Coordinator 

Pascal GANTET, CERES team - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Determination of MASTER regulatory genes controlling crown ROOT development for cereals water deficit tolerance engineering 

Projet ANR_PRCE (2018-2021)

There is an increasing demand for cereal varieties capable to maintain their yield under limited soil resources. Root systems constitute a major target to improve plant tolerance to drought and/or mineral nutrients deficiencies and have been largely underexploited. We propose within this project to exploit and to refine the Gene Regulatory Network (GRN) controlling crown-root formation we determined in rice to identify new master regulatory genes controlling root development in cereals. Some of these master regulatory genes will be studied using gain or loss of function mutant plants to test their capacity to modify (i) root system architecture and (ii) the soil water uptake capacity and water deficit tolerance in rice and maize. Transgenic lines with interesting phenotypes obtained during the project will be further studied in field for their capacity to tolerate drought and nitrogen deficit. The utilization of the favorable genes to modify root architecture will be patented.

Partners: 

UMR DIADE, Equipe CERES : A. Champion, A. Grondin, M. Lucas, S. Guyomar’ch, L. Laplaze, D. Moukouanga, I. Bourrié

UMR AGAP : C. Périn, A. Vernet, R. Michel

Biogemma: C. Sallaud, J. Rouster, P. Wyatt, M. Javelle, M. Bosio, JP. Pichon