Gravitation Grant: more than twenty million for sustainable crops
The project MiCRop receives 20.3 million euros from the Gravitation programme of the Dutch Research Council (NWO). MiCRop will unravel the microbial community around crops. This knowledge will help to develop more sustainable crops that require fewer fertilizers and pesticides. Leiden professors Jos Raaijmakers, Ariane Briegel and Gilles van Wezel are involved in the project.
Bacteria help plants
MiCRop focuses on strengthening agricultural plant species in order to meet the challenges of sustainable food production. Plants host and nurture billions of microorganisms on their roots. In exchange, this so-called root microbiome supports the plant. This is done by boosting its nutrient uptake and tolerance to environmental stress, and by offering protection against diseases and pests.
Sustainable crops
Collaborating researchers from the University of Amsterdam, Wageningen UR, VU Amsterdam, Utrecht University, the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) and Leiden will investigate how plants under stress recruit such useful root microorganisms. Much remains unknown about the traits of both plants and micro-organisms that facilitate these interactions. Those traits are MiCRop's main focus, and its ultimate aim is to harness them for the development of the next generation of stress-proof crop plants. These crops will need less fertilizer and crop protection products, which will make them more sustainable.
Close collaboration
Jos Raaijmakers is professor of Microbial Interactions and Diversity in Leiden and head of Microbial Ecology at NIOO-KNAW. Through his appointment at the NIOO-KNAW, he is one of the co-applicants of MiCRrop. ‘I am very enthusiastic that this project has been honoured. The grant is very important for research into the plant microbiome in the Netherlands, but also internationally. In view of my professorship in Leiden, this project will further strengthen the close collaboration between the NIOO-KNAW and the Leiden Institute of Biology (IBL). I am also going to try to further develop aspects of this in education in Leiden.’
Gilles van Wezel, Scientific Director of the IBL and professor of Molecular Biotechnology, confirms Raaijmakers' words. ‘This will be a strong stimulus for our collaboration with NIOO-KNAW,' he says. ‘The project connects directly to the main focus of the IBL, which is Harnessing Biodiversity for Health. In this case how plant-associated bacteria provide protection against to plant diseases caused by pathogenic microbes. For IBL it is exciting to be part of a consortium that encompasses so many top experts in this field, and it will expand on the existing collaborations.
Together with Professor of Ultrastructural Biology Ariane Briegel, Van Wezel is part of one of the two subprojects that Raaijmakers leads. Briegel: ‘My lab will collaborate with the Gravitation research team on high-resolution imaging of host-microbe interactions using the state-of-the-art imaging facilities at NeCEN and the Cell Observatory.’
This article is based on the press release by NIOO-KNAW.