Hybridization barriers: CRP signalling during pollen tube invasion, growth and guidance (A03)

• Subject Area: Plant Cell and Developmental Biology
• Term: from 2011 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 170483403

Flowering plants evolved pre-zygotic hybridization barriers to avoid foreign fertilization, and thus to prevent sterility effects caused by fertilization defects and genome imbalance failures. The Dresselhaus lab and others have shown that small polymorphic cysteine-rich peptides (CRPs) play key roles as signalling ligands in the underlying communication processes. Novel CRPs and activated signalling pathways identified recently in maize will be studied in more detail and transferred to other species to understand and overcome pre-zygotic hybridization barriers for breeding.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 924: Molecular Mechanisms Regulating Yield and Yield Stability in Plants
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität München (TUM)
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Thomas Dresselhaus