Project description
Plant root domestication and drought tolerance
Crop domestication has revolutionised agriculture and, consequently, human civilisation, empowering the modification of plants to enhance yield and growth speed. However, our understanding of how this transformation impacted plant roots and the rhizosphere, crucial for addressing current drought challenges, remains limited. The ERC-funded WILD-ROOTS project aims to investigate the impact of domestication on plant roots, test hypotheses regarding the reduction of their drought tolerance, and explore potential domestication-induced alterations in plant roots. To achieve this, the project will focus on comparing differences with wild plant roots, examining root exudation and volatile organic compound emissions, and delving into the mechanisms underlying drought tolerance.
Objective
Crop domestication revolutionised human life. This process induced changes in plant traits that produced plants that grew faster and generated higher yields. However, remarkably little is known about how plant roots have changed throughout the domestication process. Climate change is causing increasing droughts in many parts of the world. Given that roots are the way that water enters the plant, they are key for understanding drought tolerance. Root traits from crop ancestors could offer a route to increasing drought tolerance of modern crops. To do this, we need to focus our efforts on the impact of domestication on roots and the rhizosphere (the zone around the root including microbes), rather than only aboveground traits as traditionally done. WILD-ROOTS will therefore test the overall hypothesis that crop domestication led to changes in root and rhizosphere traits which decreased the drought tolerance of crops compared to their wild relatives. WILD-ROOTS will make a holistic study of the roots and rhizospheres of a wide range of crops from diverse origins. There will be a focus on root exudation and volatile organic compound (VOC) emission, which are vital root processes that are crucial for many types of interactions with plants, animals, microbes and the soil itself. Changes in root exudates and VOCs have been observed during drought conditions, but their roles in the drought tolerance of plants remains unclear. WILD-ROOTS will (1) evaluate domestication effects on the roots and rhizosphere, then (2) elucidate the mechanisms relating belowground traits to drought tolerance, and finally (3) use this knowledge to modernise crop models and identify belowground traits to be exploited for drought-proofing current crops. The results will reshape our fundamental knowledge of both the crop domestication process and how root exudation influences drought tolerance, as well as offering new approaches to boost the food security of current and future agricultural systems.
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.
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
- social sciences political sciences political transitions riots
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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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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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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
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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.
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2023-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.
08140 CALDES DE MONTBUI BARCELONA
Spain
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