Objective Drought is the first cause of agricultural losses globally, and represents a major threat to food security. Currently, plant biotechnology stands as the most promising strategy to produce crops capable of producing high yields in fed rain conditions. From the study of whole-plants, the main underlying mechanism for responses to drought stress has been uncovered, and multiple drought resistance genes have been engineered into crops. So far, plants with enhanced drought resistance displayed reduced crop yield, which imposes the search of novel approaches to uncouple drought resistance from plant growth. Our laboratory has recently shown, for the first time, that the receptors of Brassinosteroid hormones use cell-specific pathways to allocate different developmental responses during root growth. In particular, we have found that cell-specific components of the stem cell niche have the ability to control cellular responses to stress to promote stem renewal to ensure root growth. Additionally, we have also found that BR mutants are resistant to drought, together opening an exceptional opportunity to investigate the mechanisms that confer drought resistance with cellular specificity in plants. In this project, we will use Brassinosteroid signaling in the Arabidopsis root to investigate the mechanism for drought stress resistance in plant and to design novel molecules able to confer resistance to the drought stress. Finally, we will translate our research results and tools into Sorghum bicolor (Sorghum), a crop cereal of paramount importance in fed rain regions of the planet. Our research will impact in science, providing new avenues for the study of hormone signaling in plants, and in society, by providing sustainable solutions for enhance crop production in limiting water environments. Fields of science natural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyplanetary sciencesplanetsnatural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsmutationmedical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutritionnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changesagricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturegrains and oilseedscereals Keywords Arabidopsis crops shorgum brassinosteorid signaling receptors root drought hydrotropism systematic phenotyping agrochemicals transcriptomics Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-CoG-2015 - ERC Consolidator Grant Call for proposal ERC-2015-CoG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant Coordinator CENTRE DE RECERCA EN AGRIGENOMICA CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB Net EU contribution € 2 000 000,00 Address Parc de recerca de l uab campus uab edifici crag bellaterra 08193 Cerdanyola del valles Spain See on map Region Este Cataluña Barcelona Activity type Other Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all CENTRE DE RECERCA EN AGRIGENOMICA CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB Spain Net EU contribution € 2 000 000,00 Address Parc de recerca de l uab campus uab edifici crag bellaterra 08193 Cerdanyola del valles See on map Region Este Cataluña Barcelona Activity type Other Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00
