Project

A quest for high-yield and stress-resilient plants through combinatorial CRISPR screening based on TOR, SnRK1 and Trehalose-6-phosphate signalling networks.

Code

01CD06524

Duration

01 November 2024 → 30 April 2025

Funding

Regional and community funding: Special Research Fund

Promotor

Geert De Jaeger

Fellow

Wouter Smagghe

Research disciplines

Natural sciences
- Carbohydrates
- Energy metabolism
- Regulation of metabolism
- Plant developmental and reproductive biology
- Interactomics
- Proteomics
Agricultural and food sciences
- Agricultural plant breeding and biotechnology

Keywords

Trehalose-6-Phosphate Prime Editing drought sustainable agriculture SPARK stress resilience yield nitrogen phenotypic screening assay cell culture Plant growth source-sink SNF1-related kinase 1 nutrient signalling combinatorial CRISPR Cas9 gene modification dynamic in vivo kinase reporter precision breeding Target of Rapamycin kinase

Project description

Source-sink communication is crucial for crop yield. TOR, SnRK1 and trehalose-6-P constitute the cornerstone of this nutrient signaling network regulating plant growth. Based on this network, highorder combinatorial CRISPR/Prime-edited mutant libraries in Arabidopsis will be screened for resilience and high-yield. Cell cultures as alternative will be evaluated. Besides, a dynamic kinase reporter will be developed to monitor TOR/SnRK1 activity in vivo.