Project description
Boosting shelf-life: innovative bioengineering for Brassica crops
Up to 50 % of harvested vegetables are currently wasted along the supply chain because they rapidly lose nutritional value and rot. This waste contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and compromises healthy diets for a growing population. The ERC-funded Post-Harvest-Boost project will address this by using synthetic gene circuits to introduce beneficial traits that activate only after harvest. By targeting Brassica crops such as broccoli and cabbage, the project will improve their post-harvest longevity without affecting their initial growth in the soil. This innovative bioengineering approach aims to significantly reduce food waste and enhance food security. Successful implementation will result in financial gains and healthier, longer-lasting produce for growers, retailers and consumers.
Objective
Food security and nutritious diets for all are major challenges for a rapidly growing global population and for healthy aging. To feed the global population in the coming years, the production of agricultural crops has to sharply increase, yet up to 50% of harvested vegetables are currently wasted along the supply chain from growers to retailers to consumers. Food waste also produces greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change and their diminishing nutrition upon storage compromise healthy diets. Especially leafy vegetable crops have relatively short-shelf lives: after harvest they rapidly lose nutritional value, suffer from dehydration, and often end up rotting as diseases strike. Thus, there are urgent public health, net zero and economic needs to improve the post-harvest shelf-lives of vegetables.
In our ERC-CoG project UbRegulate, we discovered that post-harvest tissues experience extensive changes in their ability to launch immune responses. Further study showed that after harvest, Brassica crops such as cabbage, broccoli and salad rocket, undergo dramatic cellular changes to cope with post-harvest stresses. These findings demonstrate that post-harvest crops respond differently to their environment compared to unharvested crops. Thus, bioengineering harvest-inducible traits – rather than constitutive traits – to improve post-harvest health and longevity is preferable and avoids deleterious side-effects during the on-soil growth phase.
Here, we will provide proof-of-concept that synthetic bioengineering approaches can introduce novel traits specifically in harvested tissues. By using synthetic gene circuits, we will specifically express desirable traits only after harvest to extend the healthy shelf-lives of Brassica crops. Improving post-harvest longevity, quality and health of crops will result in large financial gains, food security and dramatically reduce food waste for growers, retailers and consumers.
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.
- medical and health sciences health sciences public health
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology
- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture horticulture vegetable growing
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences climatology climatic changes
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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)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept 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-2025-POC
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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.
EH8 9YL Edinburgh
United Kingdom
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.