Congress Programme

Programme

Saturday August 30

8.00 - 9.00: Registration Workshop 1
9.00 - 16.30: Workshop 1: Genomics of nitrogen-fixing organisms. Organised by Peter Young (UK)
14.00 - 17.00: Registration and welcome coffee
17.00–17.10: Opening by Prof. Van Cauwenberge, Rector of the Ghent University
17.10–17.30: Welcome word by Marcelle Holsters
In Memoriam of Antonio Palomares by Jos Vanderleyden
17.30–18.50: Opening lectures Chaired by Marcelle Holsters (Gent, Belgium)
17.30–18.10: Claudine Elmerich (Paris, France): Nitrogen fixation: a glimpse into history
18.10–18.50: The EMBO lecturer Ton Bisseling (Wageningen, The Netherlands): The legume-symbiosis: from initial recognition to symbiosome maintenance
18.50–22.00: Welcome reception

Sunday August 31

8.30–11.40: Session 1: Signalling in nodulation
Chaired by Jens Stougaard (Aarhus, Denmark)
8.30–9.00: Simona Radutoiu (Aarhus, Denmark): Rhizobium signalling in Lotus japonicus
9.00–9.30: Giles Oldroyd (Norwich, UK): Coordinating epidermal and cortical responses during the initiation of a nodule
9.30–9.50: Thomas Ott (München, Germany): A novel protein controls rhizobial infection and mediates post-translational regulation of symbiotic receptor proteins
9.50–10.10: Myriam Charpentier (München, Germany): New class of cation channels essential for perinuclear calcium spiking
10.10–10.30: Shimpei Magori (Tokyo, Japan): TOO MUCH LOVE locus is necessary for the long-distance control of nodulation in Lotus japonicus
10.30–11.00: Coffee break
11.00-11.20: Yiliang Ding (Norwich, UK): ABA coordinates Nod factor and cytokinin signalling during the regulation of nodulation
11.20–11.40: William Deakin (Geneva, Switzerland): Study and improvement of the Lotus japonicus-Rhizobium sp. NGR234 symbiosis
11.40–12.40: Session 2: Cyanobacterial and associative nitrogen fixation
Chaired by Jos Vanderleyden (Leuven, Belgium)
11.40–12.10: Karl Forchhammer (Tübingen, Germany): Nitrogen storage and ammonia stress acclimation in cyanobacteria: novel insights in similarities to plant physiology
12.10–12.40: Yvan Moënne-Loccoz (Lyon, France): Signalling and functioning of Azospirillum in the rhizosphere
12.40–13.30: Lunch
14.00–15.30: Guided walk through Gent with the support of Gent Congres vzw and Dienst Toerisme
15.30–16.00: Coffee
16.00–18.00: Session 3: Nitrogenase and regulation of free-living nitrogen fixation
Chaired by Ray Dixon (Norwich, UK)
16.00–16.30: Dennis Dean (Blacksburg, USA): Nitrogenase biochemistry
16.30–17.00: Stefan Nordlund (Stockholm, Sweden): The role of PII and AmtB proteins in the regulation of nitrogenase activity and ammonium assimilation in Rhodospirillum rubrum
17.00–17.20: Luis Rubio (Berkeley, USA): Complete synthesis of the iron-molybdenum cofactor of nitrogenase with purified Nif proteins
17.20–17.40: Luciano Huergo (Curitiba, Brazil): In vitro interactions between the PII proteins and the nitrogenase regulatory enzymes in Azospirillum brasilense
17.40–18.00: Peter Slavny (Norwich, UK): Role of the PAS2 domain of NifL in signal transduction
18.00–20.00: Poster session 1 (even numbers) with refreshments

