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Researchers want to protect crops against the climate crisis
Dr. Duarte Figueiredo wants to revolutionize the future of agriculture. In the face of the climate crisis, agriculture is up against enormous challenges, as heat stress poses a massive threat to the pollination of plants. The researcher from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology wants to use a process known as apomixis to enable fertilization without heat-sensitive pollen and improve food security in a warming world. He is now receiving a grant of 2 million euros from the European Research Council for his project NoSexSeed.
Apomixis refers to the ability of plants to produce seeds without fertilization by pollen. In nature, it is a rare phenomenon. However, for the future of agriculture, faced with major challenges from unstable climate conditions, it holds transformative potential, because pollen is very vulnerable to heat and drought. Apomixis can produce genetically identical, high-yielding plants and ensure seed and fruit production even without viable pollen.
Apomixis occurs naturally in some wild plants, but none of the world's major crops have this characteristic. Traditional breeding methods cannot introduce it. True apomixis combines three characteristics of plant reproduction:
Apomeiosis: the formation of egg cells without meiosis, i.e. without chromosome reduction.
Parthenogenesis: the development of an embryo without fertilization.
Autonomous endosperm: the formation of the seed's food reserves without fertilization.
Significant progress has already been made in the first two characteristics of apomixis. Partial apomixis has already been achieved in crops such as rice and corn. However, the third characteristic, the formation of an autonomous endosperm – the nourishing tissue in seeds – still poses a hurdle for pollen-free seed formation. Genuine apomixis in crops has not yet been achieved. NoSexSeed is taking on this challenge.
The goal: climate-resistant tomatoes
Figueiredo's team wants to compare apomictic plants, which can reproduce naturally without fertilization, with those that depend on pollination with pollen. They then want to apply their findings in tomato plants. “The tomato is a great model for this because it is of global importance in agriculture. At the same time, its pollen is very sensitive to heat,” explains Figueiredo. “As climate change accelerates, agriculture must adapt,” he points out. “Apomixis could be the key to this adaptation and help us to feed the world's population sustainably.”
Background
The Consolidator Grants of the European Research Council (ERC) are among the most prestigious and competitive funding programs in the European Union. They support leading scientists with ambitious projects that have the potential for significant scientific breakthroughs. In the current funding period, only 14% of the submitted applications were approved.
Dr. Duarte Dionísio Figueiredo has been working as a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology in the Potsdam Science Park since 2021, where he heads the research group “Seed Development and Apomixis”.
Dr. Duarte Dionísio Figueiredo
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology
figueiredo@mpimp-golm.mpg.de
Rebecca Vaßen
Press and public relations
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology
Tel. 0331/567 8310
pr@mpimp-golm.mpg.de
http://www.mpimp-golm.mpg.de
With the help of the ERC funding, Dr. Duarte Figueiredo could soon be producing climate-resilient to ...
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