Project description
Towards novel crop protection solutions against aphids
One of the most destructive insect pests is the aphid. Current aphid control measures rely heavily on insecticides, which are not only costly but also harmful to the environment. On top of this, studies have shown that aphids have developed resistance to several important insecticides. Tackling this, the EU-funded APHIDTRAP project aims to answer important questions on how insects such as the greenfly – a commonly known aphid – are successful pests. The project's work will help find effective methods to reduce crop susceptibility to insect pests.
Objective
Aphids are devastating insect pests of crops globally, and pose a major threat to food security. Crucially, there is a lack of durable genetic crop resistance against aphids, and current control relies almost exclusively on insecticides, which are costly and damaging to the environment and to which aphids develop resistance. These insects deliver proteins inside host plants, called effectors, to suppress the plant immune system and enhance susceptibility. I recently discovered that these effectors exhibit their activity via interacting with host plant proteins pointing to important conceptual parallels between plant-insect and plant-microbe interactions. This raises important new questions that urgently need to be addressed to enable development of novel protection strategies against aphids that are durable and sustainable. These are:
What is the mechanistic and structural basis of aphid effector-triggered susceptibility?
How can we interfere with aphid effector-triggered susceptibility?
APHIDTRAP will address these questions using an innovative strategy: 1) I will introduce a structural biology approach to the insect effector biology field to reveal protein 3D structures of aphid effectors and their host protein targets in bound and unbound state, and determine how mutations in these proteins affect interactions and protein functions. 2) I will use both natural variants and mutants of effectors and host protein targets, combined with in planta functional assays to explore plant-aphid molecular co-evolution. 3) I will identify host protein target interactomes and investigate how mutations affect network functionality. 4) I will use information generated in 1-3 to develop and apply a synthetic biology approach to prevent aphid effector-triggered susceptibility in potato crop plants.
APHIDTRAP’s vision is to elucidate the mechanisms that underlie susceptibility to aphids and investigate how we can interfere with these to reduce crop susceptibility to insect pests.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- natural sciences biological sciences evolutionary biology
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics mutation
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology entomology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2020-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
DD1 4HN Dundee
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.