Synthetic Reconstruction of ER Body–Glucosinolate Defense in Non-Brassicaceae Plantscore
SynERBody · Horizon Europe grant · 2026-10-01–2028-09-30
EC contribution
Total cost
Beneficiaries
About the data
Source: CORDIS (official EU open data), Horizon Europe. Framework HORIZON · call HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF · scheme HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF · topic HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF-01-01. CORDIS record →
Objective
Feeding a growing world population is one of the main challenges of the 21st Century, particularly as approximately 25 % of the worlds staple crops are currently lost to pests and pathogens. Plants have evolved a wide range of physical and chemical defence barriers to protect themselves from a wide range of herbivores and pathogens. In the Brassicaceae (Cabbage) family, a specialized defence strategy can be found, the so-called ER body system that provides an effective chemical barrier against biological threats. Upon tissue damage, often caused by herbivores or pathogens, ER body localized enzymes called β-glucosidases come into contact with vacuole-localized glucosinolates to produce toxic isothiocyanate. However, this effective defence mechanism is absent in plants outside the Brassicales order, including major crops like wheat or potato.The SynERBody project aims to enhance plant immunity by functionally transferring the ER body system into non-Brassicales plants and thereby producing plants with enhanced fitness. The functional ER body system will be transferred by exploiting a wide range of molecular biological techniques. After successful transfer of the ER body defence, we will furthermore evaluate the protective effect against pathogens as proof-of-concept for enhanced plant resilience.By providing a strategy to introduce an evolutionarily optimized defense system into vulnerable plants, SynERBody will contribute to global food security by reducing crop loss due to pests and pathogens. The project furthermore advances fundamental understanding of the ER body based chemical defence system and its possible applications across plant lineages.
Beneficiaries (1)
| Organisation | Country | Role | EC contribution | SME |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FREIE UNIVERSITAET BERLIN | DE | coordinator | €217,965 |
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