Difference between revisions of "Team:HebrewU/Global aspects"

 
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             <li><a href="https://2018.igem.org/Team:HebrewU/Description">Description</a></li>
 
             <li><a href="https://2018.igem.org/Team:HebrewU/Description">Description</a></li>
 
             <li><a href="https://2018.igem.org/Team:HebrewU/Model">Model</a></li>
 
             <li><a href="https://2018.igem.org/Team:HebrewU/Model">Model</a></li>
             <li><a href="https://2018.igem.org/Team:HebrewU/Results">Results</a></li>
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             <li><a href="https://2018.igem.org/Team:HebrewU/Demonstrate">Results</a></li>
 
             <li><a href="https://2018.igem.org/Team:HebrewU/Parts">Parts</a></li>
 
             <li><a href="https://2018.igem.org/Team:HebrewU/Parts">Parts</a></li>
             <li><a href="https://2018.igem.org/Team:HebrewU/Software">Moolti</a></li>
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             <li><a href="https://2018.igem.org/Team:HebrewU/Software">MOOLTi</a></li>
  
 
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             <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/c/c4/T--hebrewu--Regulation_HL.png" width="90%">
         
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</div>
  
<a href="#cucurbita_main_toggle"><button class="w3-button w3-padding-large w3-large w3-margin-top" style="background-color:#D1F2EB;border-radius: 12px;width:230px;">Cucurbita pepo L. <br/ > <b> Pumpkin & Zucchini </b></button> </a> &nbsp; &nbsp;
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    <p align="center" style="font-size:20px;color:white;font-family:Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif;">  
<a href="#Brassica_main_toggle"><button class="w3-button w3-padding-large w3-large w3-margin-top" style="background-color:#D1F2EB;border-radius: 12px;width:230px;">Brassica campestris <br/ > <b> Chinese Cabbage </b></button> </a> &nbsp; &nbsp;
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Although the formation of dioxins occurs "locally", environmental distribution is global. Dioxins are found throughout the world in small amounts, including areas that are entirely uninhabited. The highest levels of these compounds are found in some soils, sediments and food, especially dairy products, meat, fish and shellfish. Lower levels are found in plants, water and air.
<a href="#Lycopersicon_main_toggle"><button class="w3-button w3-padding-large w3-large w3-margin-top" style="background-color:#D1F2EB;border-radius: 12px;width:230px;">Lycopersicon esculintum <br/ > <b> Tomato </b></button> </a> &nbsp; &nbsp;
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</p>
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<img style="padding-left:150px;" onClick="document.getElementById('global_aspects').style.display='block'" src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/c/c9/T--hebrewu--geo_icon.png" width="30%"><br /><br />  
<div id="cucurbita_main_toggle" class="w3-row-padding w3-padding-64 w3-dark-grey w3-container">
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  <div class="w3-content">
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    <a href="#experts_toggle">
    <div class="w3-twothird">
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    <div style="padding-left:150px;">
      <h1>Cucurbita pepo L. (Pumpkin & Zucchini) </h1>
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<button style="background-color:#D5DBDB" onClick="document.getElementById('global_aspects').style.display='block'" class="w3-button w3-padding-large w3-large w3-margin-top">
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    Global Aspects</button></div>
 
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<div class="w3-light-grey">
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    <br /><br />
  <div class="w3-container" style="width:80%;background-color:#2196f3a3"> <span class="w3-badge w3-white">1</span>
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    </div>
&nbsp; Dioxin Uptake</div>
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 +
   
 +
  <div class="w3-half w3-center w3-teal">
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    <br />
 +
    <div align="center">
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    <a onClick="document.getElementById('id01').style.display='block'"><img style="padding-right:150px;" src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/8/83/T--hebrewu--regulation_icon.png" width="43%"></a><br /> <br />
 
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<ul>
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     <a href="#experts_toggle">
     <li>
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     <div style="padding-right:150px;">
        Zucchini`s Roots grow mainly down while pumpkin`s grow mainly to the sides.
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    <button style="background-color:#F1948A;" onClick="document.getElementById('id01').style.display='block'" class="w3-button w3-padding-large w3-large w3-margin-top">
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    Regulation</button></div>
     <li>
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    </a>
        High uptake values of nutrition from soil.
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    <br /><br />
    </li>
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    </div>
    <li>
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        Able to absorb dioxins in roots and deliver them thought the plant (potential for high speed degradation in whole plant).
+
    </li>
+
</ul><br />
+
 
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<div class="w3-light-grey">
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  <div class="w3-container w3-green" style="width:50%"><span class="w3-badge w3-white">2</span>&nbsp; Ease of growth</div>
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</div>
 
</div>
  
<ul>
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<!------------ Modal 1 (Regulations) ------------->
<li>
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Short seasoned plants, can be grown only in hot seasons.
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</li>
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<li>
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Easily grown in most areas of the world.
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</li>
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</ul><br />
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<div class="w3-light-grey">
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  <div id="id01" class="w3-modal">
  <div class="w3-container w3-red" style="width:40%"><span class="w3-badge w3-white">3</span> &nbsp; Ease of transformation</div>
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    <div class="w3-modal-content w3-card-4">
</div>
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      <header class="w3-container" style="background-color:#F1948A">  
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        <span onClick="document.getElementById('id01').style.display='none'"
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        class="w3-button w3-display-topright w3-justify">&times;</span>
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        <h2 class="w3-center" style="color:white;">Regulation</h2>
 +
      </header>
 +
      <div class="w3-container w3-content">
 +
<p align="center" style="font-size:130%">
 +
                    Many countries monitor their food supply for dioxins. This has led to the early detection of dioxin contaminations and has often prevented its impact on a larger scale. Though nearly every country in the world contains some level of dioxin contamination, most cases have been reported in industrialized countries where adequate food-monitoring, greater public awareness [of the hazard] and better regulatory controls exist.
 +
            </p><br /><br />
  
<ul>
+
<h2 class="w3">The Stockholm convention</h2>  
    <li>
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<p align="justify" style="padding-left:100px;padding-right:100px;text-align:justify">
        Existing transformation methods using agrobacterium. 
+
            In the 1990s, it became apparent that the international community needed to take action aimed at reducing persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to protect the environment and human health. This led to the formation of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants which was established on May 17, 2004. By 2005, over 150 countries had signed while 98 had ratified the Convention.  
    </li>
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    <br /><br />
    <li>
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        Whole genome sequence doesn`t exist yet.
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    </li>
+
</ul><br />
+
  
