Objective Abiotic stresses, mainly high temperature, is among the most limiting factor of crops performance and their geographical distribution in European agriculture and worldwide. Although work on temperature tolerance dates many years back, mush less is known about the underlying molecular mechanisms. New evidences point out to long-lasting effect that could be transmitted across developmental stages and even among generations. The TRANS_EPIGEN project will address this issue, focussing on the plants’ reproductive structures that are primary determinants of crop yield and vigour that is of human interest. Adverse conditions during germ cell formation, pollination, seed formation and grain filling account for the bulk of yield losses due to abiotic stresses. Important regulatory steps in these developmental stages are under epigenetic control mechanisms causing transmittable changes in gene expression by modification of DNA and associated proteins. We hypothesize that stress conditions change the interaction between epigenetic regulators and their targets. TRANS_EPIGEN will focus on investigating the influence of heat stress on sexual plant reproduction, aiming at identifying long-lasting epigenetic effects, epigenetic key regulators, their targets, and their interactions in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Thus, the TRANS_EPIGEN proposal will generate novel information relevant to stress physiology and adaptation, epigenetic inheritance, and crop performance under increasingly changing environmental conditions. Identifying genes potentially suitable to improve plant performance under heat stress conditions will pave the way for further research on their orthologues in crop plant aimed at engineering crop plants with better performance after stress exposure, generating undoubtedly IP-relevant knowledge that provides European agriculture a competitive advantage. Fields of science agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturegrains and oilseedsnatural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsDNAnatural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsmedical and health sciencesbasic medicinephysiologynatural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsepigenetics Programme(s) FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF - Marie Curie Action: "Intra-European Fellowships for Career Development" Call for proposal FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF) Coordinator University of Zurich EU contribution € 233 576,80 Address RAMISTRASSE 71 8006 ZURICH Switzerland See on map Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Ueli Grossniklaus (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data
