Exciting collaboration with University of Udine, Italy

My Italian colleagues are experts on mitochondria and for years, they have used the common pea (Pisum sativa) as a model plant. We have now started a collaboration where I am assessing oxygen uptake (aerobe respiration) by roots of pea seedlings at increasing external concentrations of hexanoic acid. Hexanoic acid is commonly produced by bacteria in waterlogged, anoxic soils and is a potent phytotoxin. The Italians, on the other hand, are isolating the mitochondria to investigate the exact mode of toxicity – all I can do is to observed that respiration is declining with increasing acid concentration. The project fits nicely with my new project from the Danish Research Council and I am sure that some student will find it interesting as well.

7-day-old pea seedlings reader for experiments!