 +
The objective of the Stockholm Convention is to protect human health and the environment from the effects of POP's. The convention established a range of measures to reduce and, where feasible, eliminate POP emissions, and to ensure the sound management of stockpiles and wastes that contain POPs.
 +
A level of 0.1 ng TEQ/m3 of dioxins has been accepted internationally as the goal emission rate.
 +
            </p>
 +
           
 +
<h2 class="w3">Regulation in Israel</h2>
  
 
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                        <p align="justify" style="padding-left:100px;padding-right:100px;text-align:justify">
 
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            The Israeli Union for Environmental Defense is a non-profit organization that handles legal battles involved in environmental and health-related laws, regulation and governmental approvals In Israel. Through our correspondence with them, we have learned that Israel`s regulation is focused on limiting emissions, not production; meaning industrial facilities are allowed to produce as much dioxin as they wish but may not release them into the environment. This concerned us because a) there is no oversight of how much dioxin is produced, and b) the oversight of emissions seems to be very lax. </p>
<div class="w3-light-grey">
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  <div class="w3-center">
  <div class="w3-container w3-yellow" style="width:30%"><span class="w3-badge w3-white">4</span> &nbsp; Ease of sterilization</div>
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<a href="#Adam_main_toggle"><button class="w3-button w3-teal w3-padding-large w3-large w3-margin-top" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#Adam_full">Full correspondence</button></a>  
</div>
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<ul>
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    <li> none
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<br /> <br />
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</div>
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    <div class="w3-third w3-center" style="marging:none;">
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    <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/6/63/T--Hebrewu--pumpkin.png" width="80%" style="padding-top:80px;"> <br />
+
    </div>
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</div>
+
 
</div>
 
</div>
  
<div id="industry_full" class="collapse" style="text-align: left">
 
<div class="w3-dark-grey w3-center" style="padding-left:10%;padding-right:10%">
 
<br /> <br />
 
<h2 class="w3-center w3-panel" style="width:100%;background-color:#2196f3a3"> <span class="w3-badge w3-white">1</span> &nbsp; Dioxin Uptake</h2>
 
<p style="padding-left:90px;padding-right:90px;text-align:justify;line-height:1.5">
 
<br /> <br />
 
Zucchini plants have been shown to have the most successful uptake mechanisms for PCDD/PCDF's of all plants tested. This includes mechanisms that can translocate dioxins from their roots to their shoot system (including flowers and fruits), as opposed to many other plants that can only absorb dioxins into their roots.
 
</p> 
 
  
 +
<div id="Adam_full" class="collapse" style="text-align:justify; padding:50px;">
 +
            </p>
 +
           
 +
            <p style="padding-left:50px;padding-right:50px;text-align:justify">
 +
          <b> In a 2004 article, we found that there is a law that regulates the amount of dioxin production in factories, but there is little to no enforcement of said law. Could you shed light on whether there has been any progress in this matter in recent years? </b>
 +
            <br /><br />
 +
            <i>
 +
            "There is no regulation regarding the amount of production, but rather the amount of emissions [of dioxins]. The regulations have improved considerably since the Clean Air Law (2008) and went into effect (in 2011). Factories have limitations on dioxin emissions (as well as restrictions on other materials). Regarding enforcement, we think that there has been a slight improvement since 2004, although, to our understanding, the enforcement level it still quite lacking." <br /> <br />
 +
"An issue where no improvements have been made regards the current information on total dioxin emissions in Israel. Since the 2005 dioxin emission survey, there has been no further investigation or update, and today there is virtually no overall information on all the emissions of these pollutants in Israel."
 +
</i>
 +
           
 +
           
 +
            <p align="justify" style="padding-left:50px;padding-right:50px;text-align:justify">
 +
          <b> In your 2014 report on the emissions of hazardous substances, it was mentioned that the State of Israel had signed the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants treaty in 2001. The report states that, despite the signing, the state has not yet ratified it. What is needed for "ratification" to take place and has there been any progress on the issue since.
 +
</b>
 +
            <br /><br />
  
 +
            <i>
 +
            The signing of an international treaty is [unfortunately] more a declaration of intent, and its practical significance is relatively limited. While this particular ratification has a higher legal status than others - meaning that the state is placing the obligations it has undertaken through the Convention into Israeli legislation, making the obligations part of the binding law - there has been no change on this matter [since 2001].
  
 +
</i>
 +
            </p>
 +
  </div>
 +
       
 +
        <h2 class="w3">Regulation in Estonia</h2>
  
<div class="w3-panel w3-blue-gray">
+
                        <p align="justify" style="padding-left:100px;padding-right:100px;text-align:justify">
  <p class="w3-large w3-serif">
+
            Through collaboration with the Tartu University team, we were able to learn more about dioxin pollution in Estonia and the Baltic Sea. Estonian regulations are in line with those found in the EU. Though dioxin emissions in Estonia were lower than expected (when measured in 2003), there were still moderate pollution rates. It was estimated that large amount of pollutants comes with air masses from the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland . Dioxins enter the Baltic Sea as air fallout when transported from land-based sources which could be attributed to chemical and forest industries [especially in Russia where use of chlorine gas in these industries is still common practice].  </p>
  <i class="fa fa-quote-right w3-xxlarge w3-margin-right"></i>
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  <div class="w3-center">
"Plants have been frequently shown to remove POPs from soils (Zhao et al. 2006; Susarla et al. 2002; Macek et al. 2000). The high propensity of selected Cucurbitaceae to extract PCDDs/PCDFs from soil was first reported by Hülster et al. (1994), who found that C. pepo L. fruits contained double the PCDD/PCDF concentrations of other examined plants. " </p>
+
<a onClick="openTab(this)" href="#" name="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/a/a3/T--hebrewu--Estonian_regulations.pdf">
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  Estonian regulations (EU)  
<p style="padding-left:90px;padding-right:90px;text-align:justify;line-height:1.5">
+
  </button>
Current results demonstrated that cultivation of C. pepo L. cv. ‘Atena Polka’ reduced total PCDD/PCDF content by a mean value of 37 % in soil amended with sewage sludge and 32 % in soil treated with urban sediment (Fig. 1A1, B1; Table 2S). Mean reduction in TEQ concentrations were 68 and 52 % in soil amended with sewage sludge and sediment, respectively; values almost twice those of PCDD/PCDF content (Fig. 1A2, B2; Table 2S). Wilcoxon matched pair test revealed significant differences in total and TEQ values before and after C. pepo L. cv. ‘Atena Polka’ cultivation at p = 0.067. The greatest decline of total PCDD/PCDF content was observed for control samples (66 % for soil with sewage sludge and 81 % for soil with sediment), while the greatest reduction of TEQ values was detected in samples fertilized with 9 and 18 t/ha of sewage sludge (72 and 73 %, respectively) (Fig. 1; Table 2S). In soil amended with 3 t/ha of sludge, ‘Atena Polka’ cultivation led to a 63 % reduction of TEQ. Other large decreases were also noted for soil amended with 9 and 18 t/ha of urban sediments (59 and 70 %, respectively), while a much smaller reduction (21 %) was noted for a dose of 3 t/ha (Fig. 1; Table 2S). The above declines in soil total and TEQ PCDD/PCDF concentrations are, from one site, a result of ‘Atena Polka’ cultivation, however, the bioremediation activity of soil microorganisms seems to also be an important factor responsible for the obtained reductions (Urbaniak 2013; Field and Sierra-Alvarez 2008).
+
  </a>
  </p>
+
  <a onClick="openTab(this)" href="#" name="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/4/4c/T--hebrewu--Estonia_pollution.pdf">
 