Monday September 1

8.30–10.30: Session 4: Diversity and evolution
Chaired by Anne Willems (Gent, Belgium)
8.30–9.00: Peter Young (York, UK): Nitrogen fixers: more diversity, more evolution
9.00–9.30: Bernard Dreyfus (Montpellier, France): Nod factor-independent stem nodulation in the legume genus Aeschynomene is correlated with plant molecular phylogeny
9.30–9.50: Martin Parniske (München, Germany): Structural and functional adaptation of the receptor-like kinase gene SYMRK is exceptional among symbiosis genes, and paved the way for the evolution of root endosymbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria
9.50–10.10: Aneta Dresler-Nurmi (Helsinki, Finland): Molecular phylogeny of rhizobia isolated from Calliandra calothyrsus Meisn. trees growing in Central America, Cameroon, Kenya and New Caledonia with emphasis on biogeography and symbiosis
10.10–10.30: Monika Janczarek (Lublin, Poland): rosR pssA genes involved in polysaccharide synthesis as new taxonomic markers for identification of Rhizobium leguminosarum and discrimination between closely related species
10.30–11.00: Coffee break
11.00–12.40: Session 5: Highlights in plant and bacterial genomes
Chaired by Stephane Rombauts (Gent, Belgium)
11.00–11.30: Chris Town (Rockville, USA): Medicago truncatula genome project
11.30–12.00: Katia Bonaldi (Montpellier, France): Interaction between Aeschynomene and photosynthetic Bradyrhizobium : an enigmatic Nod-independent symbiotic process
12.00–12.20: Wayne Reeve (Perth, Australia): Sinorhizobium medicae WSM419 genome sequencing project
12.20–12.40: Ruth Schmitz-Streit (Kiel, Germany): Screening for non-coding RNAs in the archaeal diazotroph Methanosarcina mazei
12.40–14.30: Lunch break
14.30–16.10: Session 6: Genetics of legume nodulation
Chaired by Gabriella Endre (Szeged, Hungary)
14.30–15.00: Makoto Hayashi (München, Germany): Infection thread mutants in Lotus japonicus
15.00–15.30: Pascal Ratet (Gif sur Yvette, France): Medicago truncatula insertion mutants as tools to dissect plant-microbe interactions
15.30–15.50: Manuel Chamber (Sevilla, Spain): A new low-nodulating isoline mutant of chickpeas Cicer arietinum genetic characterisation of its progeny and detection of SNPs in several genes related to this mutation
15.50–16.10: Nataliya Pobigaylo (Freiburg, Germany): Investigation of proteins involved in cell cycle regulation in Sinorhizobium meliloti
16.10–16.40: Coffee break
16.40–18.20: Session 7: Non-legume associations: endophytic and symbiotic interactions
Chaired by Katharina Pawlowski (Stockholm, Sweden)
16.40–17.10: Philippe Normand (Villeurbanne, France): Modifications in the expression pattern of Frankia alni in vitro and in symbiosis
17.10–17.40: Barbara Reinhold-Hurek (Bremen, Germany): Functional genomic analyses and signalling cascades in rice-endophyte interactions
17.40–18.00: Akiko Tomitani (Yokosuka, Japan): Isolation and characterisation of the genes involved in hormogonia formation from Nostoc punctiforme a diazotrophic symbiotic cyanobacterium
18.00–18.20: Sergio Svitoonoff (Montpellier, France): Searching for plant and bacterial signals involved in actinorhizal symbioses
18.20–21.00: Poster session 2 (uneven numbers) with "Breugel tafel" and Belgian Beers

