Project description
Developing tools to improve plant stress tolerance
Crop loss due to weather extremes affects the world’s poorest communities and also has widespread global impact. Tools and strategies such as the molecular engineering of crops are therefore needed to improve crop tolerance to such abiotic stress. Group VII ethylene response transcription factors (ERF-VIIs) play an important role in plant stress tolerance. Although ERF-VIIs are destabilised when their N-terminal cysteine residues are oxidised, plant cysteine oxidase enzymes (PCOs) control ERF-VII stability and mediate the response to flood-induced hypoxia. The EU-funded PCOMOD project aims to generate tools to manipulate PCO activity, modulate cys-sulfinic acid formation and stabilise ERF-VIIs. This work will help create effective and targeted mechanisms to manipulate PCO activity and improve stress tolerance in crops.
Objective
Population growth and climate change mean that food security is an emerging global challenge. Crop loss due to flood, drought and other weather extremes is something that disproportionately affects the world's poor, but also has widespread international impact. There is an immediate and urgent need to develop tools and strategies to improve crop tolerance to such abiotic stress.
One effective mechanism towards this goal is molecular engineering of crops to withstand prolonged abiotic stress. Group VII Ethylene Response transcription Factors (ERF-VIIs) have a key role in plant stress tolerance, in particular flooding but also salinity, high temperature, drought and oxidative stress. ERF-VIIs are readily degraded, but their stabilisation has led to improved flood tolerance in model plants and crops. Consequently, ERF-VIIs are focal points for engineering abiotic stress resistance in crops.
ERF-VIIs are destabilised when their N-terminal cysteine (Nt-Cys) residues are oxidised, making them substrates for the N-end rule pathway of protein degradation. I discovered that Plant Cysteine Oxidase enzymes (PCOs) catalyse this oxidation, incorporating molecular oxygen into ERF-VII Nt-Cys residues to form Cys-sulfinic acid (CSA), and that PCO activity is sensitive to oxygen availability. These enzymes therefore control ERF-VII stability and mediate the response to flood-induced hypoxia.
I propose generating tools and knowledge to manipulate PCO activity, modulate CSA formation and stabilise ERF-VIIs. This is an attractive and tractable strategy to enhance stress tolerance in plants. The project will require (i) the development of efficient tools and assays to detect and quantify CSA, (ii) an understanding of the breadth of PCO activity for non-ERF-VII substrates, and (iii) an understanding of the role of non-enzymatic CSA formation. This knowledge will enable the development of effective and targeted mechanisms to manipulate PCO activity and improve stress tolerance.
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 chemical sciences electrochemistry electrolysis
- natural sciences computer and information sciences knowledge engineering
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
- natural sciences chemical sciences organic chemistry aliphatic compounds
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins enzymes
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
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.
-
H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
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-COG - Consolidator Grant
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
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-2019-COG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
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.
OX1 2JD Oxford
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.