AdRoot: Genetic control of adventitious rooting in horticultural crops

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The aim of the proposed "AdRoot" project is to understand the genetic control of adventitious rooting and to identify molecular markers and beneficial alleles that will allow adventitious rooting to be controlled to the benefit of breeding in horticultural crops. Adventitious roots arise from plant stems during normal plant development or in response to environmental stresses such as flooding and wounding. In annual vegetable crops, including the grafted crops of the Solanaceae (tomato, pepper) and Cucurbitaceae (melon, watermelon) families, root system function relies partially on adventitious roots that develop from the hypocotyl (basal roots) or from the main stem, and this makes a contribution to root vigour which is largely undefined. In addition, propagation in perennial crops, especially from the Rosaceae family (including apple, plum, cherry, raspberries, strawberries) is dependent on the formation of adventitious roots from cuttings, runners (as in strawberries) and from nodal explants used for micropropagation. We will identify the genetic factors that control adventitious rooting in a crop from Solanaceae (tomato) and from Rosaceae (raspberry) through a programme of molecular genetic analysis, and we will conduct a comparative evaluation of genetic regulation of adventitious root formation in these key plant families. The understanding derived from this study will be suitable for improving the processes of (i) breeding of vegetable rootstocks to control root (and so scion) vigour, and (ii) ensuring that new cultivars within the Rosaceae family can be efficiently propagated. The project will involve a global seed company interested in selling more vegetable rootstock seeds, and a company involved in producing and breeding new soft fruit cultivars. The project will also generate new genomic and genetic resources to accelerate raspberry breeding.