Wageningen Universiteit Holding BV

All chlamydiae today live inside the cells of hosts ranging from amoeba to animals. A team of scientists found that the ancestor of chlamydiae likely already lived inside host cells, but that chlamydiae infecting amoeba evolved later in ways unexpected for intracellular bacteria. The study is an important step for understanding the emergence and evolution of endosymbiotic bacteria, including human pathogens. All chlamydiae today live inside the cells of hosts ranging from amoeba to animals. A team of scientists from the University of Vienna and the Wageningen University & Research found that the ancestor of chlamydiae likely already lived inside host cells, but that chlamydiae infecting amoeba evolved later in ways unexpected for intracellular bacteria. The study published in Nature Microbiology is an important step for understanding the emergence and evolution of endosymbiotic bacteria, including human pathogens. Chlamydiae are known for the human pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis, but this group of bacteria evolved over a billion years ago -- long before even the first animals. Nevertheless, all chlamydiae found today live inside a broad range of hosts from small amoeba to animal cells. But what has been puzzling scientists since the first chlamydiae genomes were sequenced 20 years ago is that, while chlamydiae infecting animals have small genomes similar to other endosymbionts, those that infect amoeba have larger genome sizes more similar to free-living bacteria. The study of this diverse bacterial group's evolution, however, has been hampered by the difficulty to grow these microbes in the lab. The teams around Matthias Horn (University of Vienna) and Thijs Ettema (Wageningen University & Research) could circumvent this problem: "We've only recently gained the capability to sequence genomes directly from environmental samples to explore the breadth of chlamydial diversity," explain the researchers. With this new data in hand, they then traced back the evolution of chlamydiae. Using state-of-the-art computational methods, they reconstructed the genome of the last common ancestor of all known chlamydiae. The researchers found that "this extinct microbe had all the genes needed to be an endosymbiont. Even genes important for chlamydial animal pathogens today were likely already present." This means that chlamydiae have been infecting host cells for over a billion years of evolutionary history. However, to their surprise the research team also found that chlamydiae infecting amoeba gained many metabolic genes only later, despite the fact that endosymbionts have fewer opportunities to exchange genes with other bacteria. "Our results show that more gene exchange happened in some chlamydiae than expected for endosymbionts," the authors explain, "including the gain of key metabolic genes." This result challenges how we think about the evolution of endosymbionts. But the researchers also suggest a solution to this conundrum: "It's not so surprising when you think about the environment these chlamydiae live in: Amoeba often host multiple endosymbionts and feed on free-living bacteria, so there are other microbes around increasing the accessible gene pool. In addition, most chlamydiae move between different hosts, and exposure to changing environments could explain why it might be beneficial for these endosymbionts to keep and even gain additional metabolic genes." The scientists are curious to see whether this mode of endosymbiont evolution is more widespread. In any case, this study is an important step for understanding the emergence and evolution of endosymbiotic bacteria, including human pathogens.

