SOCLE · SOCial SeLEction in cultivated plants
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2022-01-01 → 2023-12-31
- EU contribution
- €191,149
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
SOCLE - SOCial SeLEction in cultivated plants
Agriculture is facing the need to feed an increasing world population while reducing its impact on the natural environment. A diverse array of solutions ranging from robotics to bioengineering could help solving this dilemma. Besides such technology-based solutions, nature-based solutions could also contribute to the transition towards more resilient and sustainable cultivation practices. Farmers and plant breeders have used the principles of evolution and natural selection for centuries to select crop varieties with improved productivity and quality. However, some evolutionary theories have remained disconnected from plant breeding practices. This is the case of social evolution theories, notably kin selection theory, which have helped us understand the evolution of inter-individual interactions in natural ecosystems. In particular, one great achievement of kin selection is to explain how individuals can evolve costly traits to cooperate with each other and as such achieve a greater collective performance. Applying social evolution theories to crops could thus bring new insights to select less competitive, i.e., more cooperative varieties. The general objective of this project is to apply social evolution theories to plants, using crops as a model in order to better integrate plant-plant interactions in plant breeding programs. First, we aim at quantifying the contribution of plant-plant interactions to the heritable variation in productivity-related traits in plants. Second, we aim to identify the traits that underlie social interactions, as these traits could be used as breeding targets. Finally, we aim to identify the genetic regions associated with social effects, which could also be used as breeding targets (e.g., to select cooperative alleles). Identifying genetic variant associated with greater plant cooperation would also be a first step towards the identification of new molecular and ecophysiological pathways underlying plant-plant interactions.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
As early shown with social insects, natural selection can maximize group performance by favouring the evolution of altruistic phenotypes. Such social selection has been shown to occur in a wide range of taxon, mainly in animals and microorganisms. Conversely, we have a very poor knowledge of social interactions in plants, mainly because the study of plant-plant interactions has largely remained disconnected from social evolution theory. For example, we don’t know which plant traits have social effects, and we don't know to what extent plant group performance can be affected by social effects. Better understanding social interactions in plants could open new opportunities for plant breeding. Indeed, it has long been suggested that crop yields could be increased by selecting more cooperative varieties. Moreover, advances in animal breeding based on social evolution have already shown convincing results. The aim of this project is thus to better understand social interaction in plants, using crops as a model system. Based on a competition experiment, I will use three approaches: a trait-blind approach, a trait-based approach, and a genomic approach. In the first approach, I will use the indirect genetic effects (IGE) framework to quantify the amount of heritable variation on crop yield that is due to social interactions, and compare it to the non-social heritable variation. With the second approach, I will test the social effects of a set of ecologically and agronomically important traits in order to identify those that contribute most to social interactions. Finally, I will use a genomic approach to look for genomic regions involved in social effects. Conducted in collaboration with plant breeders and leading scientists in the field of social evolution, this multi-disciplinary project will address fundamental research questions related to plant-plant interactions and their evolution, and pave the way for innovative agronomic solutions based on crop cooperation.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITE DE LAUSANNE · LAUSANNECoordinatorSwitzerland
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/101030712
- https://www.unil.ch/dee/en/home/menuguid/people/post-docs--associates/dr-germain-montazeaud.html
Data: CORDIS, © European Union