GainGrain addresses grain production in rice, which is one of the most important cereals species, a major staple food, and the most important model plant for the wide phylogenetic group of monocots. It intends to dissect the regulatory mechanisms that control the branched inflorescence architecture of rice, aiming to both identify new functions and analyze the regulatory networks of conserved genes. This will eventually lead to improved rice inflorescence morphogenesis, facilitating breeding programs. Nevertheless, GainGrain is designed to transfer to other crops the knowledge and molecular tools obtained in rice. In collaboration with the group of prof. Dabing Zhang in Shanghai, we have clarified how some of these genes interact to regulate rice inflorescence architecture and complexity, and found several more candidate for future analysis. Moreover, our analysis on more species suggested that the molecular mechanisms that we have characterized in rice is quite conserved among plants, which is interesting for future applications in other crops. We are making public these findings by publications and dissemination at conferences and other events. We have participated to these events so far:
• The 7th International Symposium on Plant Reproductive Development (7th ISPRD). 5-8/07/2021 Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. (Online participation)
• The XV Meeting of Plant Molecular Biology (online). 26-27/11/2020. Spain
• The 17th International Symposium of Rice Functional Genomics (ISRFG) 04-06/11/2019 Taipei, Taiwan.
• The 6th International Symposium on Plant Reproductive Development (6th ISPRD). 22-26/07/2019 Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China.
• Workshop on molecular mechanisms controlling flower development 2019. Presqu'île de Giens, Côte d'Azur, France, 18-22/06/2019.
