Genes in the Environment
The BBSRC funded Genes in the Environment Institute Strategic Programme (ISP) aims to develop a wider and deeper understanding of how the environment influences plant growth and development.
The research carried out under the Genes in the Environment ISP will be critically important for improving the stability of crop yields which are strongly influenced by changes in weather and other environmental factors.Under the influence of longer-term climate change, crop growing conditions are becoming more and more unpredictable.
This results in unpredictable supplies of important food crops, volatile markets and food prices, and in extreme cases, social unrest and famine. Our increasingly unpredictable climate coupled with forecasted population increases require radical changes in the scope and rate of improvement in crop productivity over the next few decades to secure food supplies.
By understanding how plants adapt to changing environmental conditions we can help breed crops that are more resilient and productive in a wider range of growing conditions.
Wider and deeper understanding
Our research is wide in scope because of the range plants and environments that we will study including brassica crops, wheat and the experimental species, Arabidopsis. Wheat and Brassica are the two main crops grown in the UK.
We aim to develop a deeper understanding of basic biological mechanisms occurring in plants, and understand how plant genes and genetic variation influence how the plant responds and adapts to challenging environments.
Examples of areas of research to be addressed by the Genes in the Environment ISP include:
- Over-wintering responses that promote flowering
- The adaptation of plants to challenging environments
- The sensitivity to temperature of pollen and egg formation in wheat
- How plant diseases influence plant growth
Molecules from Nature
The BBSRC funded Molecules from Nature Institute Strategic Programme (ISP) will investigate the vast diversity of chemicals produced by plants and microbes.
Researchers will study the importance of plant and microbial chemicals in areas of biology including the interactions between soil organisms and plants, the interaction between diet and health, and the medicinal properties of plants.
The research will underpin development of new products and processes of economic and societal benefit, such as new therapeutics and antibiotics, sustainable ways to improve crop yields, and foods with health benefits.
Products made by plants and bacteria are essential for humankind, and integral to our daily lives.
These products provide our food and nutrients essential for our well-being, major drugs, therapeutics and antibiotics, and raw materials for the manufacture of a host of products including agrichemicals, personal care products, paints, plastics, lubricants, and textiles.
In addition to these essential and well known products, it is clear from research on plant and microbial genes that these organisms are able to make a vast range of as-yet undiscovered products. This hidden potential offers a great opportunity to find new products of value to humankind.
Research in the Molecules from Nature ISP will unlock this hidden potential.
At a fundamental level we will discover the evolutionary origins and biological function of the vast product diversity present in plants and microbes, and reveal how important classes of products are synthesised by these organisms.
We will use this information to design and engineer new molecules and producing organisms to drive advances in health, medicine and sustainable manufacturing and agricultural practices.
We will thus provide new resources for the bio-economy, new means of addressing societal needs including malnutrition and under-nutrition, and rapid, effective responses to threats from emerging diseases.
Exhibition Poster
Reflection
As the project continued, I became more intrigued about the display of the final collection of artworks. Reading more into the work the John Innes Centre does, made it all the more important that we properly researched and thought about the placement of our work. The poster we came up with is simplistic and is communication in a language familiar to researchers, thus visually bridging the gap between artist and scientist, and helped us define our common interest as being research.
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