PR001453 (Project)

Description:Seeds are the major component of feed and food and the majority of crops are produced from seeds. This means that as the world population increases so does the demand for seed. Sub-optimal seed performance can lead to major economic losses and food supply shortages and this is set to be aggravated by climate change as abiotic constraints negatively impact seed quality. Our aim is to decrypt the central mechanisms that mediate germination while exploring their potential in applications to enhance seed performance. In particular, we seek to understand how seeds interpret and respond to environmental variations pre- and post-harvest. We apply a multidisciplinary approach using molecular genetics, multi-omics, statistical learning, bioinformatics, biochemistry, histology and physiology to study seeds from a wide range of species such as oilseed crops (e.g. camelina, cabbage), legumes (e.g. bean, lentil), cereals (e.g barley, maize) and vegetable crops (e.g. tomato and lettuce). Nonetheless, the majority of our fundamental research focuses on the genetic model Arabidopsis.