+
  <button class="w3-button w3-teal w3-padding-large w3-large w3-margin-top" > Estonia pollution study
  <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/d/d5/T--Hebrewu--Zuccini_info_1_0.jpeg" style="width:60%">
+
  </button>
<p style="padding-left:90px;padding-right:90px;text-align:justify;line-height:1.5"> <br />
+
  </a>   
Fig. 1:
+
  <a onClick="openTab(this)" href="#" name="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/5/52/T--hebrewu--Baltic_sea.pdf"
Mean decreases in total and TEQ PCDD/PCDF concentrations in soil amended with different doses of sewage sludge (A1, A2) and urban sediments (B1–B2) before and after Cucurbita pepo L. cv ‘Atena Polka’ cultivation"
+
><button class="w3-button w3-teal w3-padding-large w3-large w3-margin-top">Baltic Sea Pollution study</button></a>   
</p>
+
 
 
+
 
  <br /> <br />
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<h2 class="w3-center w3-panel w3-green"><span class="w3-badge w3-white">2</span> &nbsp; Plant Growth</h2>
+
<p style="padding-left:90px;padding-right:90px;text-align:justify;line-height:1.5">
+
Zucchini and pumpkin are very sensitive to cold weather, requires warm temperatures of above 16 degrees Celsius to grow, but to warm of a climate (above 38 degrees) will harm the plant. zucchini takes 60 days to mature, by than it produces fruit as long as someone pick them before they rot. Pumpkin requires between 90 to 160 days to mature. They both have a fast growth and as such, high root uptake of nutrition from the ground. both need a lot of water to grow, which oppose some problem if you try to grow it in dry areas. Zucchini don’t spread much and it`s root go mainly deeper in a taproot formation, while pumpkin spread vertically and most of its nutrients are absorbed from the upper half a meter of the soil.
+
</p>
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+
+
<br /> <br />
+
<h2 class="w3-center w3-panel w3-red"> <span class="w3-badge w3-white">3</span> &nbsp; Plant Transformation:</h2>
+
<p style="padding-left:90px;padding-right:90px;text-align:justify;line-height:1.5">
+
Two-week-old in vitro grown Cucurbita pepo L. intact plants and cotyledons (detached and undetached from the mother-plant) were transformed by Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain NCPPB 1855, grown for 48 h at 25 °C on YMB medium. All infected material formed vigorous hairy roots in about seven days. The transformed roots were successfully grown in liquid MS medium without plant growth regulators for an indefinite number of transfers. 
+
</p>
+
<br /> <br />
+
<h2 class="w3-center w3-panel w3-yellow"><span class="w3-badge w3-white">4</span> &nbsp; Plant Sterility </h2>
+
<p style="padding-left:90px;padding-right:90px;text-align:justify;line-height:1.5">
+
Triploid plants have larger organs, greater biomass, and strong stress resistance by preserving relatively larger amounts of photosynthetic energy. The undesirable spread of non-native invasive crop and horticultural plants into natural areas can also be reduced or eliminated by the use of triploids, because they tend to be sterile and seedless. <br /> <br />
+
+
There are few different ways to create triploid plants:
+
    <ul style="text-align:left;padding-left:150px;">
+
        <li> Natural selection - triploid plants occur in nature, meaning it is possible to look for the desired plant in nature.
+
        </li>
+
        <li> Artificial hybridization - by sexual hybridization of different ploidy, one can create a triploid offspring.
+
        </li>
+
          <li> Endosperm culture in vitro - endosperm is a triploid tissue. Successful regeneration of a plant from an endosperm tissue would result in triploid plant.
+
        </li>
+
    </ul>
+
  </p>
+
+
<h2 align="left"> References: </h2>
+
<p style="text-align:left">
+
1. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1005955012372">"Cucurbita pepo L. can be transformed by Agrobacterium rhizogenes" Luigi Sanità di Toppi et al. (1997). </a> <br />
+
2. <a href="https://www.agriculturejournals.cz/publicFiles/186537.pdf">"Breeding Triploid Plants: A Review"
+
Xiling Wang et al. (2016). </a><br />
+
3. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4978765/">"Potential for Phytoremediation of PCDD/PCDF-Contaminated Sludge and Sediments Using Cucurbitaceae Plants: A Pilot Study" Magdalena Urbaniak et al. (2016).
+
</a><br />
+
4. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653509006730?via%3Dihub#tbl2">"A simple method for transient transformation of pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) seedlings" Francisco Arturo Ramírez-Ortega et al. (2015).</a><br />
+
5. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653509006730?via%3Dihub#tbl2">"Uptake by roots and translocation to shoots of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in typical crop plants" Haijun Zhang et al. (2009). </a><br />
+
6. <a href="https://www.almanac.com/plant/pumpkins">"Planting, growing, and harvesting pumpking" The Old Farmer'S Almanac website (2010). </a><br />
+
7. <a href="http://www.spadespatula.com/2012/09/14/how-to-grow-zucchini-a-squash-vocabulary-lesson/">"How to Grow Zucchini: A Squash Vocabulary Lesson"
+
Charity Shumway (2012).</a><br />
+
8. <a href="https://homeguides.sfgate.com/life-expectancy-zucchini-plants-58679.html">"What Is the Life Expectancy of Zucchini Plants?" Karen Carter. </a><br />
+
  </p>
+
<br /> <br />
+
<br /> <br />
+
 
