Project description
Optimising immune receptor pairs for crop disease resistance
Bioengineering plant immune receptors can quickly enhance disease resistance, but this often results in suboptimal responses due to incompatibility. The ERC-funded CooPAIRation project aims to explore the genetic diversity and evolutionary history of the TaPik wheat immune receptor pair to understand receptor compatibility, facilitating the design of optimised immune receptor pairs for disease resistance without harming crops. The project will analyse natural and bioengineered alleles to link immune response variations among receptor pairs to specific molecular factors through phylogenetics, functional assays, and structural biology. By studying co-evolved and mismatched receptor pairs, the project will uncover dynamics of sensor-helper compatibility and identify optimal combinations. It will establish principles for receptor compatibility and develop strategies to enhance crop disease resistance.
Objective
CooPAIRation is an ambitious project that aims to harness the genetic diversity and evolutionary history of the TaPik wheat immune receptor pair to determine the molecular mechanisms underpinning paired receptor compatibility and guide the design of optimised immune receptor pairs for disease resistance. Bioengineering new resistance profiles in plant immune receptors offers a powerful solution for the timely deployment of new disease resistance traits in the field to fight off rapidly evolving plant pathogens that threaten food security. However, bioengineering plant immune receptor pairs often leads to suboptimal immune responses, likely due to receptor incompatibility caused by the editing process.
To address this, the central hypothesis of CooPAIRation is that identifying the mechanisms underlying paired immune receptor compatibility in the context of natural and bioengineered alleles will guide optimisation efforts to enable the deployment and stacking of immune receptor alleles without detrimental effects for crop plants.
To achieve our aim, we will combine phylogenetics, functional assays and structural biology to link variation in the immune response across different immune receptor pairs to specific molecular determinants of receptor compatibility and harness this information to design optimised receptor pairs for disease resistance. We will pursue the following objectives:
1. Phylogenetics: Determine the variation in immune response triggered by coevolved and mismatched receptor pairs
2. Mechanisms: Identify the molecular mechanisms underlying sensor-helper compatibility
3. Biophysics: Define the biophysical properties of optimal and suboptimal sensor-helper combinations
4. Resistance: Deliver optimised receptor pairs for disease resistance
At the completion of this project, we will define the underpinning functioning principles of paired immune receptor compatibility and deliver optimised strategies for bioengineering disease resistance.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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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.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture grains and oilseeds cereals
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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.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
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
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06120 Halle
Germany
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