This poster centres around exploring the flowering response potential of Lemna minor, a species not known to be able to flower in laboratory conditions. We use phylogenetic assays to identify potential regulators of flowering in L. minor to better understand the potential mechanism behind flowering in this species, and use modern molecular biology to identify the regulation of these...
Lemnaceae (duckweeds) and Azolla, are floating aquatic plants, that exhibit rapid growth in nutrient-rich waters and have considerable potential for biomass production using wastewater derived nutrients. This study evaluated Lemna species and Azolla filiculoides (Azolla) growth performance on industrial meat processing effluent under controlled laboratory conditions. Growth effects...
The present study evaluated the suitability of recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) process water from African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) for cultivating Lemna minor (9440) in a greenhouse system. An indoor vertical farming (IVF) system for decoupled aquaponics was developed and implemented.
Cultivation in process water had no significant effect on frond area or frond weight, while...
Changes in morphology have occurred frequently over the course of plant evolution, and in some cases involve the loss of entire organs or structures, yet the mechanisms that underpin organ loss are not well understood. We are using duckweed as a model to understand organ loss. As duckweed evolved, they experienced a dramatic reduction in anatomical complexity. Their roots losing the ability to...
Intensive swine farming generates nutrient-rich wastewater that, if mismanaged, poses environmental risks but also offers opportunities for resource recovery. Duckweed, noted for its rapid growth and high nutrient-uptake capacity, offers a promising solution for wastewater treatment and holds untapped potential for agricultural valorisation. This study investigated duckweed cultivated on both...
Polylactic acid (PLA) has gained considerable industrial relevance, often considered an environmentally preferable material, but it can actually undergo fragmentation, generating micro- and nano-plastics (MPs/NPs), whose biological consequences are still insufficiently characterized. In the present study, we used an untargeted metabolomics approach to investigate the in vivo metabolic...
Predicting the outcome of species interactions in complex communities requires separating the direct effects that organisms have on each other from those that function indirectly through their influence on other community members and the environment. We performed a two-year outdoor experiment with 14 mesocosms containing the giant duckweed, Spirodela polyrhiza, in the presence or absence of...
Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture is an aquaculture system in which extractive species (algae, aquatic plants, bivalves, etc.) recycle the waste produced by fed species (fish, shrimp, etc.). By integrating organisms from different trophic levels, IMTA reduces the potential environmental impacts of aquaculture and improves the sustainability and economic value of production systems.
The...
Evolution does not always lead to increased complexity, and in plants, the loss of floral organs is a recurring phenomenon across different lineages. However, the mechanisms behind this simplification remain poorly understood. To investigate the evolutionary processes leading to floral organ loss, duckweeds, especially Wolffia microscopica, provide an ideal system because of the smallest...
Transgenerational plasticity is considered a flexible and rapid adaptive mechanism that enables organisms to respond to environmental change over relatively short evolutionary timescales. However, how long these effects persist and the extent to which they influence organismal fitness remain largely unknown. Here, we investigated these questions using the giant duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza)...
Duckweeds (Lemnaceae) are the smallest flowering plants and reproduce predominantly through vegetative propagation, while flowering occurs only rarely under natural and laboratory conditions, limiting breeding and germplasm conservation. Although salicylic acid (SA) efficiently induces flowering in several duckweed species, the molecular mechanisms regulating floral transition remain largely...
Desalination brine is increasingly recognized as a potential resource rather than a waste stream requiring disposal. This study presents a modelling strategy for sequentially reusing desalination concentrate for food production, fish culture (food) and irrigation of salt-tolerant halophytes crops, including Atriplex lentiformis and Salicornia bigelovii. The proposed system follows a serial...
Abstract
This study investigated the growth and physiological responses of four Lemna gibba clones (UD0101, UD0103, UD0106, and UD0114) following 7-day exposure to Mn (0.05–160 mg L⁻¹) under controlled conditions (Steinberg’s medium containing 0.05 mg Mn L⁻¹). Growth was assessed using frond area relative growth rate (RGRFA) and frond number relative growth rate (RGRFN). Photosynthetic...
In eukaryotes, post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) involves the production of small
interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and their incorporation into ARGONAUTE (AGO) proteins. The
resulting siRNA–AGO complex mediates mRNA cleavage and/or translational repression,
leading to degradation via RNA decay pathways and ultimately resulting in reduced protein
expression. In plants, mRNA cleavage is...
Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and microplastics (MPs) are among the most prevalent emerging contaminants in freshwater ecosystems, yet the role of nanoparticle surface coating in modulating phytotoxicity, particularly under co-exposure conditions, remains poorly understood. To address this, we examined the individual and combined effects of two surface-coated AgNPs, cetyltrimethylammonium...
Duckweeds (Lemnaceae) are rapidly growing aquatic plants with potential as sustainable feedstocks for human nutrition, animal feed, biofuel production, and wastewater bioremediation. In natural environments, duckweed coexists with diverse microbial communities, forming a complex host-microbiome assemblage known as a holobiont. Within this assemblage, duckweed-associated plant growth-promoting...
Duckweeds possess some of the most highly reduced flowers among angiosperms; however, their sexual reproduction is poorly understood. Although flowering can be induced in multiple duckweed species under controlled conditions, successful seed set remains limited. A better understanding of pollination is required to establish controlled crossing systems, while reliable seed production is...
Duckweed (Lemna sp.) is a promising alternative ruminant feed due to its rapid growth and high protein content. However, extracellular self-DNA released from plant tissues may exert species-specific inhibitory effects on microbial activity, a phenomenon remaining unexplored in rumen systems. This study evaluated the effects of Lemna supplementation and Lemna-derived self-DNA on in vitro rumen...
Small RNA silencing pathways in plants play crucial roles in development, antiviral resistance, and transposon control. There are two types of silencing: transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) and post-transcriptional (PTGS). TGS acts via the RNA-directed DNA methylation pathway and 24nt-long small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). PTGS functions at the mRNA level, where viral or transgene RNA...
Extracellular self-DNA has emerged as a species-specific regulator of plant growth, yet its effects and physiological responses in aquatic plants remain poorly understood. This study investigated whether extracellular self-DNA preferentially inhibits growth in a two-species duckweed community and whether this response is associated with oxidative stress. Lemna perpusilla and Spirodela...
Duckweed is a sustainable biomass resource capable of high-value protein production, carbon sequestration, nutrient recovery, and water purification. This study evaluated the feasibility of commercial-scale duckweed production in Malaysia through pilot-scale cultivation, sequential nutrient optimization, drying process development, and life cycle assessment (LCA). A two-stage sequential media...
Duckweed is a sustainable aquatic biomass with potential for biorefinery applications owing to its rapid growth and rich proteins, starch composition, and bioactive compounds. However, conventional processing methods often fail to efficiently fractionate its components, limiting biomass valorization. This study investigated aqueous fractionation assisted by pulsed electric field (PEF) and...
In the face of climate change and the demand for more sustainable alternatives to industrial operations, duckweed plants are utilized across a diverse set of applications – from wastewater treatment, to feedstock production, to bioenergy and bioproduct generation. The Wolffia genus is the smallest and fastest-growing known angiosperm, making it of particular interest for duckweed research,...
The growing demand for sustainable food has driven the development of alternative protein sources with a lower environmental impact. Lemna minor emerges as a promising alternative due to its high protein content, essential amino acid rich profile, rapid growth, and high adaptability to adverse environmental conditions. The goal of this project is to explore this species as a sustainable source...
High phenotypic plasticity of duckweeds affects their biomass productivity. Reliable estimation of biomass quantity and quality, hence, are important when culturing duckweed outdoors. Spectral proxies, that is, indices derived from light reflectance and transmittance, became fundamental in crop production, but their application on duckweeds has only been reported scarcely.
We aimed at...
Cultivating duckweed (Lemnaceae) on livestock wastewater represents a leading strategy for the circular bioeconomy, particularly relevant in Campania (Italy), where about 80% of the national buffalo herd is concentrated and where sustainable wastewater management is a priority challenge.
Several image analysis techniques are now available to calculate the relative growth rate (RGR) of these...
Duckweeds are a group of aquatic plants that represent an attractive platform for molecular farming due to their rapid vegetative propagation, genetic stability, and low cultivation costs. In this study, we investigated the production of recombinant human interferon alpha-2b (HsIFN2b), a cytokine widely used for antiviral and anti-proliferative therapies, in duckweed, with potential to reduce...
Effluents generated by the dairy sector constitute a nutrient-rich matrix with a
significant environmental impact. Conventional treatments are generally energy-intensive and
based on biological oxidation, leading to nutrient dissipation and secondary waste products.
Phytoremediation emerge as sustainable strategy for nutrient recovery and biomass
production within a circular economy framework....