+
+
</div>
+
</div>
+
 
</div>
 
</div>
  
 +
<h2 class="w3">Regulation in Australia</h2>
  
 
+
                        <p align="justify" style="padding-left:100px;padding-right:100px;text-align:justify">Australian regulation are also based on the limits that were accepted at the time of Stockholm convention (TEQ value below 0.1 ng). The Australian government announced a four-year National Dioxins Program back in 2001 to reduce dioxins and dioxin-like substances in the environment. </p>
<!-- Second Grid -->
+
                        <p align="justify" style="padding-left:100px;padding-right:100px;text-align:justify"> The studies [from Australia] show that the levels of dioxins in food, people and the environment are generally low when compared with levels internationally. They also showed that the risks to human health and the environment are low. Although there were only a small number of samples analyzed, these studies provided the largest survey of dioxin levels taken in Australia to date.
<div id="Brassica_main_toggle" class="w3-row-padding w3-teal w3-padding-64 w3-container">
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                        </p>
  <div class="w3-content">
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    <div class="w3-third w3-center">
+
      <h2 align="justify" class="w3">References:</h2>
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/0/04/T--Hebrewu--lettuce.png" width="100%" style="padding-top:80px;">
+
      <p align="justify" style="padding-left:100px;padding-right:100px;text-align:justify">
 +
      1. "Dioxin and Furan Inventories. National and Regional Emissions of PCDD/PCDF"
 +
UNEP Chemicals, IOMC, Geneva, Switzerland (1999). <br />
 +
2. "Residues of persistent organic pollutants in Estonian soils" Kurunthachalam Senthil
 +
Kumara el al. (2008). <br />
 +
3. "Measurements of persistent organic pollutants in Estonian ambient air (1990–2013)" Ott Rootsa et al (2015). <br />
 +
4. "Summary report, Estonia - Work package 4: Identification of sources and estimation of inputs/impacts
 +
on the Baltic Sea" Mailis Laht, Estonian Environmental Research Centre Epp Volkov, Estonian
 +
Environmental Research Centre (2011). <br />
 +
5. "Dioxins in the Baltic Sea" Helsinki Commission Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (2004). <br />
 +
6. "National Dioxins Program in Australia,Department of Environment and Energy in Australia", Australian Government Website (2018).
 +
      </p>
 +
   
 +
       
 +
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 +
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     </div>
 
     </div>
 
+
<div style="height:30%;width:1px">
    <div class="w3-twothird">
+
      <h1>Brassica campestris (Chinese Cabbage) </h1>
+
    <br /><br />
+
 
+
<div class="w3-light-grey">
+
  <div class="w3-container" style="width:60%;background-color:#2196f3a3"> <span class="w3-badge w3-white">1</span>
+
&nbsp; Dioxin Uptake</div>
+
</div>
+
 
+
<ul>
+
    <li>
+
        Roots does not go deep or wide relatively to other plants checked.
+
    </li>
+
    <li>
+
        High uptake of dioxins in roots.
+
    </li>
+
    <li>
+
        Very low transfer of dioxins from roots to shoots.
+
    </li>
+
</ul><br />
+
 
+
 
+
<div class="w3-light-grey">
+
  <div class="w3-container w3-green" style="width:85%"><span class="w3-badge w3-white">2</span>&nbsp; Ease of growth</div>
+
</div>
+
 
+
<ul>
+
<li>
+
Grow in most parts of the world, mostly in somewhat cold areas
+
</li>
+
<li>
+
Grown all year round.
+
</li>
+
</ul><br />
+
 
+
<div class="w3-light-grey">
+
  <div class="w3-container w3-red" style="width:90%"><span class="w3-badge w3-white">3</span> &nbsp; Ease of transformation</div>
+
</div>
+
 
+
<ul>
+
    <li>
+
        Abundance of agrobacterium strains known to be effective.
+
    </li>
+
    <li>
+
        Whole genome sequenced.
+
    </li>
+
        <li>
+
        Susceptible for hybridization.
+
    </li>
+
</ul><br />
+
 
+
 
+
 
+
 
+
<div class="w3-light-grey">
+
  <div class="w3-container w3-yellow" style="width:90%"><span class="w3-badge w3-white">4</span> &nbsp; Ease of sterilization</div>
+
</div>
+
 
+
<ul>
+
    <li> Known male and female sterile mutants.
+
    </li>
+
</ul><br />
+
 
+
 
+
<a href="#cabbage_full2"><button id="cabbage_full2" class="w3-button w3-blue-gray w3-padding-large w3-large w3-margin-top" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#2nd_full">Learn more</button></a> </div> <br /> <br />
+
<br /> <br />
+
 
+
</div> 
+
 
</div>
 
</div>
</div>
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  </div>
 
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<div id="2nd_full" class="collapse" style="text-align: left">
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<div class="w3-teal w3-center" style="padding-left:10%;padding-right:10%">
+
<br /> <br />
+
 
+
<h2 class="w3-center w3-panel" style="width:100%;background-color:#2196f3a3"> <span class="w3-badge w3-white">1</span> &nbsp; Dioxin Uptake</h2>
+
<p style="padding-left:90px;padding-right:90px;text-align:justify;line-height:1.5">
+
<br /> <br />
+
Although zucchini and pumpkin have showed the best overall uptake of dioxins, primarily showing an extraordinary shoot uptake of dioxins, Chinese cabbage have showed a specially high uptake of dioxins in root only according to table 2. as our proposed method takes effect in roots as well as the shoots, a high root uptake would work perfectly.
+
</p> 
+
 
+
<div style="text-align:center">
+
<br /> <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/f/f0/T--hebrewu--Open_Source_Table2.jpg" style="width:80%"> <br />
+
 
</div>
 
</div>
  
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<!------------ Modal 2 (Global Aspects) ------------->
  
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        <h2 class="w3-center">Global Aspects</h2>
 +
      </header>
 +
      <div class="w3-container w3-content">
 +
<p align="center" style="font-size:130%">
 +
                    Dioxins are mainly by-products of industrial processes, including waste incineration, but can also result from natural processes, such as volcanic eruptions and forest fires. Some of the processes that create Dioxins include smelting, chlorine bleaching of paper pulp and the manufacture of some herbicides and pesticides. When it comes to the release of dioxins into the environment, uncontrolled waste incinerators (solid waste and hospital waste) are often the worst culprits due to incomplete burning. <br /> <br /> 
 +
                                                Dioxin-based waste is not easily disposed of without contaminating the environment and human populations. Such materials need to be treated as hazardous waste and are most quickly destroyed by high temperature incineration in specialized facilities.
  
<h2 class="w3-center w3-panel w3-green"><span class="w3-badge w3-white">2</span> &nbsp; Plant Growth</h2>
 
<p style="padding-left:90px;padding-right:90px;text-align:justify;line-height:1.5">
 
Chinese cabbage requires cool temperatures between 7-17 degrees Celsius to grow and takes between 50-85 days to mature. It`s roots grow in taproot formation, spreading about 30 cm foot radius and go 75 cm deep, where the deeper the roots are, the less branched they are. The plant doesn`t require a large amount of water and able to keep growing without much (although that would make the roots go deeper and spread less).
 
