XI NATIONAL CONGRESS OF BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF PLANTS & 5th SYMPOSIUM Mexico-USA.

November 3rd to 7th, 2003. Acapulco, Guerrero, México.

The Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Plants Section (BMBPS) of the Mexican Biochemical Society (SMB) will hold its XI biannual meeting and the 5th Mexico-USA Symposium in Acapulco November 3-7, 2003. Mexico-USA symposia with members of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) have been successfully organized in a frame of bilateral meetings since 1995 (Morelos 1995, Guanajuato 1998, Mérida 1999 and La Paz 2001).

This year, the meeting is being organized by Carmen Quinto (quinto@ibt.unam.mx) and Federico Sánchez (federico@ibt.unam.mx) from the Institute of Biotechnology, UNAM, in Cuernavaca, Morelos; and by Sally Mackenzie (smackenzie@unl.edu) from Nebraska University and Peter Hepler (hepler@bio.umass.edu) from UMASS in the USA.

The Organizing Committee, has programmed two Plenary Lectures, six Plenary Symposia in the mornings and six Concurrent Symposia in the evenings. There will be a Graduate Student Plenary Symposium in November 7th morning session, exclusively for students with outstanding work. Student selected oral presentations will be chosen and evaluated from the submitted abstracts by an ad hoc Scientific Committee. Posters will be up during the whole event and Poster Sessions will be held in late evening sessions.

The Biannual Meetings of the Mexican Plant Community are the ideal occasion to actualize and exchange ideas and research data for strengthening the advancement of the Plant Sciences in Mexico. Also, the joint Mexico-USA effort has proven to be an excellent occasion to start joint collaborations with our American colleagues. Additionally, this is a prime time for Mexican graduate students and future posdocts to contact Mexican and US researchers to decide their future research objectives and careers.

OPENING LECTURE
Dr. Carlos Viesca
Head of the Department of History and Philosophy, School of Medicine, National University of Mexico.
The Plants in the Cruz-Badiano Codex: Past and Future

PLENARY LECTURE
Dr. Richard Jorgensen (raj@Ag.arizona.edu)
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona, USA
Paragenetics and RNA silencing: Two levels of epigenetic control fundamentally important in plant biology

TECHNICAL LECTURE
Dr. José Ignacio del Real
Tequila Sauza
"Agave and tequila, a process in constant evolution".

PLENARY SESSIONS

1. Plant Cell Signaling

2. Plant Cell Biology

3. Plant Functional Genetics and Genomics

4. Plant responses to the environment

5. Molecular Mechanisms in Plant-Microbe Interactions

6. Biotechnology of Tropical Plants

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

7. Plant responses to water limitation

8. Plant Ecology and Bioremediation

9. Plant Enzymology and Metabolic Engineering

10. Plant Membrane Biology and Bioenergetics

11. Plant Natural Products

12. Plant Development

POSTER SESSIONS
November 4 and 5, 9-11 pm (even and odd, respectively).

Registration

From 10:00 and during all the congress

Welcome
Cocktail

Federico Sánchez
IBT- UNAM. (federico@ibt.unam.mx)
Signaling through the actin cytoskeleton in plant-microbe interactions.

Mark Estelle
Indiana University (mestelle@bio.indiana.edu)
Auxin response requires SCF-dependent degradation of the AUX/IAA proteins.

Plinio Guzmán
CINVESTAV-Irapuato. (pguzman@ira.cinvestav.mx)
Global analysis of ethylene-regulated gene expression in Arabidopsis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5) Molecular Mechanisms in Plant-Microbe Interactions

Chair: Carmen Quinto (quinto@ibt.unam.mx)

Rafael Rivera
CINVESTAV-Irapuato. (rrivera@ira.cinvestav.mx)
Plant-virus and virus-virus interactions in mixed begomovirus mixed infections

Vicky Vance
University of South Carolina, USA (vance@biol.sc.edu)
Viral suppression of RNA silencing in plants

Alejandro Peñaloza
Oklahoma State University (peva@okstate.edu)
Role of alginate in the pathogenesis of Pseudomonas syringae

Carmen Quinto
IBT- UNAM. (quinto@ibt.unam.mx)
Initial responses in the rhizobia-legume interaction of a bean non-nodulating mutant

Beatriz Xoconostle
CINVESTAV- México DF (beatriz_xoconostle@yahoo.com)
Molecular communication between mycorrhizal symbionts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7) Plant Responses to Water Limitation

Chair: Alejandra Covarrubias. IBT- UNAM. (crobles@ibt.unam.mx)


Rosario Vera Estrella
IBT- UNAM (rosario@ibt.unam.mx)
Aquaporins during osmotic stress: regulation and evidence for endomembrane trafficking

Jean-Marcel Ribaud
CIMMyT. (j.ribaut@cgiar.org)
Genetic dissection of drought tolerance in tropical maize

José Luis Reyes
Rockefeller University/IBT-UNAM (reyesjo@mail.rockefeller.edu)
Regulation of abscisic acid responses by microRNAs in Arabidopsis thaliana

Alejandra Covarrubias
IBT- UNAM. (crobles@ibt.unam.mx)
Functional analysis of plant hydrophilins