HELLERUP, Denmark, Nov. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A new collaborative platform, Plant2Food, aims to accelerate the development of plant-based foods. Researchers and companies are invited to collaborate in exploring complex challenges within plant and food science and sharing new knowledge across sectors – without taking out patents based on the results. The Novo Nordisk Foundation is supporting the platform with up to €27 million over the next five years. It is necessary to convert a big part of our food production to plant-based foods if we want to make the most appropriate use of our agricultural land as well as being able to feed a growing world population. The key to accelerating this transition is developing a greater selection of tasty, nutritious and sustainable plant-based food products that are also affordable to consumers. A new collaboration platform, Plant2Food, has been launched as a hub for researchers and companies to collaborate to solve some of the complex issues of developing plant-based foods – without taking out patents based on the results. The platform is based on open collaboration, which means that the knowledge created through the platform becomes available to everyone, so that more companies and researchers can benefit from the same knowledge. The aim is to accelerate the overall development of new plant-based foods and to optimise collaboration across the various sectors within plant and food science. "We need to rapidly develop foods that can feed a growing world population without over-utilising the planet's resources. Plant2Food creates a unique opportunity to make Denmark a leader in developing plant-based foods and ensure that we leverage the huge potential already existing in Denmark's research community and companies and build networks with the best international experts in the field," explains Claus Felby, Senior Vice President of Biotech at the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which is awarding up to €27 million (DKK 200 million) for Plant2Food over the next five years. Researchers and companies will collaborate to solve complex issues Plant2Food will be an Open Innovation in Science platform focusing on open research collaboration. Thus, the universities and companies joining the platform agree to publish all results from the open research projects and waive any claim to intellectual property rights. This will enable researchers and companies to co-develop project ideas and to accelerate projects faster by starting them immediately when a research group and a company agree to explore an idea. The open approach also gives everyone the opportunity to further develop the results and potentially use them for commercial purposes. "This task is too complex for a single research group or company to solve alone. In Plant2Food, we want to crunch the value chain so that both researchers and companies can derive input from unexpected sources and thereby create solutions that would otherwise not be readily available," says Marie Louise Conradsen, Head of Open Innovation in Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Faculty of Technical Sciences at Aarhus University, which is hosting Plant2Food. In addition to Aarhus University, the other university partners in Plant2Food are the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark and Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands. As partners, the four universities will have access to the funds allocated for research, which make up the predominant share of the grant from the Foundation. The funds will be used to explore challenges defined in collaboration with industry. Using better basic knowledge about crops for developing products Plant2Food will focus on developing basic knowledge about the properties of crops and how they can be used in food products. This knowledge can subsequently be used further up the value chain to develop nutritious products that are attractive to consumers. Plant-based mince is an example of how the processing of crops is very important for the finished product. Opening a pack of plant-based mince that emits a strong odour of sulphur is hardly a positive consumer experience. Basic knowledge about crops and how to reduce or block the components that emits bad odour in the finished product is crucial. Food & Bio Cluster Denmark is the fifth partner in Plant2Food and will strongly focus on how to translate the research into practice in the companies. This cluster represents small and large companies, knowledge institutions and other organisations working within the food and bioresources sector in Denmark. Food & Bio Cluster Denmark will link researchers and industry in Plant2Food, so that the research carried out by the universities is disseminated and translated into practice in the companies. "The food industry is pursuing new, innovative solutions within plant-based foods to meet a growing market. For example, there is a high demand for new ingredients that are grown in Denmark and can contribute to an improved taste experience. This is precisely why we need research into new ingredients and varietal development of existing protein crops that have good cultivation characteristics in the Danish climate. An improved ingredient base can contribute to the whole plant-based food industry becoming a new position of strength for the Danish food industry," says director Lars Visbech Sørensen, emphasising that Food & Bio Cluster Denmark is already in dialogue with a large number of companies that have expressed a need for new and long-term solutions. About Plant2Food Plant2Food is an Open Innovation in Science platform based on patent-free and open research in which universities and companies collaborate to solve complex challenges. All partners waive their claims to take intellectual property (IP) rights on the knowledge used in the platform. The collaborations focus on early research in developing plant-based foods. This means that the conducted research is at the lower end of the scale for technology readiness level (TRL), which expresses how mature a specific technology is. The Novo Nordisk Foundation has awarded a grant of up to DKK 200 million for Plant2Food, with 80% of the grant allocated to funding research projects awarded in open competition through the platform. The remaining 20% will fund secretariat services and networking and matchmaking activities. The project duration is five years. Researchers at the four partner universities may apply for Plant2Food grants. The same goes for researchers from other universities if they accept the same agreement of waiving their claims to take intellectual property rights on the knowledge used in the platform as the partner universities. Plant2Food is open to all industry partners, but they cannot apply for research funding. They can instead participate as project partners without any co-financing. The Plant2Food partners are: Aarhus University University of Copenhagen Technical University of Denmark Wageningen University and Research, Netherlands Food & Bio Cluster Denmark This is the second time the Foundation has supported the development of an Open Innovation in Science platform. In 2020, the Foundation awarded DKK 54.5 million for the Open Discovery Innovation Network (ODIN), which has the pharma and biotech industry as its focal point. About the Novo Nordisk Foundation Established in Denmark in 1924, the Novo Nordisk Foundation is an enterprise foundation with philanthropic objectives. The vision of the Foundation is to improve people's health and the sustainability of society and the planet. The Foundation's mission is to progress research and innovation in the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic and infectious diseases as well as to advance knowledge and solutions to support a green transformation of society. SOURCE Novo Nordisk Foundation

SHANGHAI, China, Aug. 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bayer Crop Science, a global pioneer in digital farming and precision agriculture, will partner with Pinduoduo (NASDAQ: PDD) for its annual Smart Agriculture Competition. “We are absolutely delighted to partner with Pinduoduo on this competition and contribute with our capabilities in the areas of disease prediction, crop protection and vegetable seed business,” said Alfonso Alba, Country Division Head for Bayer Crop Science in Greater China. To be held from August 2021 to March 2022, teams from around the globe will take part in the Smart Agriculture Competition to develop “one-click planting” models for growing tomatoes, using nutrition science, algorithms, sensor technology and intelligent greenhouses. The objective is to boost the yield and nutritional content of tomatoes while ensuring the process is cost-effective and environmentally sustainable. As China’s largest agriculture platform, Pinduoduo spearheaded the creation of the Smart Agriculture Competition as a way to gather the top minds in agronomy and computer science to develop technology that can help smallholder farmers and spur agricultural modernization. Pinduoduo is organizing the competition together with the China Agricultural University and Zhejiang University. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Wageningen University & Research are serving as technical advisers. In last year’s Smart Agriculture Competition, teams of data scientists were pitted against traditional growers to see who can produce more strawberries. The technology teams won with 196% more fruit by weight on average. They also outperformed in terms of profitability of investment. The tomato was chosen for this year’s competition. A flowering plant of the nightshade family, the tomato is grown all over the world for its edible fruits and is a good source of vitamin C and lycopene. For the competition, Bayer Crop Science will provide the seeds of the Delisher cherry plum tomato for cultivation. The company will also offer its crop protection expertise, environmental monitoring and disease management. “Through the Smart Agriculture Competition, we hope to interest more young scientific talent in agriculture so that they can apply their talents to helping farmers,” said Andre Zhu, Senior Vice President at Pinduoduo. “Helping farmers to grow better not only helps people to eat better, but also has a positive impact on the environment.” About Pinduoduo Inc. Pinduoduo is a mobile-only marketplace that connects millions of agricultural producers with consumers across China. Pinduoduo aims to bring more businesses and people into the digital economy so that local communities can benefit from the increased productivity and convenience through new market opportunities. For more information on Pinduoduo news and industry trends, please visit the content hub at .