Centre for Plant Success Webinar Series: Francois Barbier and Peter Crisp

Francois Barbier

A sugar signalling network controls shoot branching plasticity

Shoot branching is an extremely plastic developmental process that enables plants to adjust their architecture to their environment. The control of this process is due to a complex regulatory network involving hormones, nutrients and metabolites. Sugar allocation to axillary buds is an important factor that determines the transition from dormancy to bud outgrowth, thereby promoting shoot branching. In this process, sugars are more than a source of carbon and energy, and play signalling roles. We have identified different molecular components and signalling pathways through which sugars control shoot branching. It includes, for example, the enzyme HEXOKINASE1, the sugar signal Trehalose 6-Phosphate or the transcription factor bZIP11. Some of these components interact with hormonal pathways involved in the control of shoot branching, such as strigolactones. These interactions constitute a network that allows plants to fine-tune their architecture in response to environmental changes leading to fluctuations of endogenous sugar levels.

Peter Crisp

Beyond the gene: decoding crop epigenomes

The genomic sequences of crops continue to be produced at a frenetic pace, with the potential to significantly contribute to breeding activities and crop improvement. However, beyond the A, T, C and G in DNA, the epigenome also has the potential to offer new avenues for breeding and improvement. Here we present opportunities to use epigenomic technologies in crop research. DNA methylation is a DNA modification, and variation in DNA methylation can be associated with phenotypic variation. These variants, or ‘epialleles’, could provide markers for selection and can provide information not captured by conventional genetic markers such as SNPs. In addition, despite the advances in genome sequencing and assembly, detailed annotation of plant genomes is now a bottleneck in genomic analysis and an impediment to realizing the full potential of association studies or genome editing for crop improvement. Here, we describe our recently developed approach that uses DNA methylation profiling of a single tissue (e.g. a leaf) to distill a genome down to the relatively small fraction of regions that are functionally valuable for trait variation throughout development. We are using this approach in sorghum, wheat, barley, maize and grapevine to better understand these genomes and identify new opportunities for crop research and improvement.

This event is open to Centre Members only. If you are a Centre Member who would like to attend, please contact admin@plantsuccess.org for the Zoom invitation.