Project description
Studying fruit morphologies to enhance fruit yield performance
The resilience of angiosperm vegetation – a major food source for humans and herbivore animals – hinges largely on the formation of fruits that protect and nurture the developing seeds. Moreover, the massive range of diversity in the fruit shape facilitated the development of ingenious ways of fertilisation as well as strategies for efficient seed dispersal. Using the heart-shaped fruits from Capsella rubella (Brassicaceae family) as a case study, the EU-funded SWEETHEART project aims at discovering the processes leading to specific fruit morphologies and developing methods for the enhancement of fruit yield performance.
Objective
The flowering plants (angiosperms) evolved over 100 million years ago and quickly colonized every habitable corner of the planet. Such success hinges largely on the formation of fruits that protect and nurture the developing seeds. Moreover, a massive range of diversity in fruit shape arose during a relatively short time, which allowed for the development of ingenious ways of fertilisation as well as strategies for efficient seed dispersal. The Brassicaceae family contains a wealth of diversity in fruit morphologies and includes some of our genetically best characterised model plants and important crop species. Thus, the Brassicaceae family provides an ideal group of plants to study how specific shapes are established. Although many genes controlling fruit patterning in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana have been identified, processes leading to specific fruit morphologies are still poorly understood. To unravel these processes, I will study fruit shape using the heart-shaped fruits from Capsella rubella as a model system to unravel molecular mechanisms by which growth is oriented and coordinated to generate this shape. I will exploit a panel of Capsella fruit-shape mutants including the heartless (htl) mutant, which encodes a putative orthologue of the Arabidopsis ANGUSTIFOLIA (AN) protein. To investigate the molecular mechanism by which the HTL/AN protein controls fruit shape formation in Capsella, I will characterize the interacting proteins of HTL by immunoprecipitation followed by mass spectrometry analysis. Novel genetic regulators of fruit shape will be identified and I will study their role in fruit development using biochemical, molecular and genetic analyses. Beyond the elucidation of how the genetic network is established to control anisotropic growth during development, the work described in this proposal will provide new directions for shaping seed and fruit crops for enhanced performance.
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 horticulture fruit growing
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy planetary sciences planets
- natural sciences chemical sciences analytical chemistry mass spectrometry
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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-EF-ST - Standard EF
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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-2018
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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.
NR4 7UH NORWICH
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.