Objective
Water stress is a key environmental factor that causes important quality and economical losses before and after fruit harvest. As water depletion is becoming increasingly problematic, improving water efficiency and tolerance of plants to dehydration is a priority of the European Union, as reflected in the societal challenge of Climate action, environment and resource efficiency. Likewise, food waste reduction is another key issue in the framework of Horizon 2020, as described in Food security and sustainable agriculture and forestry challenge. Indeed, a large proportion of fresh produce is wasted during postharvest (25-50%) of horticultural crops, which is largely caused by dehydration. Therefore, this project deals with the urgent need of understanding factors influencing water loss to develop innovative solutions geared to saving water and reducing food waste. Based on the idea that cuticular waxes are critical for limiting water loss from fruit, and thus for resisting desiccation and spoilage, we propose to uncover the structural and regulatory pathways that mediate its biosynthesis, transport and assembly in response to drought stress through a multidisciplinary approach. Thus, SEM and TEM microscopy, GC/MS, as well as up-to-date technologies, such as Laser Capture Microdissection (LCM) and RNA sequencing, will be used. Tomato and citrus fruit will be selected as model systems to address this poorly understood area of plant biochemistry, physiology and molecular biology. The availability of mutants of both fruits, as well as the application of stress-related hormones during postharvest, will allow comparative surveys to better understand the regulation of these processes. The outcomes of this proposal will represent a major advance in the understanding of the crosslink between water stress, wax metabolism and fruit biology, and will suggest strategies for enhancing shelf life, drought hardiness and fruit quality in both climacteric and non-climacteric fruit.
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.
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture sustainable agriculture
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture horticulture fruit growing
- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition
- natural sciences biological sciences botany
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries forestry
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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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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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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.
MSCA-IF-GF - Global Fellowships
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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) H2020-MSCA-IF-2014
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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.
28006 MADRID
Spain
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.