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EXC 2048:  Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences CEPLAS – SMART Plants in Dynamic Environments

Subject Area Plant Sciences
Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
Microbiology, Virology and Immunology
Term since 2019
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 390686111
 
Climate change and the depletion of natural resources threaten global food security and ecosystem stability. The Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS) addresses these great challenges through fundamental research on complex traits of plants and associated microbiota (holobiont) that impact adaptation to limited resources and environmental change. This knowledge is key to CEPLAS’s long-term goal of predicting plant performance and enabling the design of SMART plants with novel traits and improved environmental adaptation. Through pioneering research, CEPLAS has successfully dissected complex traits into individual modules and identified molecular mechanisms underlying plant development, metabolism and beneficial plant-microbe interactions. These discoveries have developed CEPLAS over two funding phases in an internationally recognised hub for plant and microbiota research. In the next funding phase, we aim to advance from understanding individual trait modules to predicting entire trait complexes and their modulation by dynamic internal and external cues. We will dissect the molecular underpinnings of plant acclimation and evolutionary adaptation and explore the spatiotemporal integration of complex traits through molecular signalling and resource allocation strategies. Our research program is organised into five interconnected research areas (RAs). RA1 aims to understand how the integration of development and metabolism is modulated by dynamic environments and, in turn, promotes acclimation and evolutionary adaptation. RA2 establishes a mechanistic understanding of intermicrobial and plant-microbe interactions and their impact on plant resilience and resource use efficiency. RA3 aims to contribute to a quantitative mechanistic understanding of genotype-trait relationships using synthetic reconstruction strategies. RA4 functions as the synthesis centre for integrating heterogenous data and will develop bioinformatic and modelling approaches to establish causative links between genomic variation, molecular networks and complex traits. RA5 will integrate knowledge from RA1-RA4 to engineer SMART plant prototypes that optimise performance and resource use efficiency by designing novel trait combinations and acclimation responses. As an internationally leading plant science centre, CEPLAS integrates the resources of the Universities of Düsseldorf and Cologne, the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, the Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research. We aim to establish CEPLAS as an internationally recognised training hub in experimental and theoretical plant and microbe biology by offering tailored training programs for early-career researchers at various career stages and for diverse career paths. CEPLAS will implement innovative public outreach formats, i.e. through citizen science projects, provide evidence-based recommendations to policymakers and promote technology transfer.
DFG Programme Clusters of Excellence (ExStra)
Co-Applicant Institution Universität zu Köln
 
 

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