ERC Starting Grant · 2022
Asexual reproduction through clonal seeds: mechanisms to application
Some plant species have abandoned sex and produce clonal seeds by apomixis; here, we will explore how this occurs, and exploit these insights to develop novel breeding technologies. In contrast to most eukaryotic species in which reproduction is sexual, a minority of plants and animals have evolved alternative – asexual – reproductive strategies. In plants, apomixis allows clonal transmission of favorable, hybrid genotypes through seeds over unlimited generations. Hybrid crop varieties are stress-resistant and high-yielding due to hybrid vigor, yet they reproduce sexually. The introduction of apomixis in hybrid crops would allow stable inheritance of hybrid vigor through seeds, in…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.