Project description
Finding nature’s ‘sweet spot’: exploiting natural genetic variation against crop stressors
Abiotic stressors – non-living factors such as very high or low temperatures, insufficient or excessive water, and high salinity – are the primary cause of crop loss worldwide. Climate change is increasing the incidence and severity of events such as floods, droughts, heat waves and snowfall or hail, posing a growing threat to the global food chain. The EU-funded NatGenCrop project will employ a range of high-tech genetic and genomic approaches to identify genes contributing to high yield and stress tolerance. In a second line of research, the team will assess the impact of abiotic stress on fruit quality to ultimately improve the nutritional properties of crops as well.
Objective
Yield and nutritional properties of vegetable crops are affected by unfavorable environmental conditions, such as drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, and pollutants. This project aims at improving stress tolerance of major vegetable crops and design new strategies for maintaining higher yields and food quality even during unfavorable weather conditions. One of the major research directions is exploring the wide genetic and phenotypic variations of fleshy (tomato, pepper) and leafy (lettuce) vegetables to improve agronomical traits under abiotic stresses (e.g. drought, salinity, and extreme temperatures). We will employ a suite of genetics and genomics approaches, such as GWAS in combination with QTL, to identify genes contributing to high yield and stress tolerance. In another research direction, we will characterize the fruit metabolic compositions in terms of flavor and healthy related compounds to assess the impact of abiotic stress on fruit quality. A wide range of plant phenotypic, and metabolic traits will be evaluated, followed by transcriptomic profiling in two genome-wide association (GWAS) panels and two backcrossed inbred lines (BILs) populations for both tomato and pepper. The identified genes will be subsequently validated by CRISPR-Cas9 editing technologies and field trials. To implement this ambitious work program, a new research department “Crop Quantitative Genetics” will be established in the Center of Plant Systems Biology and Biotechnology (CPSBB) in Plovdiv. The new research department will scale up the applied research on vegetable breeding in CPSBB and the region. Furthermore, the new CPSBB department will link with Bulgarian and international research organizations, companies, and farmer associations in the field of crop science, creating an ecosystem network that is highly attractive to talented researchers and brings the innovations to end users for the benefit of the society.
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 ecology ecosystems
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
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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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HORIZON.4.1 - Widening participation and spreading excellence
MAIN PROGRAMME
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HORIZON.4.1.3 - ERA-Chairs
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Topic(s)
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.
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.
HORIZON-CSA - HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions
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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) HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-TALENTS-01
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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.
Plovdiv
Bulgaria
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.