</p>
 
 
 
<br /> <br />
 
<h2 class="w3-center w3-panel w3-red"> <span class="w3-badge w3-white">3</span> &nbsp; Plant Transformation:</h2>
 
<p style="padding-left:90px;padding-right:90px;text-align:justify;line-height:1.5">
 
An abundance of papers exists describing the transformation of Chinese cabbage using different agrobacterium strains, presenting 1-3% transformations rates.
 
</p>
 
<br /> <br />
 
<h2 class="w3-center w3-panel w3-yellow"><span class="w3-badge w3-white">4</span> &nbsp; Plant Sterility </h2>
 
  <p style="padding-left:90px;padding-right:90px;text-align:justify;line-height:1.5">
 
<br /> <br />
 
Both female and male sterile strains exist for the Chinese cabbage. Both molecular biology techniques or creation of hybrid strains protocols are available for recreation of sterile plants.
 
</p> 
 
 
<p class="w3-large w3-serif">
 
  <i class="fa fa-quote-right w3-xxlarge w3-margin-right"></i>
 
"compared to the wild-type line ‘FT,’ the fsm plants exhibited pistil abortion. Whether the fsm mutant was self-pollinated or used as the female parent to accept foreign pollen (wild-type line ‘FT’), the seed setting rates of fsm were both zero. The results showed that the female sterility of fsm was stable." </p>
 
  
<div style="text-align:center">
+
            </p><br /><br />
<br /> <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/3/32/T--hebrewu--Open_Source_Table1.jpg" style="width:80%"> <br />
+
            <p align="center" style="padding-left:100px;padding-right:100px;">
</div>
+
            Extensive stores of PCB-based [1]  waste and industrial oils, many with high levels of PCDF's [2] exist throughout the world. The long-term storage and improper disposal of these materials may result in exposure and contamination of the environment as well as human and animal food supplies.
 +
<br /><br />
 +
            Quantitatively speaking, the annual global dioxin production is approx. 17,200 kg, which corresponds to about 287 kg-TEQ. TEQ stands for “Toxic Equivalent” which weighs the toxicity of the less toxic compounds as fractions of the toxicity of the most toxic dioxin - TCDD. It been previously calculated (2015) that the total annual emission rate of dioxins into the atmosphere, only 9 kg-TEQ (3%) remains in the air. For the rest, 57% is deposited to land areas (163 kg-TEQ), while the remaining 40% is absorbed by ocean waters (115 kg-TEQ or 354 kg/year).
 +
<br /><br /><br />
 +
            </p>
 +
            <p align="left" style="padding-left:100px;padding-right:100px;">
 +
[1] - Polychlorinated biphenyl, a molecule with a structure similar to dioxin.<br />
 +
[2] - Polychlorinated dibenzofuran, another molecule with structure similar to dioxin.
 +
           
 +
           
 +
            </p>
  
<p style="padding-left:10%;padding-right:90px;text-align:justify;line-height:1.5">  
+
<h2 class="w3">Main sources of dioxin in each continent:</h2>
** CMS - Cytoplasmic Male Sterility.
+
        <h3 class="w3-center">Europe</h3>
</p>  
+
        <p style="padding-left:100px;padding-right:100px;text-align:justify"> The continent of Europe is one of the main producers of dioxins worldwide. The emissions are produced both from industrial activities and nonindustrial burning processes. The ambient concentration varies depending on the climate, residential activities, and the degree of development and social awareness of the inhabitants in the respective countriesAmong them, heavily industrialized countries like Germany were the main producers of dioxins until a few years ago (1990s) when stricter legislation and the implementation of more efficient treatment mechanisms led to the decrease of emissions to minimal values. Other industrialized countries like Poland, where less strict legislation is applied, have not shown the same progression.
+
    </p>
+
<h2 align="left"> References: </h2>
+
<p style="text-align:left">
+
1. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653509006730?via%3Dihub#tbl2">"Uptake by roots and translocation to shoots of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in typical crop plants" Haijun Zhang et al. (2009).
+
  </a> <br />
+
2. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10681-015-1595-9">"Interspecific hybridisation of cytoplasmic male-sterile rapeseed with Oguracytoplasm and Brassica rapa var. pekinensis as a method to obtain male-sterile Chinese cabbage inbred lines" Piotr Kamiński et al. (2016).
+
</a><br />
+
3. <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2017.00546/full">"Transcriptome Analysis of a Female-sterile Mutant (fsm) in Chinese Cabbage (Brassica campestris ssp. pekinensis)" Shengnan Huang et al. (2017).
+
  
</a><br />
+
        <h3 class="w3-center">Asia</h3>
4. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19436990">"SSR and SCAR mapping of a multiple-allele male-sterile gene in Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L.)" Feng and Lim YP (2009).
+
        <p style="padding-left:100px;padding-right:100px;text-align:justify;">
</a><br />
+
As by European countries, combustion activities, metal industries, and waste incineration are the main sources of dioxin emissions in Asia. Concentrations can differ depending on the dioxin-producing process, legislation for the area, and the social awareness of the population.  Furthermore, China, as a singular country, has been identified as the largest dioxin emitter in the world. Annual dioxin emission in China from 10 source groups was up to 10.2 kg TEQ in 2004, accounting for about 30% of the total global emissions 14,15. Due to technical difficulties in dioxin monitoring and laboratory analysis, information on dioxin contaminations in food supplies (in China) is limited.
5. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=21873998">"The genome of the mesopolyploid crop species Brassica rapa" Wang X and Zhang Z (Brassica rapa Genome Sequencing Project Consortium, 2011). </a><br />
+
        </p>
 +
       
 +
          <h3 class="w3-center">Africa</h3>
 +
          <p style="padding-left:100px;padding-right:100px;text-align:justify;"> Dioxin contaminations in Africa are mostly not a result of processes that occur on the continent itself, but rather a result of the airborne travel of Dioxin emissions that originate from Europe, among other sources. Africa is one of the continents that are most influenced by this type of secondary contamination, altering the correlation between the ratio of dioxin accumulation and the ratio of dioxin production per country.  
 +
        </p>
 +
       
