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MecaFruit3DCombined (eco)-physiological and 3D-modelling approach to understand and analyse the role of cuticle in growth and quality of fleshy fruits. Projet finance par AGROPOLIS Fondation (2014-2016). Coordination N. BERTIN, V. Baldazzi UR1115 PSH.

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Autres partenaires du projet 

C. Godin Virtual Plant INRIA Montpellier; J-F Maingonnat UMR 408  Sécurité et Qualité des Produits d’Origine Végétale INRA Avignon; C. Rothan UMR1332 Biologie du fruit et Pathologie INRA Bordeaux.

 The fruit cuticle plays a considerable role in fruit development and shelf-life. It is involved in water losses, cracking, and protection against stress, and thus it may have major economic impacts. Objectives of the project are to better understand the multiple roles of the fruit cuticle in the control of fleshy fruit growth and quality. These objectives will be achieved through an interdisciplinary approach combining 3Dmodelling, (eco)-physiology and technology developments. The project relies on a recently developed computational functional-structural tomato fruit model (Cieslak et al. 2011; 2012), that predicts the transport and accumulation of water and dry matter to various fruit tissues through a complex 3D vasculature network (Agropolis project 0803-027). This architecture-based model will serve as the backbone of a new approach for studying fruit development where interactions and feedback loops between turgor driven processes and cuticle mechanical constraints will be analysed and modelled. A collection of cuticle tomato mutants available at INRA Bordeaux will be used to validate the hypotheses.