PROSIT

Financement: HORIZON 2020 PRIMA ANR EUROPE

Période : mai 2021 > mai 2025 (3 ans)

Contact EGFV: Philippe GALLUSCI 

Coordinateur: Prof. Michela ZOTTINI - Università di Padova (Italy)

Résumé: 

The OVERALL GOAL of PROSIT is to characterize and harness the plant-associated microbial biodiversity in making typical Mediterranean agroecosystems more resilient to climate change. To this aim, a transdisciplinary approach which encompasses physiological, metagenomic, transcriptomic, metabolomics, and epigenomics, will be developed to unravel the microbiome-driven molecular pathways associated with plant drought-resilience, taking as case study the Grapevine, a major crop in all Mediterranean Countries.

The project outcome will be the identification of beneficial endophyte consortia to be used in environmentally sustainable agricultural practices to support grapevine farming across the Mediterranean basin characterized by changing climate with an increasing water scarcity. In addition, PROSIT will determine the efficiency of natural microbiomes transferred from grapevine adapted to arid climate on drought tolerance to commonly cultivated grapevine cultivars, to test the efficiency of natural microbiomes on drought tolerance. This will be achieved using two different strategies: stem grafting and direct inoculation. Upon its completion PROSIT will deliver innovative and cost-effective tools as well as innovative farming systems to help maintaining grapevine productivity in a drier Mediterranean climate, and to expand its cultivation to semi-arid areas.