Although a connection between the circadian clock and plant defense has already been proposed in the past, our mechanistic understanding of how this network is assembled and functions is scarce. Chronotrade has contributed important tools that will be instrumental to advancing our understanding of specific mechanistic connections between these two pathways, key for plant survival and adaptation, in a model organism and also in a relevant crop species. This work is not only relevant towards uncovering novel links between the clock and agronomically relevant outputs, but will also contribute to our understanding of how the clockwork impacts plant fitness in dynamic environments. Furthermore, the studies in tomato will establish a framework for directed crop improvement, with the ultimate goal of altering specific traits of agronomical value (such as growth and productivity) without penalizing others (such as defense against plagues). Depending on the obtained phenotypes of single and higher order mutants generated with the CRISPR-Cas9 system, alleles potentially interesting for crop improvement can be transferred into breeding programs.
Professionally, the action has allowed the ER to enhance her competitiveness towards securing a position as an independent researcher by expanding her research experience, boosting her skillset at multiple levels, and extending her scope and scientific network. Importantly, the ER has been awarded a CIDEGENT grant in the framework of the CIDEGENT 2020 call for grants to hire researchers of excellence to carry out an R&D&I project in the Valencian Community (Spain), which is a 4-year tenure track type position with good prospects of resulting in a permanent position. This grant, together with a 3-year research grant of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, will allow the ER to establish her own group and research line at the IBMCP.
