currently being studied.
The elaboration of micropropagation protocols for newly domesticated species, e.g. Lapsi (
Choerospondias axillaris) and Jatropha curcas envisages two
main goals: the rapid multiplication of selected genotypes and the genetic improvement
of this particularly interesting tropical species yielding oil.
Finally the fermentation of plant cells for the rapid multiplication of chosen genotypes and
for the production of secondary metabolites are being addressed.
Head of the Plant Biotechnology Unit
ao.Univ.Prof.Dr. Margit Laimer da Câmara Machado
Research Projects
Publications
Researchers/Staff involved
Teaching activities
Other activities
Technical facilities
Rev.1.1 by Siegfried Huss