Annual Report 2006/07 - ETH - North-South Centre North-South ...

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ZIL research projectsOverviewLivestock systems research in support of poor peopleThe programme phase IV and its respective contract withSDC ended in 2006. Therefore, a series of exercises was put inplace in 2005 to find a new structure and a new topic for theZIL research priority area. It was no small surprise that aftersuccessfully going through all steps necessary to find thenew focus of our research programme, it turned out thatcontinuation with rather small adjustments was the bestand most well-accepted option. Phase V will therefore be afour-year programme with “Livestock systems research insupport of poor people” as its core theme*.From a total of eleven project proposal submissions, eightwere selected (of which six contribute to the livestock systemsresearch programme). The selection process was developedfurther, in particular with two projects that had to beresubmitted. These projects benefited greatly from thisprocess, but it was also evident to the Selection Committee(D-UWIS)that the quality of the proposals had generally improved. Thenew projects brought us new active members and new partners– in particular from Asia –, and more weight to researchon the impact of livestock on the environment, as shown inthe diagramme. This is in timely alliance with FAO’s 2006publication “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, which deals with theenormous burden that livestock-keeping has or will have onthe environment – if it cannot be improved.The Progress Fora of March 2006 and June 2007 were importantin developing the programme, the institution and thecapacity of our stakeholders. While the Progress Forumaimed at defining the new research programme in 2006, wechose the topic “Impact of research for development” in 2007.In alignment with the institutional transition, this topic setout to create awareness for impact and to foster efforts tomanage and achieve impact in terms of poverty alleviationand other developmental goals. We could start out with astudy on the projects of the ending research phase, as presentedon p. 16 ff. The project groups contributed much valuableinformation, that will be helpful to improve not only theoverall output, but even more so our institutional structures,processes, and tools. To see the new groups engage on sucha high level in the impact discussion was a real joy and hasallowed ZIL to build its livestock systems programme on agrowing, sustainable, and solid foundation which will be veryhelpful when we transform ZIL’s research programme into amain pillar of the new North-South Centre.The ZIL tradition of attending the Tropentag in Germany wasvery successful in that way. A record number of ten participantscontributed to the event in Bonn in 2006 with two oralpresentations and with four of the 600 posters.Mathias Egloff24* In spite of the programmatic focus on livestock systems, ZIL funding permits a small number of non-livestock-related projects. These are portrayed on the following fourpages. They either continue former ZIL investments in technology development (phase IV, pp. 25–26), or they relate to new complementary research areas (phase V, pp. 27–28).
ZIL research project, Phase IVProject leaderWilhelm GruissemContact personsPeng ZhangHervé VanderschurenCollaboratorsHernan Ceballos, CIAT, Colombia /Alfred Dixon, IITA, Nigeria /Linda Hanley-Bowdoin, NCSU, USA /Thomas Hohn, University of BaselDurationMarch 2003 – December 2006ZIL research projectsCassavaresearchDevelopment and testing of cassava lines with improvedresistance to African Cassava Mosaic Virus (ACMV)Cassava genotype (a), geminivirus genome (b) and whitefly as vector (c)are the key components of cassava mosaic disease in Africa.abcOur project aims at developing and testing transgenic cassavaresistant to cassava mosaic disease (CMD), which is one ofthe major problems encountered in cassava fields in Africa.CMD is caused by whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses, agroup of DNA viruses with bipartite components. Synergism,recombination and pseudo-recombination between differentcassava geminivirus species have conferred these species virulencewhich has led to the recent pandemics of severe CMDin Africa. To tackle the major constraint of cassava, we developedthe RNA-mediated virus resistance in transgenic cassavavia either antisense technology or small RNAs. Finally,we expect that our technology could not only support theproof-of-concept but also provide local farmers with geminivirus-resistantlines to secure cassava production in thesubsistence farming system.In the first generation of CMD-resistant transgenic lines,antisense expression of ACMV viral genes had proven to beeffective against the virus system infection via inhibition ofits replication. These lines are about to be field-trialed inAfrica. To engineer broad-spectrum geminivirus resistance incassava, a new approach has been developed in transgeniccassava based on down-regulation of viral protein productionthrough the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway. RNAinterference is a conserved silencing mechanism whichaccounts for mRNA regulation via post-transcriptional genesilencing (PTGS) and/or transcriptional gene silencing (TGS).Transgenic cassava expressing hairpin double-stranded RNA(dsRNA) homologous to gemini-viral sequences was able tosuppress viral mRNA production, therefore leading to adecreased level of viral replication and movement in theinfected plant. We have successfully accelerated the recoveryprocess in infected cassava plants by expressing hairpindsRNA targeting the gemini-viral promoter region.Concurrently, complete resistance has been achieved intransgenic cassava expressing high levels of small RNAshomologous to the conserved region of cassava geminivirusreplication-associated protein (AC1/Rep) via an intron-containinghairpin RNA construct. The robustness of resistanceto various cassava geminiviruses will be evaluated in differentlocations in Africa.25
Page 1 and 2: Swiss Centre for International Agri
Page 3 and 4: Table of contentsZIL members. . . .
Page 5 and 6: EditorialThe present Annual Report
Page 7 and 8: An introduction to ZILThe ZIL proje
Page 9 and 10: An introduction to ZILThe Progress
Page 11 and 12: An introduction to ZILOn September
Page 13 and 14: An introduction to ZILIn 2007, the
Page 15: An introduction to ZILThe ZIL Execu
Page 18 and 19: Impact StudyThe development impact
Page 20 and 21: Impact Study18market opportunities
Page 22 and 23: Impact Study20ral (N), human (H), f
Page 24 and 25: ERA-ARDThe European Research Area i
Page 28 and 29: ZIL research projectsIntegratedPest
Page 30 and 31: ZIL research projectsEcosystemservi
Page 32 and 33: ZIL research projectsLivestocksyste
Page 44 and 45: Research Fellow Partnership Program
Page 64 and 65: Seed MoneySeed Money Projects 2003-
Page 66 and 67: Other international projects of ZIL
Page 68 and 69: Teaching activities related to deve
Page 70 and 71: Development-related thesesSupervisi
Page 72 and 73: Development-related thesesSuperviso
Page 74 and 75: PublicationsPublications72Refereed
Page 76 and 77:
PublicationsMathayya, S., Thankacha
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PublicationsVariaZIL funded project
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PublicationsRFPP projectsAbang, M.,
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PublicationsStupak, M., Alder, A.,
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PublicationsStickstoffumsatz und di
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PublicationsOther international pro
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Publicationssubandinen Waldweide-Sy
Page 90 and 91:
ZIL members, collaborators and part
Page 92 and 93:
ZIL members, collaborators and part
Page 94 and 95:
AccountsAccounts 2006*Balance, Dece
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Swiss Centre for International Agri
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