WP3

CNR (Lead), IRD, NIAB, UZH, UNIPD, CONICET

WP3 is dedicated to research and training, mainly through the implementation of a total of 64 secondment-months. Its main objective is to decipher the structural and functional features of the locus controlling apomictic reproduction (Apomixis Controlling Locus, ACL) in natural apomictic grasses belonging to Eragrostis and Paspalum genera and to provide a general view as how apomictic genomes works as a whole.
The proposed tasks will intend to unveil the gene content of the ACLs of species under study; to compare its conservation across apomictic species; to identify regions prone to contain genes controlling key components of apomictic reproduction, and; to propose hypothesis for the evolution of apomictic genomes.

D3.1: ACL homoelogous regions in sexual grass genomes and list of candidate genes.
D3.2: List of genes producing alternative splice variants in apomictic plants compared to sexual plants.
D3.3: Delineate the structure and evolution of the ACL of Paspalum spp. and E. curvula and propose functional roles of genes located in it.
D3.4: Characterization of reproductive phenotypes observed in Paspalum spp. and E. curvula transgenic lines carrying upregulated/downregulated candidate genes for apomixis.
D3.5: Epigenome landscapes in floral tissues of apomictic and sexual Paspalum and Eragrostis, including candidates under epigenetic control.