Objective
Flowering plants exhibit a variety of different life cycles. This variation contributes in nature to adaptation to diverse environments and in agriculture to optimising crop yield. Annual monocarpic species flower once during their life, produce seeds and then undergo generalized senescence leading to death of the plant. By contrast polycarpic perennials survive seed production and live for many years flowering repeatedly. Most of our major crops are monocarpic annuals but perennials predominate in many ecological niches. Perennials exhibit phenotypic traits that would be advantageous for crops, such as an extended growing season, long duration of flowering and seed set as well as longer roots that more efficiently utilize nutrients and water supply. The high productivity of perennials explains their current use as sources of biomass. I propose here to use the progeny of hybrids between annual and perennial species in the Brassicaceae to isolate genes that confer key differences between these life histories. The utility of such genes in improving annual crops will then be tested. Arabis alpina and Arabis montbretiana are sister species that are respectively perennial and annual. We produced hybrids between these species and from them derived segregating populations by backcrossing. Here I propose to extensively genotype and phenotype these populations to identify genes promoting or suppressing senescence after flowering as well as those controlling the duration and extent of flowering. Orthologues of these genes will be identified in closely related Brassica species and alleles conferring perennial traits introduced into annual oil seed rape using genetic as well as transgenic strategies. Particularly those genes suppressing senescence and extending the duration of flowering will be tested for their effects on yield. This knowledge-based approach to introducing perennial traits into annual crops is expected to generate novel phenotypic variation that enhances yield.
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.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- social sciences economics and business economics production economics productivity
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
- agricultural sciences agricultural biotechnology biomass
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
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.
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.
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.
ERC-2013-ADG
See other projects for this call
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.
Host institution
80539 MUNCHEN
Germany
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.