 +
          <h3 class="w3-center">America:</h3>
 +
          <p style="padding-left:100px;padding-right:100px;text-align:justify;">TThe United States is the highest generator of dioxins in both North and South America. According to the study of the National Dioxin Air Monitoring Network (NDAMN), which measured the distribution of atmospheric pollution from 1999 to 2004 in the United States, higher ambient concentrations of airborne dioxins were found in the eastern part of the country. <br />Furthermore, based on analyses from 1987 to 2000 release of dioxin-like compounds from regulated industrial sources significantly dropped. he annual releases to the U.S. environment over the three reference years were: <br />
 +
</p><p align="center">
 +
14,000 g in 1987, <br />
 +
3,400 g in 1995, <br />
 +
1,400 g in 2000. <br />
  
6. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24194308">"Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and regeneration of fertile transgenic plants of chinese cabbage (brassica campestris ssp. pekinensis cv. 'spring flavor')" Jun S 2nd and Paek KH(1995). </a><br />
+
        </p>
 +
       
 +
                  <h3 class="w3-center">Antarctica, Oceania and the seas:</h3>
 +
          <p style="padding-left:100px;padding-right:100px;text-align:justify;"> The lowest concentration levels are found in the Antarctic and Oceania, while Europe presents the highest concentrations in soils. On the other hand, the northern parts of the Pacific Ocean, the High Seas, and the Mediterranean Sea show the highest levels of dioxins in water.
 +
        </p>
 +
       
 +
         
 +
                   
 +
<h2 class="w3">Severe contamination events of dioxins: </h2>
 +
<h3 class="w3-center">Agent Orange and the American - Vietnam war</h3>
 +
<p style="padding-left:100px;padding-right:100px;text-align:justify"> During the War between the US and Vietnam in the 1960’s, thousands of kilometers of land were heavily sprayed with an herbicide called Agent Orange, which was used to clear heavily forested areas. But TCDD was an unintended byproduct of Agent Orange production; thus, the military had unknowingly contaminated all of that land with this toxin. Even today, over 50 years after the event took place, the United States is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to reclaim that land.        
 +
        </p>
 +
       
 +
        <h3 class="w3-center"> Seveso disaster in Italy</h3>
 +
<p style="padding-left:100px;padding-right:100px;text-align:justify"> An accident at a chemical factory in Seveso, Italy in 1976 resulted in the highest known exposure to TCDD in residential areas. A mixture of toxic chemicals, including TCDD, was released into the air, contaminating an area of about 15 km2 where over 37,000 people lived. Within days, over 3000 animals in the area, including livestock, had perished, with over 80,000 animals being put down in order to prevent the contamination from entering our food chain. In addition, nearly 500 residents received severe skin lesions. In studies on the long-term effects of exposure on the affected population, higher incidences of cancer, nerve damage, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and impaired liver function were observed. This event gave rise to numerous scientific studies and standardized industrial safety regulations in Europe.</p>
 +
       
 +
        <h2 class="w3">References:</h2>
 +
      <p style="padding-left:100px;padding-right:100px;text-align:justify;"> 1. "Dioxins and their effects on human health" World Health Organization (2016). <br />
 +
2. "Review of the current state and main sources of dioxins around the world" Miguel Dopico & Alberto Gómez; Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 65:9, 1033-1049 (2015).   <br />
 +
3. "Trend of cancer risk of Chinese inhabitants to dioxins due to changes in dietary patterns:  1980–2009" Tao Huang , Hong Gao & Jianmin Ma; Scientific Reports volume 6, Article number: 21997 (2016) <br />
 +
4. "National Dioxins Program in Australia", Department of Environment and Energy in Australia, Australian Government Website (2018). <br />
 +
    5. "Inventory of Dioxin Sources and Environmental Releases" United States Environmental Protection Agency (2018). <br />
  
7. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17021847">"Successful genetic transformation of Chinese cabbage using phosphomannose isomerase as a selection marker" Min BW and Harn CH (2007).</a><br />
+
      </p>
 
+
          
9. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s002990050775">"Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of cotyledonary explants of Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris L. ssp. pekinensis)" F.-L, Zhang and M. Watanabe (2000).
+
          
</a><br />
+
          
9. <a href="https://harvesttotable.com/how_to_grow_chinese_cabbage/">"HOW TO GROW CHINESE CABBAGE" Steve Albert (2018). </a><br />
+
      </div>
 
+
      <footer class="w3-container w3-red">
10. <a href="https://homeguides.sfgate.com/deep-lettuce-roots-grow-101837.html">"How Deep Do Lettuce Roots Grow?" Teo Spengler.
+
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</a><br />
+
</p>
+
<br /> <br />
+
<br /> <br />
+
 
+
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    <div class="w3-twothird">
+
      <h1> Lycopersicon esculentum (Tomato) </h1>
+
      <br /><br />
+
 
+
 
+
<div class="w3-light-grey">
+
<div class="w3-container" style="width:30%;background-color:#2196f3a3"> <span class="w3-badge w3-white">1</span>
+
&nbsp; Dioxin Uptake</div>
+
</div>
+
 
+
<ul>
+
    <li>
+
         Roots go deep and wide.
+
    </li>
+
    <li>
+
         Very low transfer of dioxins from roots to shoots.
+
    </li>
+
</ul><br />
+
 
+
 
+
<div class="w3-light-grey">
+
  <div class="w3-container w3-green" style="width:75%"><span class="w3-badge w3-white">2</span>&nbsp; Ease of growth</div>
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<ul>
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    <li>
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         Grow in most parts of the world, require direct sunlight.
+
    </li>
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    <li>
+
        Grown all year round.
+
    </li>
+
    <li>
+
        Perennial plant.
+
    </li>
+
</ul><br />
+
 
+
<div class="w3-light-grey">
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  <div class="w3-container w3-red" style="width:96%"><span class="w3-badge w3-white">3</span> &nbsp; Ease of transformation</div>
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        Very effective agrobacterium transformation (40%+ transformation frequency).
+
    </li>
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    <li>
+
        Whole genome sequenced.
+
    </li>
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+
 
+
 
+
 
+
 
+
<div class="w3-light-grey">
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  <div class="w3-container w3-yellow" style="width:96%"><span class="w3-badge w3-white">4</span> &nbsp; Ease of sterilization</div>
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<ul>
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    <li> Known male and female sterile mutants.
+
    </li>
+
        <li> Known CRISPER methods for seedless fruits.
+
    </li>
+
        <li> Reproduce easily vegetativaly.
+
    </li>
+
</ul><br />
+
 
+
<a href="#tomato_full2"><button id="tomato_full2" class="w3-button w3-teal w3-padding-large w3-large w3-margin-top" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#tomato_full">Learn more</button></a> </div> <br /> <br />
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    <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/5/50/T--Hebrewu--Open_source_tomato.png" width="100%" style="padding-top:80px;">
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<h2 class="w3-center w3-panel" style="width:100%;background-color:#2196f3a3"> <span class="w3-badge w3-white">1</span> &nbsp; Dioxin Uptake</h2>
 
<p style="padding-left:90px;padding-right:90px;text-align:justify;line-height:1.5">
 
<br /> <br />
 
Much like the Chinese cabbage, tomato plants have high dioxin uptake in their roots but very poor transfer to shoots through the xylem. Main difference between the two is higher root uptake in Chinese cabbage, against easier transformation and longer life expectancy of tomatoes.
 
