14 ERA-CAPS. EVOREPRO. Evolution of Sexual Reproduction in Plants

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The economic importance of seed plants cannot be overstated, as they are our main sources of food, fibre and other industrial raw materials. However, our capacity to generate sufficient food, animal feed and energy is increasingly compromised by human population expansion, competition for land use, rapid biodiversity loss and predicted global climate change. The process of sexual reproduction in higher plants is of particular importance for the aim of increasing crop yields, overcoming hybridization barriers and selecting and fixing quality traits. Before we can develop tools to manipulate plant reproduction in our favour we must achieve a deeper understanding of the basic mechanisms underlying gamete development and double fertilization mechanisms in angiosperms.The project will deliver the first comprehensive view of the molecular evolution of plant sexual reproduction and will provide insights into the origins of double fertilization in flowering plants. In addition, gene expression data and the networks generated will be valuable in understanding the evolution of biological pathways and gene function prediction beyond the focus on reproduction in this project. In parallel, the work on crop species will identify genes useful to the agricultural industry to enable precision control of plant reproduction, to overcome hybridization barriers and to promote better breeding schemes by improving hybrid seed production.