This project aims to contribute to solutions for major societal challenges of the 21^st century by unraveling mechanisms by which plants respond to stresses imposed by global climate change, and their impact on nutritional security.

The objectives are:

1. To identify molecular players in multifactorial stress conditions and determining the role of the plant hormone ethylene in the induction of such ‘stress gene core’;
2. To identify dentify elusive genes in the metabolism of the ethylene precursor ACC (a ‘holy grail’ in plant ethylene biology) and unravel their role in responses to flooding, a major stress condition issuing from global climate change, as well as other stresses;
3. To assess the effect of enhanced CO₂ levels on the nutritional quality of wheat, in particular on B-vitamin content in grains.