Plant response to biotic and abiotic factors
Full realization of the yield potential of plant varieties will require tolerance
to abiotic and biotic stress factors. We employ genomic approaches including QTL
and association mapping, map-based gene isolation, and expression profiling to
study nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and resistance to potyviruses in maize.
Studies on NUE are conducted in the frame of a recently funded
USDA-NRI project.
The research activity on resistance of maize to potyviruses is ongoing
since multiple years. Both projects aim at the identification of genes,
generation of germplasm and methods, to enable development of maize varieties with
improved stress tolerance, but also on the understanding of
the biological mechanisms of NUE tolerance as well as potyvirus resistance.
Current research projects:
Finalized research projects: