FEDER - ROUEN NORMANDY UNIVERSITY (GLYCOMEV LAB) - DRAGONE PROJECT
Kohesio
UNIVERSITE DE ROUEN-NORMANDIE
In recent years, the French agricultural model has gradually shifted towards sustainable and reasoned agriculture with the objective of improving food security and preserving the environment. This change also involves the development of integrated biological crop protection. In this context, it is appropriate to anticipate these developments and therefore to conduct research aimed at identifying and developing new plant protection strategies. These strategies are part of the national Ecophyto plan to reduce pesticide use by 50% in France. The “DRAgoNE” project is part of this change. This is a public-private collaborative project which aims to promote the skills in fundamental and applied research in plant sciences of a Norman research laboratory (GlycoMEV) and to enable their transfer to the regional, national and global industrial fabric through collaboration with the Roullier Group. This industrial partner is now present in 116 countries. The Roullier Group is a large company specializing in plant nutrition and animal nutrition. The GlycoMEV laboratory (Glycobiology and plant extracellular matrix) is a Normandy Universities laboratory specializing in plant sciences whose activity is focused on the study of the structure and function of parietal polysaccharides and glycoproteins, plant defense at the root level, the search for new defense stimulators against soil-borne pathogens and the understanding of plant-bioaggressor interactions. This project builds on the strong collaboration already existing between these two partners for many years through joint projects and scientific exchanges. It represents a real opportunity for the Normandy region in terms of developing public and private R&D skills, industrial and scientific influence, employment and training. Its ambition is to develop a collaborative and innovative scientific activity between the laboratory and the company in order to: i) promote agroecology in plant production in connection with the ECOPHYTO plans, ii) characterize the elements of a complex root network and their synergistic action in the protection of plants in pathosystems of global agronomic interest, ii) to promote the fundamental knowledge acquired on this root network by identifying active substances and diagnostic tools transferable by the company in the industrial sector in connection with the plant sectors in order to increase the attractiveness of the Normandy territory. The choice of the pathosystems studied in this project is based on i) the heavy economic losses (quantified in millions of tonnes/year), ii) the interest of the industrial partner in developing new bio-control products, and iii) the agricultural issues in the Normandy Region. Thus, several types of pests (including nematodes plant parasites but also microorganisms), will be used as part of this project. The plant species chosen are Solanum lycopersicum L. (tomato), Beta vulgaris L. (beet), Linum usitatissimum (flax) or Glycine max (L.) Merr. (soy).  The proof of concept will be carried out on model plants (arabidopsis, tomato or soybean). Application to plants of economic interest will take place subsequently. The project will also focus on stimulating the immune defense of the plant tested through the use of defense response elicitors from nematodes (NAMPs) and formulations of active substances previously identified by the work of the Roullier group.
Smarter Europe / Research and innovation / Research and innovation infrastructure, processes, technology transfer and cooperation in enterprises focusing on the low carbon economy and on resilience to climate change