Project description
New tool for wheat genetic variation analysis
To ensure food security amid the ongoing environmental crisis, it is necessary to breed new cultivars quickly. Enhancing genetic diversity and using improved tools for trait transfer from wild relatives, especially in wheat, is crucial. The ERC-funded NextWheat project will develop a computational tool to analyse genetic variation in modern and wild wheat genomes, with a specific focus on identifying harmful mutations that affect fitness. The project will develop genomic tools for the effective genotyping of these mutations in classical breeding programmes and assess their impact on yield. It will use genome-editing techniques to enhance genetic diversity by transferring genes from wild relatives into domestic wheat and repairing harmful mutations. All materials and tools produced will be made freely available.
Objective
Addressing the challenge of food security during the current environmental crisis will necessitate rapidly breeding a new generation of adapted cultivars. Genetic diversity and selection of natural variants are key to advances in breeding. However, there is a need for better tools to predict how natural variation impacts plant performances, to improve the precision and efficiency of gene modification, and transfer from wild relatives to crops. We will focus on wheat, one of the most important staple foods of humanity, and on the broad genetic pool of its wild relatives. Our goals are to develop a computational tool to analyze genetic variation in the genomes of modern and wild wheat and to identify deleterious mutations that impair fitness. We will build genomics tools for effective genotyping of deleterious mutations in classical breeding and we will test their effect on yield. Then, we will use genome editing tools to increase diversity via the precise transfer of genes from the wild into the domestic background and for targeted repair of deleterious mutations towards wheat improvement. We plan to achieve this by developing a machine-learning algorithm to predict the presence of deleterious mutations in whole genomes (WP1). Then, we will test how such mutations can affect crop fitness by designing a genotyping microarray for simple identification of deleterious mutations in segregating populations for use in classical breeding (WP2). We will also harness new breeding technologies to increase the genetic diversity in wheat through the precise transfer of genes or chromosomal segments from close and distant chromosomes of wild relatives to modern wheat and for repairing deleterious mutations through modification of the relevant genes (WP3). This project should provide a new understanding of how genetic diversity affects plant fitness and how better to exploit it in plant breeding. All materials and tools developed through this work will be freely available.
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 genetics mutation
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics chromosomes
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture grains and oilseeds cereals
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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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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.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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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-2024-ADG
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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.
7610001 Rehovot
Israel
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