Objective
The increasing demand for food, in the context of a changing climate and deteriorating environments, will be one of the major challenges facing society in the coming decades. However, as breeding a new crop variety currently takes on average 10 years, the predicted changes in food demand and climate are only several breeding cycles away. Meiotic recombination and crossover is a major tool used in crop breeding when diverse strains are hybridized in order to combine useful traits. Therefore, in the current climate of change, there is an urgent need to reduce the time needed to produce new crop varieties, and meiotic recombination is one target to achieve this. In my ERC Consolidator grant SynthHotSpot, we are investigating the molecular control of meiotic recombination using the model plant Arabidopsis. We have identified the gene HEI10, which encodes a conserved meiotic ubiquitin E3 ligase, as a major regulator of crossover numbers. Importantly, during this work we discovered that HEI10 is highly dosage-sensitive and introduction of additional copies of this gene more than doubled crossovers throughout the Arabidopsis chromosome arms. As HEI10 is conserved between plants, fungi and animals, this may provide a gene target to manipulate crossover numbers in diverse species. In light of the demands on breeding companies to develop new, high yielding crop varieties, HEIREC will fast-track the development of a new platform technology to increase recombination frequency during breeding, via introduction of additional HEI10 copies. Within HEIREC we will generate proof of concept data where we increase HEI10 copy number within bread wheat, in order to increase recombination and thereby accelerate crop improvement. Bread wheat is a major crop globally where recombination level limits strain improvement. Therefore, by increasing recombination frequency during breeding, HEIREC will accelerate the development of new crop varieties and contribute to ensuring food security.
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.
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology mycology
- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture agronomy plant breeding
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics chromosomes
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture grains and oilseeds cereals
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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.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - 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.
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept Grant
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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-2017-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.
CB2 1TN CAMBRIDGE
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.