Project description
Influencing meiotic recombination in barley
Progress in plant breeding relies on selecting favourable traits from genetically diverse materials to produce plants with desired characteristics. This genetic variation is largely assured through homologous recombination during meiosis. In cereal crops, such as barley, genetic variation arising during meiosis is mainly limited to chromosome ends, leaving the main part of the genetic material untouched. The EU-funded MEIOBARMIX project aims to find new strategies and develop innovative tools that will boost and redistribute genetic variation during meiosis in barley to help enhance and accelerate plant breeding.
Objective
Progress in plant breeding towards superior varieties relies on selecting favourable traits after creating genetically diverse material. This is primarily achieved by homologous recombination (HR) during meiosis, when programmed DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) are alternatively repaired as crossover (CO, resulting in new parental chromosome combinations) or as non-crossover (NCO, restoring the previous situation). In cereal crops such as barley, recombination by CO occurs mainly near chromosome ends leaving the main body of genetic material untouched. NCO repair can also result in NCO gene conversion (NCO-GC), non-reciprocal exchange of short DNA stretches between alleles. More than 90% of meiotic DSB repair results in NCO, and NCO-GCs are typically not considered in breeding practices as little is known about their tract length, frequency or formation mechanism.
MEIOBARMIX aims at uncovering new strategies and developing novel tools to increase and redirect meiotic HR outcome to improve and accelerate plant breeding. Based on novel and high throughput single pollen nuclei genotyping tools, NCO-GC frequency, length, and sequence context and their potential as natural source of genetic variation will be determined. Using the power of a forward genetic approach in Arabidopsis, components regulating the formation of a NCO-GC and/or CO will be identified and genome editing tools will be used to explore novel strategies for site-specific DSB induction as trigger for targeted meiotic recombination. Moreover, novel virus-based tools and ‘stresses’ will be employed to modify the barley recombination landscape. This study will provide ground-breaking results regarding the role of NCO-GCs for genome diversity, explore the feasibility of novel targeted meiotic recombination approaches and uncover novel tools to develop new strategies to harness and influence the outcome, frequency and/or distribution of meiotic recombination in barley ultimately boosting plant breeding.
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 biological sciences genetics DNA
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics heredity
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics chromosomes
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture grains and oilseeds cereals
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-STG - Starting 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-2020-STG
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.
06466 Seeland Ot Gatersleben
Germany
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.