Sally Assmann
Penn State University, USA (sma3@psu.edu)
New transducers of ABA signaling in guard cells.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8) Plant Ecology and Bioremediation

Chair: Alfredo Herrera Estrella. CINESTAV- Irapuato. (aherrera@ira.cinvestav.mx)


Vianey Olmedo
CINVESTAV-Irapuato (volmedo@ira.cinvestav.mx)
Key signals in a mycoparasitic fungal interaction

Alejandra Bravo
IBT-UNAM (bravo@ibt.unam.mx)
Recent advances in the understanding of mode of action of Bacillus thuringiensis toxins

Mariano Gutiérrez
UAM-Iztapalapa (mgr@xanum.uam.mx)
Phytoremediation of hydrocarbons contaminated soil

Ignacio Maldonado
CIIDIR-IPN, Unidad Sinaloa (ignacioemaldonado@yahoo.com.mx)
Arbuscular mycorrhizae and their role on soil remediation

Richard Meagher
University of Georgia, USA (meagher@uga.edu)
Testing Strategies for the Engineered Phytoremediation of Heavy Metal Pollution

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9) Plant Enzymology and Metabolic Engineering

Chair: Patricia León. IBT- UNAM (patricia@ibt.unam.mx)

Rosario Muñoz Clares
FAC. QUIMICA- UNAM (clares@servidor.unam.mx)
Osmotic and oxidative stress interplay: The case of betaine aldehyde
dehydrogenase from amaranth leaves.

Patricia León
IBT- UNAM. (patricia@ibt.unam.mx)
The biosynthesis of plastidic isoprenoids by the Methylerythriol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway is highly regulated by multiple factors, including glucose concentration.

Mario Rocha
IBT- UNAM (rocha@ibt.unam.mx)
Betacyanin synthesis in the red beet (Beta vulgaris) leaves induced by wounding, and bacterial infiltration is preceded by an oxidative burst.

José Luis Ortega
New Mexico State University, EUA (jortegac@nmsu.edu)
Modulation of nitrogen assimilation in plants: understanding the multiple mechanisms of control of glutamine synthetase.

Bettina Deavours
Samuel R. Noble Foundation (bedeavours@noble.org)
Genetic modification of health-promoting isoflavones

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10) Plant Membrane Biology and Bioenergetics

Chair: Marina Gavilanes (gavilan@servidor.unam.mx)

Marina Gavilanes
FAC.QUIMICA - UNAM. (gavilan@servidor.unam.mx)
Close and distant encounters of a phytotoxin with the plasma membrane: an approach to study the interaction of a pathogen with a plant cell

Daniel R. Bush
Univ. of Illinois, USA (dbush@uiuc.edu)
Signal transduction pathways that regulate the expression and actiivity of plant sucrose and amino acid transporters

Omar Pantoja
IBT- UNAM. (omar@ibt.unam.mx)
Transport properties of HKT1 is species specific

Igor Potossin
Univ. de Colima. (pottosin@cgic.ucol.mx)
Vacuolar Ion channels: searching for a function

Froylán Gómez-Lagunas
FAC. DE MEDICINA, UNAM. (froylan@ibt.unam.mx)
Ion channels from Phaseolus vulgaris bean roots incorporated into planar lipid bilayers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11) Plant Natural Products

Chair: Edmundo Lozoya (elozoya@ciea.ira.cinvestav.mx)


Dr. Erich Grotewold
Ohio State University, USA (grotewold.1@osu.edu)
Subcellular trafficking of phytochemicals

Neftalí Ochoa
CINVESTAV- Irapuato (nochoa@ira.cinvestav.mx)
Molecular biology and perspectives of genetic manipulation of capsaicinoid biosyntheis in chili pepper (Capsicum spp.)

Felipe Vázquez Flota
CICY. Mérida. (felipe@cicy.mx)
Alkaloid synthesis in shoot cultures of Catharanthus roseus

María Luisa Villarreal Ortega
UAEM. (luisav@cib.uaem.mx)
Biotechnological improvements in the production of novel antimycotic saponins from the mexican species Solanum chrysotrichum.

Edmundo Lozoya
CINVESTAV-Irapuato. (elozoya@ciea.ira.cinvestav.mx)
Terpenes from Mexican medicinal plants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12) Plant Development

Chair: Gladys Cassab (gladys@ibt.unam.mx)


Joseph Dubrosky
UNAM. (jdubrov@ibt.unam.mx)
Determinate developmental program in primary root of some Cactaceae

Luis Cárdenas
UMASS/ IBT. UNAM. (cardenas@bio.umass.edu)
Actin polymerization is a key factor in reverse fountain motility in pollen tubes

Daniel Grimanelli
IRD-CIMMYT. (dgrimanelli@mac.com)
The maternal-to-zygotic transition in the maize embryo

Gladys Cassab
UNAM. (gladys@ibt.unam.mx)
Root growth responses toward water: interaction between hydrotropism and gravitroìsm in Arabidopsis wild type and no-hydrotropic response mutant

Roger Hangarter
Indiana University, USA (rhangart@bio.indiana.edu)
The roles of light and gravity in shaping plant architecture.