Uncover and promote tolerance to temperature and water stress in Camelina sativa

ongoing

European agriculture is increasingly challenged by climatic variability and weather extremes causing drought and temperature stress to crops that are very often highly sensitive to abiotic stress conditions, resulting in low productivity and yield loss. Camelina sativa is a reemerging native European oilseed that has retained its natural stress tolerance and receives attention because of its untapped breeding potential, adaptability, yield stability and high performance in variable environments. UNTWIST will unravel the stress response mechanisms of the climate-resilient crop Camelina and reveal its successful stress adaptation strategies for implementing them in new agronomic solutions. UNTWIST brings together a unique consortium with complementary expertise in stress mechanisms, (epi)genetic regulation, physiology, metabolism, crop modelling, and crop management to drive biological discovery. Stakeholder expertise by three SMEs will allow smooth knowledge transfer into crop improvement and new management strategies. UNTWIST will use genetically diverse Camelina cultivars in open field and stress-controlled experiments together with sophisticated systems-based approaches to uncover the plant’s adaptive multi-layered stress response mechanisms. Complex data integration will provide genome scale models revealing plant strategies for managing uncertainty and a validated accurate model to predict crop performance in variable environments. Moreover, UNTWIST will deliver new tools and markers for effective translation into other crops. Finally, UNTWIST will meet the climate challenge in agriculture by providing elite-adapted Camelina germplasm and developing agronomic management practices for ready adoption by farmers into new climate resistant cropping systems.