Late-GPA-Plants: Characterisation of the Global Proliferation Arrest and its potential as a target for cereal breeding programmes

Project Summary

Many species of annual and some perennial plants, including a large number of economically important crops, belong to the monocarpic group of plants. These have a single reproductive phase, after which they die. In monocarpic plants, after the production of a certain number of fruits, the activity of the reproductive meristems stops in a coordinated manner, these being groups of undifferentiated or meristematic cells (equivalent to the stem cells of animals) that give rise to the floral organs. As a consequence of this halt in meristematic activity, flower and fruit production ceases. This process is called Global Proliferation Arrest and is an evolutionary adaptation to ensure the redistribution of nutrients towards seed production. From an agronomic point of view, the Global Proliferation Arrest process is an important target in crop improvement programmes since it determines the duration of the reproductive phase and, therefore, the final fruit and seed production.

The overall aim of the proposed project is to define the gene interactions and signals that control the Global Proliferation Arrest. In this way, morphological and genetic markers of the process can be isolated. These factors will be key control points to act upon through biotechnological and agronomic strategies to delay the Global Proliferation Arrest and thus prolong the productive phase in species of economic importance such as maize and wheat. To this end, the problem will be approached from different angles using molecular and cellular biology, genetics and image analysis techniques (live imaging).

Application: The continuous growth of the world population requires the development of strategies aimed at increasing crop productivity to ensure human food supply. In addition, climate change is negatively affecting many crops, reducing their productivity. This project aims to identify genes that regulate the duration of the reproductive phase of plants and then develop biotechnological strategies to increase crop production. The second part of the project aims to transfer the knowledge acquired to species of agronomic interest such as corn and wheat. These cereals, together with rice, are the basis of human nutrition and their grains have high nutritional value.