Final Report Summary - TEMPEST (Temperature perception and signal transduction in plants) How plants perceive and respond to temperature is a key scientific question. It is interesting from both a fundamental point of view (what are the underlying molecular mechanisms?) as well as from a practical perspective (crop yields decline by 10 % for every additional 1 degree centigrade in temperature: can we breed climate change resilient crops?). The aim of this ambitious ERC project was therefore to understand the molecular mechanisms by which plants perceive temperature and try to discover in nature how plants have evolved to have an altered thermal responsiveness in different climates. We were successful since we have been able to identify molecules that are necessary to sense temperature, and we can observe their activity changes in response to temperature. We have also discovered molecules that vary in different Arabidopsis accessions, causing these lines to have altered thermoresponsiveness.
