Project description
Understanding the mechanisms of photoprotection to improve agricultural production
Photoprotection is a set of processes that act throughout photosynthesis and aim at minimising light absorption, detoxifying reactive oxygen species generated by excess light, and dissipating excess absorbed light. The EU-funded EVERPHOT project will shed light on the molecular mechanisms of photoprotection that protect against light stress, and more specifically on the mechanisms addressed to prolonged light stress. By combining methods of genetics, biochemistry, biophysics and physiological approaches, the project will identify new targets for manipulation, crucial to increasing yields of energy and food crops.
Objective
Photosynthesis is a biological process of primary importance, as it provides the energy that drives food, feedstock and biofuel production and mitigates climate change. Light in excess of photosynthetic capacity can be damaging, thus ways to protect against damage have evolved, including ways to minimize light absorption, detoxify reactive oxygen species generated by excess light, and dissipate excess absorbed light. Together, these processes are known as photoprotection. Despite the physiological importance of photoprotection, the molecular mechanisms that protect against light stress remain largely unknown, especially those that protect from prolonged light stress. The objective of the proposed research project is to solve molecular mechanisms of photoprotection in plants. My specific aims are to 1) investigate the function of known involved factors in sustained energy dissipation in the model plant Arabidopsis, 2) identify novel molecular players and 3) use an organism that is genetically adapted to cope with high light stress, the evergreen Norway spruce. The research will be carried out in my laboratory where genetics, biochemistry, biophysics and physiological approaches will be combined to address this problem. The research in my group will provide insights into fundamental mechanisms of light energy capture, utilization and dissipation and will lead to the identification of new targets for manipulation, key to increasing yields of energy and food crops.
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: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistry
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgenetics
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiophysics
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbotany
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-RI - RI – Reintegration panelCoordinator
901 87 Umea
Sweden