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Project

Seed dormancy in grasses: transcriptomics and genetic interaction mapping

Seed germination initiates the plant life cycle. In the wild this needs to be aligned with optimal environmental conditions. In the field this should not occur prematurely while still attached to the plant, but uniformly after sowing. Germination is regulated through an adaptive postponing process called seed dormancy. In crops, an ideal pattern of dormancy is strong dormancy, which is quickly lost after harvest. While we know that a conserved core mechanism controls dormancy, involving the hormonal balance between abscisic and gibberellic acid, the upstream pathways and the molecular mechanisms at play are not well understood. Yet the genetic regulation of seed dormancy in temperate grasses is highly relevant because they include the temperate cereal crops. These crops mostly lost dormancy through domestication. When germination occurs on the mother plant, this is called pre-harvest sprouting and this significantly affects the quality of the resulting flour. This quality is quantified using the Hagberg falling number in bread wheat. Crops like wheat and barley are not straightforward to use in genetic studies because of the complexity of their genomes. We therefore propose to study the genetics of seed dormancy in the temperate model grass Brachypodium for which accessions show strong dormancy and strong variation in dormancy. Specifically, we propose that the PhD student (1) characterises the transcriptome while dormancy is established or released, (2) orders known genes into pathways through CRISPR genetic interaction mapping. These approaches will provide basic knowledge about seed dormancy in temperate grasses and leads to control this trait in cereal crops.

Date:25 Jan 2022 →  Today
Keywords:Seed, dormancy, grasses
Disciplines:Plant cell and molecular biology
Project type:PhD project