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<h2 class="w3-center w3-panel w3-green"><span class="w3-badge w3-white">2</span> &nbsp; Plant Growth</h2>
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Tomato plants come in different sizes and varieties. Tomato plants are perennials, mostly requiring direct sunlight to grow and love warm temperatures, able to grow in most areas of the world. It`s roots form a taproot formation, reaching half a meter to a meter and a half deep and 1 meter in diameter.
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                window.open(th.name,'_blank');
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<h2 class="w3-center w3-panel w3-red"> <span class="w3-badge w3-white">3</span> &nbsp; Plant Transformation:</h2>
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<p style="padding-left:90px;padding-right:90px;text-align:justify;line-height:1.5">
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Plant transformation using agrobacterium is considered robust, with transformation frequencies of 40%+. On top of that a whole genome sequence, being continuously studied for several decades now give us superb knowledge of tomato transformation possibilities.
+
</p>
+
<br /> <br />
+
<h2 class="w3-center w3-panel w3-yellow"><span class="w3-badge w3-white">4</span> &nbsp; Plant Sterility </h2>
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  <p style="padding-left:90px;padding-right:90px;text-align:justify;line-height:1.5">
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<br /> <br />
+
A technique for promoting fruit formation without seed creation using CRISPER/Cas9 exist on top of known male and female sterile strains.
+
On the down side, the plant is known for its ability to form roots everywhere on its stem, meaning it can easily spread by vegetative means.
+
</p> 
+
+
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<h2 align="left"> References: </h2>
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<p style="text-align:left">
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1. <a href="https://www.sgn.cornell.edu">"Tomato gene sequence" Fernandez-Pozo et al (2014).
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</a> <br />
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2. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19805904">"A simple and efficient Agrobacterium-mediated procedure for transformation of tomato" Sharma MK and Sharma AK (2009).
+
</a><br />
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3. <a href="https://homeguides.sfgate.com/deep-wide-fullgrown-tomato-plant-grow-59872.html">"How Deep & Wide Does a Full-Grown Tomato Plant Grow?
+
" Julie Christensen (2018).
+
 
+
</a><br />
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4. <a href="https://www.almanac.com/plant/tomatoes">"Planting, growing, and harvesting tomatoes" The Old Farmer's Almanac website (2018).
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Latest revision as of 17:33, 12 December 2018

HebrewU HujiGEM 2018

Although the formation of dioxins occurs "locally", environmental distribution is global. Dioxins are found throughout the world in small amounts, including areas that are entirely uninhabited. The highest levels of these compounds are found in some soils, sediments and food, especially dairy products, meat, fish and shellfish. Lower levels are found in plants, water and air.

×

Regulation

Many countries monitor their food supply for dioxins. This has led to the early detection of dioxin contaminations and has often prevented its impact on a larger scale. Though nearly every country in the world contains some level of dioxin contamination, most cases have been reported in industrialized countries where adequate food-monitoring, greater public awareness [of the hazard] and better regulatory controls exist.



The Stockholm convention

In the 1990s, it became apparent that the international community needed to take action aimed at reducing persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to protect the environment and human health. This led to the formation of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants which was established on May 17, 2004. By 2005, over 150 countries had signed while 98 had ratified the Convention.

The objective of the Stockholm Convention is to protect human health and the environment from the effects of POP's. The convention established a range of measures to reduce and, where feasible, eliminate POP emissions, and to ensure the sound management of stockpiles and wastes that contain POPs. A level of 0.1 ng TEQ/m3 of dioxins has been accepted internationally as the goal emission rate.

Regulation in Israel

The Israeli Union for Environmental Defense is a non-profit organization that handles legal battles involved in environmental and health-related laws, regulation and governmental approvals In Israel. Through our correspondence with them, we have learned that Israel`s regulation is focused on limiting emissions, not production; meaning industrial facilities are allowed to produce as much dioxin as they wish but may not release them into the environment. This concerned us because a) there is no oversight of how much dioxin is produced, and b) the oversight of emissions seems to be very lax.

In a 2004 article, we found that there is a law that regulates the amount of dioxin production in factories, but there is little to no enforcement of said law. Could you shed light on whether there has been any progress in this matter in recent years?

"There is no regulation regarding the amount of production, but rather the amount of emissions [of dioxins]. The regulations have improved considerably since the Clean Air Law (2008) and went into effect (in 2011). Factories have limitations on dioxin emissions (as well as restrictions on other materials). Regarding enforcement, we think that there has been a slight improvement since 2004, although, to our understanding, the enforcement level it still quite lacking."

"An issue where no improvements have been made regards the current information on total dioxin emissions in Israel. Since the 2005 dioxin emission survey, there has been no further investigation or update, and today there is virtually no overall information on all the emissions of these pollutants in Israel."

In your 2014 report on the emissions of hazardous substances, it was mentioned that the State of Israel had signed the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants treaty in 2001. The report states that, despite the signing, the state has not yet ratified it. What is needed for "ratification" to take place and has there been any progress on the issue since.

The signing of an international treaty is [unfortunately] more a declaration of intent, and its practical significance is relatively limited. While this particular ratification has a higher legal status than others - meaning that the state is placing the obligations it has undertaken through the Convention into Israeli legislation, making the obligations part of the binding law - there has been no change on this matter [since 2001].

Regulation in Estonia

Through collaboration with the Tartu University team, we were able to learn more about dioxin pollution in Estonia and the Baltic Sea. Estonian regulations are in line with those found in the EU. Though dioxin emissions in Estonia were lower than expected (when measured in 2003), there were still moderate pollution rates. It was estimated that large amount of pollutants comes with air masses from the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland . Dioxins enter the Baltic Sea as air fallout when transported from land-based sources which could be attributed to chemical and forest industries [especially in Russia where use of chlorine gas in these industries is still common practice].

Regulation in Australia

Australian regulation are also based on the limits that were accepted at the time of Stockholm convention (TEQ value below 0.1 ng). The Australian government announced a four-year National Dioxins Program back in 2001 to reduce dioxins and dioxin-like substances in the environment.

