Discovery, Isolation and Characterisation of Promoters from Perennial Ryegrass (\u3ci\u3eLolium Perenne\u3c/i\u3e)

The availability of a suite of promoters with a range of spatial, temporal and inducible expression patterns is of significant importance to enable targeted expression of genes of interest for molecular breeding of forage species. A range of resources and tools have been developed for promoter isolation and characterisation in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) including genomic lambda and BAC libraries and a 15 K unigene microarray

Transgenesis and Genomics in Molecular Breeding of Forage Plants

Forage plant breeding has been largely based on phenotypic selection following sexual recombination of natural genetic variation found between and within ecotypes. Advances in plant genetic manipulation over the last 15 years have provided convincing evidence that these powerful technologies can complement and enhance plant breeding programs. Significant progress in the establishment of the methodologies required for the molecular breeding of forage plants has been made. Examples of current products and approaches for the application of these methodologies to forage grass and legume improvement are outlined. Large-scale genomic analysis of many organisms is under way with human, arabidopsis and rice genome sequences almost completed. Forage plant breeding is just now entering the genome era. The plethora of new technologies and tools now available for high-throughput gene discovery and genome-wide gene expression analysis have opened up opportunities for innovative applications in the identification, functional characterisation and use of genes of value in forage production systems and beyond. Examples of these opportunities, such as ‘molecular phenotyping’, ‘symbio-genomics’ and ‘xeno-genomics’ are introduced

Challenges to the industrial melt-processing of conductive plastics

In this work, we investigate the relationship between the timescales available for polymer mobility during processing and post-processing and the electrical resistivity of melt-processed thermoplastics filled with carbon nanoparticles. Post-process annealing below the glass transition temperature was one avenue explored to uplift electrical conductivity. Detailed analysis of available literature on thermoplastics filled with either graphite nanoplatelets or carbon nanotubes, and of relevant processing data suggests that the required timescale for shaping process or post-processing to obtain conductive material needs to be sufficiently longer than that of the base polymer characteristic relaxation time τd. Four factors have been identified that promote the formation of a conductive filler network in thermoplastics: filler loading content, polymer molar mass, processing temperature and processing timescales

Gene Discovery and Molecular Dissection of Lignin Biosynthesis in Perennial Ryegrass (Lolium Perenne)

Lignification of plant cell walls has been identified as a major factor limiting forage digestibility. It limits the amount of digestible energy available to livestock, resulting in an incomplete utilisation of cellulose and hemicellulose by ruminant animals. Modification of the lignin profile of ryegrasses (Lolium spp.) and fescues (Festuca spp.) is undertaken through modulating the expression of genes encoding enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of monolignols

Gene Discovery and Molecular Dissection of Fructan Metabolism in Perennial Ryegrass (Lolium Perenne)

Fructans are the main soluble carbohydrate stored in up to a third of the vegetation of the earth, including the economically important temperate grasses. Fructans are polymers of fructose attached to a sucrose precursor. Perennial ryegrass (L. perenne L.) accumulates fructans of the inulin series, inulin neoseries and levan neoseries. Four enzymes are required to produce fructans of this profile: 1-SST (sucrose:sucrose 1- fructosyltransferase), 1-FFT (fructan:fructan 1-fructosyltransferase), 6G-FFT (6-glucose fructosyltransferase) and 6-FFT (fructan:fructan 6-fructosyltransferase) or 6-SFT (sucrose:fructan 6-fructosyltransferase) (Figure 1). Fructan biosynthetic enzymes have evolved from invertases and thus it is argued that fructan metabolism is an extension of sucrose metabolism. A high fructan content is a valuable resource in perennial ryegrass as it can be readily mobilised to sustain regrowth immediately after defoliation as well as adding to the nutritive value of the feed. However, the physiological role of fructans in grasses is not fully understood

Optimised composite crash structure development with focus of life cycle analysis for a fuel cell electric vehicle

555/716 ©2022 Jayasree et al. doi:10.5075/epfl-298799_978-2-9701614-0-0 published under CC BY-NC 4.0 licenseThis conference paper is part of a six volume book of the proceedings edited by: Prof. Anastasios P. Vassilopoulos, CCLab/EPFL, Prof. Véronique Michaud, LPAC/EPFL. All six volumes will have the same title and each will have a single subtitle: Vol 1: Materials Vol 2: Manufacturing Vol 3: Characterization Vol 4: Modeling and Prediction Vol 5: Applications and Structures Vol 6: Life Cycle Assessment.Copyright © 2022 Jayasree et al.. Low-speed accidents see a year-on-year increase. To improve crash performance in these accidents, a crash box is attached between the vehicle bumper structure and the side rail. The determination of the crash box material and geometry is critical to absorb the impact energy to result in safer vehicles and minimised repair costs. As the automotive industry transitions to more sustainable platforms, it is seeking to use lightweight materials including in the crash structure. This study develops an innovative crash box with optimal impact energy-absorption capabilities for a fuel cell electric vehicle. The concept is based on topology optimisation considering the composite structure and crash energy dissipation. In further work, the results from the life cycle analysis are utilised, and a comparative study between carbon fibre reinforced polymers and biocomposites in crash structures is performed. The latter includes an extensive characterisation campaign under static and dynamic conditions. Keywords: Composites; crash box;The PROTECT project has received funding from Innovate UK under reference number 68148