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In planta jet injection: Efficient genetic engineering of resilient crops

Project description

Genome-delivering devices for resilient crops

Predicted crop yields may decline due to climate change and rising biotic threats, making the revitalisation of crop breeding for higher productivity and climate resilience essential. Genome editing can enhance traditional breeding by accelerating the development of crops with improved traits like drought tolerance and disease resistance. However, delivering genome-editing tools efficiently through the rigid plant cell wall remains a significant challenge. The ERC-funded Plant-a-Jet project will develop affordable, high-throughput devices that enable the rapid and efficient transformation of crops. This innovative and scalable method is suitable for mass production, creating opportunities for new entrants in the market for transgenic plants, fostering innovation and competition, lowering food costs for consumers, and diversifying available products.

Objective

Feeding 11 billion people by 2100 in a changing climate is a global challenge. Without further innovation, predicted crop yield will decrease due to climate change effects. Moreover, the number of biotic threats is increasing with pathogen pressure and infection risk showing temperature-dependency as well. Thus, crop breeding must be invigorated to generate plants with higher yield, and climate change resilience needs to be urgently met.

Genome editing has the potential to assist classical breeding. Breeding based on gene editing enables faster production of crops with improved traits such as drought tolerance, disease resistance, and increased yield. Established delivery methods for in planta crop transformation are labor-intensive, cannot be applied to any crop species and have low transformation efficiencies, often below 1%.

Delivering genome-editing cargo efficiently and cost-competitive in vivo, through the hard plant cell wall, is an unmet challenge. With our approach we aim to generate affordable, high-throughput devices that enable fast and efficient transformation of crops. Thus, our scalable approach is compatible with mass production. This, in turn, will open the market for transgenic plants for newcomers leading to more innovation and competition that will drive food costs for the consumers and varied products.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept Grants

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2022-POC2

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Host institution

UNIVERSITEIT TWENTE
Net EU contribution

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.

€ 150 000,00
Address
DRIENERLOLAAN 5
7522 NB Enschede
Netherlands

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Region
Oost-Nederland Overijssel Twente
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

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Beneficiaries (1)

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