Tuesday September 2

8.30–10.10: Session 8: Nodule organogenesis
Chaired by Martin Crespi (Gif sur Yvette, France)
8.30–9.00: Florian Frugier (Gif sur Yvette): New pathways regulating Medicago truncatula root architecture
9.00–9.30: Pascal Gamas (Castanet-Tolosan, France): New regulators of nodule development in Medicago truncatula
9.30–9.50: Dong Wang (Stanford, USA): The protein secretory pathway component DNF1 is required for nodule function
9.50–10.10: Virginie Mortier (Gent, Belgium): CLE peptide signalling during nodulation on Medicago truncatula
10.10–10.40: Coffee break
10.40–12.40: Session 9: Ecology and sustainable agriculture
Chaired by Manuel Megías (Sevilla, Spain)
10.40–11.10: Francisco Martínez-Abarca (Granada, Spain): Bacterial group-II introns: new mobile elements in the rhizosphere
11.10–11.40: Mark Peoples (Black Mountain, Australia): The role of biological nitrogen fixation in cropping systems and its environmental impact
11.40–12.00: Ignacio D. Rodríguez-Llorente (Sevilla, Spain): Genetic engineering of the -legume interaction for bioremediation
12.00–12.20: María del Carmen Villegas (Tlaxcala , Mexico): Analysis of sustainable agriculture alternatives in Chihuahua, Mexico
12.20–12.40: Zhongmin Dong (Halifax, Canada): Hydrogen fertilisation: is this the benefit of crop rotation?
12.40–14.30: Lunch break
14.30–16.30: Session 10: Comparative and functional genomics of nitrogen-fixing bacteria
Chaired by Jacques Batut (Castanet-Tolosan, France)
14.30–15.00: William Broughton (Genève, Switzerland): Minimal set of symbiotic rhizobial genes
15.00–15.30: Delphine Capela (Toulouse, France): Genome sequence of the -rhizobium Cupriavidus taiwanensis and comparative genomics of rhizobia
15.30–15.50: Hiroshi Oyaizu (Tokyo, Japan): Genome structure and symbiosis-related genes of the versatile nitrogen-fixing Azorhizobium caulinodans
15.50–16.10: Hans-Martin Fischer (Zürich, Switzerland): Transcriptomics and functional genomics to study the Bradyrhizobium japonicum- soybean symbiosis
16.10–16.30: Marij Frederix (Norwich, UK): A novel mechanism of quorum sensing gene regulation in Rhizobium leguminosarum
16.30–17.00: Coffee break
17.00–18.00: Session 11: New tools to study BNF
Chaired by Helge Küster (Bielefeld, Germany)
17.00–17.30: Anke Becker (Bielefeld, Germany): Postgenomic strategies and databases to explore the symbiotic lifestyle of Sinorhizobium meliloti
17.30–18.00: Rene Geurts (Wageningen, The Netherlands): Monitoring dynamics of transcriptional regulation of Nod factor signalling genes using an improved DsRED-E5 variant
19.30–: Banquet and party in "De Centrale”

Wednesday September 3

10.00–12.00: Session 12: Nodule functioning
Chaired by Eva Kondorosi (Gif-sur-Yvette, France)
10.00–10.30: Peter Mergaert (Gif-sur-Yvette, France): Terminal differentiation of nitrogen fixing bacteroids induced by antimicrobial plant peptides in Medicago truncatula nodules
10.30–11.00: Phil Poole (Reading, UK): Role of amino acids in bacteroid development and nitrogen fixation
11.00–11.20: Jan Michiels (Leuven, Belgium): Oligopeptide transporters of Rhizobium etli fulfil an essential role during symbiotic nitrogen fixation and free-living growth under stress conditions
11.20–11.40: Gail Ferguson (Aberdeen, UK): Investigating the role and biosynthesis of lipopolysaccharide very-long-chain-fatty-acids in the Sinorhizobium meliloti- alfalfa symbiosis
11.40–12.00: Brent Kaiser (Adelaide, Australia): Soybean nitrogen fixation is dependent on the activity of the novel peribacteroid membrane-bound transcription factor, GmSAT1
12.00 - 12.30: Closing Remarks by Peter Gresshoff (Brisbane, Australia)
12.30 -: Coffee and Goodbye
14.00 - 17.00: Workshop 2: Towards integration for efficient biological nitrogen fixation technology: is a straightforward track between lab bench and dining table feasible? Organised by Youssef Yanni (Egypt)
Workshop 3: Microbial fate inside and outside plants: what makes symbiosis beneficial? Organised by Igor Tikhonovich (Russia)
15.00 - 17.00: Registration Satellite Meeting: 11^th International Symposium on Nitrogen Fixation with Non-Legumes
17.30 - 20.00: Satellite Meeting: Opening ceremony 11^th International Symposium on Nitrogen Fixation with Non-Legumes. Organised by Barbara Reinhold (Germany)
20.00 - 22.00: Reception

Thursday September 4

9.00 - 18.00: Satellite Meeting: 11^th International Symposium on Nitrogen Fixation with Non-Legumes