Descripción del proyecto
Mayor protección de los cultivos para combatir las pérdidas de rendimiento en todo el mundo
Cada año, las enfermedades de plantas provocan la pérdida de una parte importante de la producción mundial de cultivos, lo que ocasiona considerables pérdidas económicas a los agricultores y escasez de alimentos a la población mundial. Los plaguicidas han sido la solución a la que se ha recurrido para reducir estas pérdidas, pero sus efectos negativos sobre la salud y el medio ambiente, así como la creciente resistencia a los plaguicidas, han suscitado preocupación. Para resolver este problema, el equipo del proyecto ChemPrime, financiado por el Consejo Europeo de Investigación, pretende desarrollar una tecnología de protección de cultivos basada en el cebado del sistema inmunitario de la planta, lo que mejora su capacidad defensiva frente a los atacantes. En el proyecto se estudiará la eficacia de la R-beta-homoserina contra una serie de enfermedades de plantas y desarrollará una estrategia de protección de cultivos comercialmente viable mediante el codiseño con las partes interesadas del sector comercial.
Objetivo
A large proportion of global crop yield is annually lost to plant diseases. While pesticides help to reduce these losses, there are growing concerns about pesticide resistance and their impacts on health and environment. The objective of this proof-of-concept project is to develop a crop protection technology that is based on priming of the plant’s own immune system, providing an enhanced defensive capacity to resist attackers. While priming is considered attractive for exploitation in integrated pest and disease management, chemical priming agents have never reached their full economic potential due to undesirable non-target effects on plant growth and yield. My former ERC project (‘Prime-A-Plant ́) has revealed key insights in the mechanisms by which plants perceive and respond to priming-inducing chemicals. We showed that the benefits of priming by beta-aminobutyric acid (BABA) can be uncoupled from the associated stress response (Luna et al. 2014; Nature Chem. Biol.). More recently, we discovered a structural analogue of BABA, R-beta-homoserine (RBH), which primes plant defences against multiple diseases without affecting growth (Buswell et al. 2018; New Phytol.). The current ‘ChemPrime’ project aims to develop these discoveries into a crop protection strategy through co-design with commercial stakeholders. The first project part involves translational research to make the concept more attractive for adoption by commercial stakeholders. We will examine the effectiveness of RBH against a range of economically relevant crop diseases, identify genetic targets in crops to improve the effectiveness of the RBH priming response, assess chemical residues in crop products and waste streams, and optimise RBH formulation for applications in different production systems. The second project part involves engagement activities to initiate collaborative research & development with agri-tech companies and develop the concept into a commercially viable crop protection strategy.
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept GrantInstitución de acogida
S10 2TN Sheffield
Reino Unido