Two WUR application-oriented research projects on apomixis in plants and rice cultivation in Northwestern Europe are receiving financial support from the Dutch Research Council NWO. In total, NWO is honouring six projects from various universities. NWO supports these application-oriented projects with more than 5.2 million euros. The industry and other organisations are adding another amount of over 621,000 euros.
Apomixis unravelled: the induction of parthenogenesis in dandelion and beyond
Main applicant: Marian Bemer, chairgroup Biosystematics
Most seeds contain embryos that developed after the fusion of sperm and egg cell. However, there are also plants that reproduce asexually via apomixis, where the embryo is a clone of the mother plant. Apomixis does not naturally occur in crops, while it can be very beneficial, allowing much faster breeding and yield increase. Achieving apomixis in different crops through plant breeding requires a better understanding of the apomixis process. The researchers will therefore examine in dandelion, a natural apomict, how the PAR protein, which is essential for apomixis in dandelion, interacts with other proteins to initiate embryo development without fertilization.