The studies [from Australia] show that the levels of dioxins in food, people and the environment are generally low when compared with levels internationally. They also showed that the risks to human health and the environment are low. Although there were only a small number of samples analyzed, these studies provided the largest survey of dioxin levels taken in Australia to date.

References:

1. "Dioxin and Furan Inventories. National and Regional Emissions of PCDD/PCDF" UNEP Chemicals, IOMC, Geneva, Switzerland (1999).
2. "Residues of persistent organic pollutants in Estonian soils" Kurunthachalam Senthil Kumara el al. (2008).
3. "Measurements of persistent organic pollutants in Estonian ambient air (1990–2013)" Ott Rootsa et al (2015).
4. "Summary report, Estonia - Work package 4: Identification of sources and estimation of inputs/impacts on the Baltic Sea" Mailis Laht, Estonian Environmental Research Centre Epp Volkov, Estonian Environmental Research Centre (2011).
5. "Dioxins in the Baltic Sea" Helsinki Commission Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (2004).
6. "National Dioxins Program in Australia,Department of Environment and Energy in Australia", Australian Government Website (2018).

×

Global Aspects

Dioxins are mainly by-products of industrial processes, including waste incineration, but can also result from natural processes, such as volcanic eruptions and forest fires. Some of the processes that create Dioxins include smelting, chlorine bleaching of paper pulp and the manufacture of some herbicides and pesticides. When it comes to the release of dioxins into the environment, uncontrolled waste incinerators (solid waste and hospital waste) are often the worst culprits due to incomplete burning.

Dioxin-based waste is not easily disposed of without contaminating the environment and human populations. Such materials need to be treated as hazardous waste and are most quickly destroyed by high temperature incineration in specialized facilities.



Extensive stores of PCB-based [1] waste and industrial oils, many with high levels of PCDF's [2] exist throughout the world. The long-term storage and improper disposal of these materials may result in exposure and contamination of the environment as well as human and animal food supplies.

Quantitatively speaking, the annual global dioxin production is approx. 17,200 kg, which corresponds to about 287 kg-TEQ. TEQ stands for “Toxic Equivalent” which weighs the toxicity of the less toxic compounds as fractions of the toxicity of the most toxic dioxin - TCDD. It been previously calculated (2015) that the total annual emission rate of dioxins into the atmosphere, only 9 kg-TEQ (3%) remains in the air. For the rest, 57% is deposited to land areas (163 kg-TEQ), while the remaining 40% is absorbed by ocean waters (115 kg-TEQ or 354 kg/year).


[1] - Polychlorinated biphenyl, a molecule with a structure similar to dioxin.
[2] - Polychlorinated dibenzofuran, another molecule with structure similar to dioxin.

Main sources of dioxin in each continent:

Europe

The continent of Europe is one of the main producers of dioxins worldwide. The emissions are produced both from industrial activities and nonindustrial burning processes. The ambient concentration varies depending on the climate, residential activities, and the degree of development and social awareness of the inhabitants in the respective countries. Among them, heavily industrialized countries like Germany were the main producers of dioxins until a few years ago (1990s) when stricter legislation and the implementation of more efficient treatment mechanisms led to the decrease of emissions to minimal values. Other industrialized countries like Poland, where less strict legislation is applied, have not shown the same progression.

Asia

As by European countries, combustion activities, metal industries, and waste incineration are the main sources of dioxin emissions in Asia. Concentrations can differ depending on the dioxin-producing process, legislation for the area, and the social awareness of the population. Furthermore, China, as a singular country, has been identified as the largest dioxin emitter in the world. Annual dioxin emission in China from 10 source groups was up to 10.2 kg TEQ in 2004, accounting for about 30% of the total global emissions 14,15. Due to technical difficulties in dioxin monitoring and laboratory analysis, information on dioxin contaminations in food supplies (in China) is limited.

Africa

Dioxin contaminations in Africa are mostly not a result of processes that occur on the continent itself, but rather a result of the airborne travel of Dioxin emissions that originate from Europe, among other sources. Africa is one of the continents that are most influenced by this type of secondary contamination, altering the correlation between the ratio of dioxin accumulation and the ratio of dioxin production per country.

America:

TThe United States is the highest generator of dioxins in both North and South America. According to the study of the National Dioxin Air Monitoring Network (NDAMN), which measured the distribution of atmospheric pollution from 1999 to 2004 in the United States, higher ambient concentrations of airborne dioxins were found in the eastern part of the country.
Furthermore, based on analyses from 1987 to 2000 release of dioxin-like compounds from regulated industrial sources significantly dropped. he annual releases to the U.S. environment over the three reference years were:

14,000 g in 1987,
3,400 g in 1995,
1,400 g in 2000.

Antarctica, Oceania and the seas:

The lowest concentration levels are found in the Antarctic and Oceania, while Europe presents the highest concentrations in soils. On the other hand, the northern parts of the Pacific Ocean, the High Seas, and the Mediterranean Sea show the highest levels of dioxins in water.

Severe contamination events of dioxins:

Agent Orange and the American - Vietnam war

During the War between the US and Vietnam in the 1960’s, thousands of kilometers of land were heavily sprayed with an herbicide called Agent Orange, which was used to clear heavily forested areas. But TCDD was an unintended byproduct of Agent Orange production; thus, the military had unknowingly contaminated all of that land with this toxin. Even today, over 50 years after the event took place, the United States is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to reclaim that land.

Seveso disaster in Italy

An accident at a chemical factory in Seveso, Italy in 1976 resulted in the highest known exposure to TCDD in residential areas. A mixture of toxic chemicals, including TCDD, was released into the air, contaminating an area of about 15 km2 where over 37,000 people lived. Within days, over 3000 animals in the area, including livestock, had perished, with over 80,000 animals being put down in order to prevent the contamination from entering our food chain. In addition, nearly 500 residents received severe skin lesions. In studies on the long-term effects of exposure on the affected population, higher incidences of cancer, nerve damage, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and impaired liver function were observed. This event gave rise to numerous scientific studies and standardized industrial safety regulations in Europe.

References:

1. "Dioxins and their effects on human health" World Health Organization (2016).
2. "Review of the current state and main sources of dioxins around the world" Miguel Dopico & Alberto Gómez; Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 65:9, 1033-1049 (2015).
3. "Trend of cancer risk of Chinese inhabitants to dioxins due to changes in dietary patterns: 1980–2009" Tao Huang , Hong Gao & Jianmin Ma; Scientific Reports volume 6, Article number: 21997 (2016)
4. "National Dioxins Program in Australia", Department of Environment and Energy in Australia, Australian Government Website (2018).
5. "Inventory of Dioxin Sources and Environmental Releases" United States Environmental Protection Agency (2018).