LEPSE Presentation
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Director: Thierry Simonneau Research Director INRA Tél: 33 (0)4 99 61 27 52 Mail: simonnea@supagro.inra.fr |
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We aimed at unravelling and controlling plant responses to sub-optimal climates.
More efficient and sustainable utilisation of resources by plants becomes a high research priority to cope with the consequences of exploding demographic trends and challenging climate changes. This requires renewed knowledge on plant adaptability to marginal lands and sub-optimal environments. With this aim, our research unit develops and applies methods for unravelling and controlling plant responses to climatic stress.
We have developed expertise in dissecting susceptibilities of intact whole plants to various combinations of fluctuating climatic conditions. High-throughput analysis of transpiration, leaf expansion, reproductive development, canopy architecture, together with soil water content, apex temperature and other micro-meteorological variables are undertaken with a temporal definition of minutes to days. Equipment and methods for in situ measurement of cell turgor (pressure probe), hormones (abscisic acid, ethylene) and kinematic analysis of cell division rate and tissue expansion rate are also available. The phenotype is considered via time courses of organ expansion, plant transpiration, 3D development of leaf surfaces, involving several plants in different experimental contexts (growth cabinet, greenhouse, field).
Phenotypic plasticity is characterised via response curves to environmental conditions, allowing one to characterise a genotype by a set of stable parameter values, unique for each genotype and valid in a wide range of climatic scenarios. Complex modelling approaches are requested. Thorough studies of mutants, transgenic plants, together with gene expression, enzyme activities or metabolites fluxes also help in identifying key-mechanisms to be included in our models.