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Shortening the plant juvenile period

The objective of WP2 is to deliver rapid cycle breeding systems that will be later coupled with genome editing technologies in order to speed up the selection of non-transgenic, PPV resistant fruit trees

Previously, a Rapid Cycling System (RCS) was established for European plum through the transgenic overexpression of the flowering regulator gene from poplar, PtFT1 (Srinivasan et al., 2012). In TESS, we will pursue customized strategies through integrated, interdisciplinary research teams for each target species. In some cases, this will involve testing several flowering regulators, the use of sophisticated transformation systems, or the use of viral vectors to induce flowering. Each team will use the most sensible approach and consult with the other teams to exchange molecular and genomic resources, avoid pitfalls, overcome obstacles, and share successful strategies. The work will involve specialists in tissue culture, biotechnology and virology. Once early flowering material is obtained, it will be moved back into the first work package to be combined with the most efficient genome editing cassettes and strategies.