PLANeT · PLant AdaptioN to Elevated Temperatures: mitigating crop losses caused by climate change

Agricultural ecosystems are severely pressed by global warming. Elevated temperature consequence of climate change is causing dramatic crop and economic losses while threaten the healthy and sustainable living standards of most European citizens. Predictions on increased ambient temperatures between 1.5-4ºC pose on danger food security globally for the coming years. In the context of European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant (IDRICA-683163), our lab found that vascular Brassinosteroid receptors can confer resistance to several abiotic stresses without penalizing plant growth, disclosing a yet unexplored innovation potential (EU patent application P6100130EP; 2021). These findings were initially obtained in the model Arabidopsis and the emerging hypothesis has been now tested in Brassinosteroid mutants of cereal Sorghum. We found that hypocotyl and mesocotyl growth on selected mutants is compromised upon elevated temperatures in both Arabidopsis and Sorghum respectively, supporting conserved mechanisms across species. These findings enable a novel HighThroughPut (HTP) screening capacity for compounds/biologicals to overcome the most damaging impacts of warming in crops. Upon initial HTP screening, this proposal aims to enter into a valorization path towards lead generation through a computationally-assisted screening cascade to identify cost-effective Lead compounds that can improve crop yield at elevated temperatures. Overall, PLANeT takes the opportunity for transferring proprietary knowhow into value to market-creating innovation in the Agricultural industry.