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The objective of the project is the identification of useful alleles, genes, QTLs and phenotypes that will enable a plant to maintain yield under conditions of limited water. This trait is defined as water productivity: we therefore do not aim to study drought stress per se as a phenotype but instead something closer to the conditions plants may really have to withstand in the field in a changing environment. We aim to, in a model and economically important crop, tomato:
1. Identify QTLs involved in water productivity and tomato accessions or mutants adapted to water stress useful for breeding purposes. The QTL regions will be dissected in regard to the genome sequence of the parental lines. The segregating population will be analysed in heat and salt stress conditions in order to identify common and specific QTLs
2. Identify regulatory genes (encoding transcription factors or production of signalling molecules) that are candidates for the improvement of yield in cultivated tomato and alleles that can be used directly to improve water productivity.
3. Screen for mutants tolerant to water stress and identify the corresponding genes through DNAseq mapping
4. Continue the characterisation of previously identified candidate genes involved in cellular protection against water limitation by using transgenic tomato plants.
5. Carry out a precise physiological analysis of the response to water limitation and the role of physical barriers to water loss such as the cuticle.
6. Introduce into an ecophysiological model the impact of water stress in interaction with genotypes in order to define ideotypes and test virtual scenarios of plant adaptation.
7. Integrate and manage all the data produced into a common database
The project relies on the complementary expertises (genetics, ecophysiology, genomics and physiology) of three laboratories and two breeding companies. It will benefit form a range of resources and preliminary data, such as several populations (accessions, segregating populations and EMS induced mutants) and the availability of the tomato genome sequence as well as the genome sequences of 8 divergent lines used as parents of a MAGIC population