SEXSEED

In the SEXSEED project we will conduct studies with ten partner labs distributed all over the world, in order to achieve a better understanding of the reproductive processes that leads to SEED formation. These studies will provide valuable scientific knowledge of the molecular networks controlling seed development, which may be, in the long term, transfered into important crop species. This network is highly multidisciplinary (bioinformatics, plant physiology, developmental biology, genetics and molecular biology), providing interdisciplinary methodological training and wide scientific perspectives.

Why the SEXSEED project?

To feed the increasing growing population, it will be necessary to at least double agricultural yields without increasing the amount of arable land. Most agricultural production is aimed at the production of seeds through sexual reproduction, and these seeds account for the majority of the calories consumed by humans (i.e. wheat, rice and corn), are major components of animal feed (i.e. sorghum, corn and soybean) and are a significant source for the production of high-value-added products such as oils, biofuels and proteins (i.e. canola, corn and soybean). Understanding the factors that regulate sexual reproduction will enable this critical aspect of agricultural production to be engineered for increased productivity, without increasing arable land.

What is our research all about?

Our project will provide new insights into the network controlled by SEEDSTICK (STK), a MADS-box transcription factor, which is the master regulator of seed production. By combining transcriptomic and genetic approaches, we aim to uncover new functions for STK targets and implicate them in putative signalling cascades, increasing our knowledge of the network that controls seed formation in Arabidopsis thaliana. Arabidopsis is an excellent model to study seed formation, as it shares a conserved developmental program with major seed-producing crop plants. By increasing our knowledge of Arabidopsis seed formation we can help to improve not only gross agricultural productivity, but also the composition of seeds and hence the production of components used for high added-value seed-derived products. This project focuses on a fundamental, economically important and experimentally tractable biological process, plant reproduction. The growing importance of seeds and seed-derived products to humanity and the central role of STK in seed development mean that this project has great potential to contribute to Europe’s excellence and competitiveness in the world.

How will SEXSEED be implemented?

Detailed analysis of the network of regulatory genes controlling reproductive development in Arabidopsis represents the biological theme around which our training programme will be built. By taking advantage of the complementary scientific competences developed by the partners, it will be possible to expand our knowledge of seed formation in the model species and then to transfer this knowledge horizontally into vital agricultural crop species.

All experimental partners work on different aspects of a common biological problem: the efforts are focused to understand the genetic and molecular control of seed/fruit formation. All the consortium groups are interested in shedding light into this them. The fundamental objective of this proposal is to strengthen research partnerships through short/long period staff exchanges and networking activities between all the partners, at international and intercontinental levels.