Stabilizing CROP yield under unfavourable conditions by molecular PRIM(E)ing

现代农业预计将在不确定的气候情景下提供越来越多的食物和饲料，以及来自消费者和监管机构的巨大压力，要求采取环境友好型解决方案，以应对与非生物和生物胁迫相关的产量损失。生物刺激剂可以以可持续的方式提高作物产量，为受到严厉批评的合成农用化学品提供了一种看似合理的替代方案。为了充分发挥其潜力，以科学为基础了解其有益影响和微调其生物活性的途径是至关重要的。拟议的项目将汇集植物系统生物学、化学生物学以及生物刺激剂制备和表征方面的专业知识，通过利用天然化合物的创新来源和阐明压力引发的分子机制的综合生物学方法来发现新的生物刺激剂并优化现有的生物刺激剂。一个由来自欧洲、非洲和南美的非生物和生物胁迫信号领域的领先植物科学家组成的全球网络，在一个专门从事生物刺激剂生产和营销的工业合作伙伴的推动下，将引导他们的努力，为农民带来可持续的作物保护解决方案。广泛的流动计划将促进网络内的最佳知识共享，最大限度地提高研究成果，并最终提高合作伙伴的人力资源能力。

Modern agriculture is expected to provide ever-increasing amounts of food and feed under uncertain climate scenarios and significant pressure from consumers and regulators for environmentally friendly solutions to combat abiotic and biotic stress associated yield losses. Biostimulants that can improve crop productivity in a sustainable way offer a plausible alternative to the heavily criticized synthetic agrochemicals. To achieve their full potential a science-based understanding of their beneficial effects and avenues for fine-tuning of their bioactivities are of utmost importance. The proposed project will bring together expertise in plant systems biology, chemical biology, as well as biostimulant preparation and characterization, to discover new and optimize existing biostimulants by tapping into innovative sources of natural compounds and integrative biology approaches for elucidating molecular mechanisms underlying stress priming. A global network of leading plant scientists in abiotic and biotic stress signaling from Europe, Africa, and South America, facilitated by an industrial partner specializing in biostimulants production and marketing, will channel their efforts to bring sustainable solutions for crop protection to the farmer. An extensive mobility program will facilitate optimal knowledge-sharing within the network, maximize the research outputs and ultimately lead to increasing the human capacity of the partners.